Tag Archives: automation

HARD-LINE’s TeleOp tech to be offered as part of HxGN Autonomous Mining portfolio

Automation, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , ,

Hexagon’s Mining division has enhanced its collaboration with Canada-based tele-remote technology leader HARD-LINE, building on a previous distribution agreement the two companies announced back in September 2021.

HARD-LINE’s TeleOp technology allows the tele-remote operation of heavy machinery from a control station in a safe area on surface or underground, regardless of distance. In addition to safety benefits, there are significant productivity advantages to deploying such technology, utilising the equipment over shift changes in underground mines, for example.

Hexagon’s Mining division’s relationship with this technology was previously made up of a distribution agreement. Now, TeleOp is being incorporated into the wider automation offering that comes under the recently announced HxGN Autonomous Mining portfolio.

Speaking last week at HxGN LIVE Global 2023 in Las Vegas, Rob Daw, Chief Innovation Officer at Hexagon’s Mining division, said: “We are strengthening that partnership with HARD-LINE to enhance what the tele-remote solution can do and bring it together into the wider autonomy offering we have within Hexagon’s Mining division.”

HARD-LINE says it has developed “by-wire solutions” for more than 200 equipment models covering several OEMs, with more than 3,000 conversions completed to date.

The closer collaboration between the two companies is already being witnessed in Brazil where Hexagon’s Mining division, HARD-LINE, Scania and Fidens are working on the deployment of teleremote technology at a mine in the country.

Rodrigo Couto, President, LATAM, Hexagon’s Mining division (on the far right), explained: “In Brazil, there is a law dictating that you cannot operate equipment on a manual basis by areas deemed too risky, such as tailings dams, decommissioned & other reclaimed areas. This means tele-remote technology and automation are the only choice to carry out operations.”

Hexagon’s Mining division and HARD-LINE have sold several kits to clients in the country, with one of these kits heading to an operation overseen by Fidens, which has installed a tele-remote kit on a Scania G 500 6×4 Prime Mover.

Couto said: “This is reducing the risk of operators at the tailings operation and also allowing Fidens to operate in areas that, by law, were previously off limits.”

Gold Fields, UFR collaborating on automated underground truck pilot at Granny Smith

Automation, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , ,

Gold Fields will soon begin an autonomous truck trial at its Granny Smith underground mine in Western Australia, leveraging the robotic smarts of Universal Field Robots (UFR) and an existing Epiroc Minetruck MT65 it has within its fleet.

In the company’s recently released annual results, Gold Fields stated it was developing its first underground automated truck, ready for trials at Granny Smith in the second half of this year.

Later, the company told IM that this project involved Brisbane-based UFR, with the machine in question having already received the custom paint job (see photo above).

The purpose of this trial is to validate autonomous truck haulage over shift change when the mine is evacuated for blasting, the company said in its annual results, with Rob Derries, Unit Manager: Innovation & Technology at Gold Fields Australia, confirming the truck will initially be tested and validated in a separate area underground at Granny Smith.

“Once validated, we will be operating the automated truck on the main decline over shift change when the mine is normally evacuated for blasting activities, enabling further material haulage in time where activities are normally halted,” he told IM.

The initial truck pilot is expected to continue for up to 12 months with plans to retrofit further trucks in the Granny Smith fleet to operate autonomously over shift change after validation of this initial pilot.

Gold Fields says it is investigating and partnering to develop a number of automation solutions to ensure the safety of its people while also enabling increased productivity.

Derries said: “This trial aligns with Gold Fields’ approach to adopting agnostic technology and automation solutions. In the future, this technology can be adopted on a number of different machine manufactures and types and will integrate with existing teleremote guidance LHDs and Mine Operating Systems.”

UFR, for its part, has been involved in the development of several automation projects within mining, including BLAST DOG™ blasthole sensing and physical measurement technology – in collaboration with IMDEX – and a robotic application for zero-entry work on underground production blastholes – a project it is working on with METS Ignited and several mining companies, including Gold Fields.

Granny Smith produced 288,000 oz of gold at an all-in cost of $1,171/oz in 2022. It is currently mining four lenses from the Wallaby orebody (Z70, Z80, Z90 and Z100), accessed from a single decline. Mining administration and maintenance is located at the Wallaby mine, while ore is processed at the Granny Smith carbon-in-pulp processing plant, 15 km east of the Wallaby underground mine, under campaign milling conditions.

Back in October 2022, Epiroc confirmed an order from Gold Fields for a fleet of 65-t payload Epiroc Minetruck MT65 underground haul trucks with automation features to be used at Granny Smith.

Jaguar Mining to deploy ExynAero autonomous robot for cavity monitoring in Brazil

Automation, IoT, Mine surveying, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , ,

Exyn Technologies and NSS Canada say they have expanded their footprint with Jaguar Mining in response to a growing demand for autonomous robots to capture critical data in complex, GPS-denied environments underground.

Historically, mining in geographically complex areas has been dangerous and intensive in terms of labour, time and cost. The evolution of autonomous aerial robots provides mining companies with faster and safer data capture in critical underground operations leading to more streamlined planning and workflows.

After a successful demonstration at the Caeté mining complex (which includes the Pilar and Roça Grande mines and the Caeté Plant, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Jaguar Mining made the decision to purchase Exyn’s autonomous robot, the ExynAero, to be used as a cavity monitoring solution in its underground mining operations.

The ExynAero is a fully autonomous aerial robot that intelligently navigates and maps complex GPS-denied industrial environments without a pilot, keeping employees safe and maximising beyond-line-of-sight-and-communications data collection. Equipped with Autonomy Level 4 – the highest level in the industry, according to Exyn – survey teams can confidently send the ExynAero on autonomous missions into open stopes and and other underground cavities knowing that all computation and data collection is stored on-board. Following this with Exyn’s post-processing pipeline, survey teams can refine, subsample and georeference their data sets for volumetric calculations and other mining operations, it added.

Jaguar, which produces more than 95,000 oz/y of gold, has been using Autonomy Level 4 in this latest deployment, Eyxn confirmed.

“We are thrilled to deliver innovations that help reduce risk to humans and increase efficiency and productivity in mining operations,” Raffi Jabrayan, Exyn’s VP of Commercial Sales and Business Development, said. “Our technology can do in a few minutes what traditionally took hours, with countless risks to surveyors working in potentially dangerous environments.”

Bruno Lalonde, NSS Canada President, added: “NSS Canada is proud to provide innovative solutions to help underground mines like Jaguar Mining Inc safeguard employees while optimising efficiency. The addition of Exyn autonomous solutions will help their team improve OPEX, increase safety and get actionable data from dangerous environments faster.”

Eric Duarte, Vice President of Operations for Jaguar Mining, added: “The introduction of Exyn autonomous technologies at Jaguar Mining is another step towards our commitment to quality, by increasing safety, operational efficiency and cost effectiveness in our underground operations.”

Sandvik incorporates manual and autonomous operation interaction into latest AutoMine advances

Automation, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , ,

Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is introducing AutoMine® Flexible Safety Zone, a new feature for its AutoMine underground system for autonomous mining operations.

The new capability is, Sandvik says, designed to improve productivity and increase flexibility by enabling alternating safety zone states between autonomous and manual operation.

With the AutoMine Flexible Safety Zone, autonomous mining equipment can operate continuously in the automated area while allowing for intersections with manual equipment, according to the company. This capability makes it possible for manual equipment to cross automated equipment routes and share dump or load points. In addition, AutoMine access barriers are equipped with state-of-the-art technology that informs operators of the shared area status with visual and audible state indications, Sandvik explains.

Jouni Koppanen, Product Line Manager Automation, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said: “Our new technology will increase the flexibility between manual and automated equipment by allowing manual operators to request access to a shared area. This request is designed to prevent automated equipment from entering the shared area while manual equipment occupies it. In addition, this flexibility will further enhance customer productivity and allow for continuous operation of both automated and manual equipment.”

Manual operators can request access to a shared area using a variety of actuators at the access barriers. Once acknowledged by the Supervisory AutoMine System and autonomous vehicles have cleared the area, access is granted and manual vehicles can enter safely. This procedure ensures the safety of all operators and equipment while allowing for more flexible setups, Sandvik says.

Elen Toodu, Director Global Product Line and Projects Automation, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said: “This new feature will enhance our customers’ AutoMine operations. We are giving operators the tools they need to adapt to changing conditions, which will ultimately improve productivity and safety in their mines.”

Sandvik equips MT721, MT521 roadheaders with new digital and autonomous features

Automation, Explosives and blasting, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , ,

Sandvik has upgraded its Sandvik MT721 and Sandvik MT521 tunneling roadheaders with several new features, designed to, it says, further boost excavation performance and customer profitability.

Sandvik’s MT series roadheaders are used in a wide range of rock formations, with several applications in mining. They are equipped with geometrically optimised transverse cutter heads, making them robust, flexible and heavy-duty machines.

The Sandvik MT721 (pictured) and Sandvik MT521 have now been future-proofed with new digitalisation and automation features. One of the major upgrades is the new machine control system, which has more power and is designed for future applications, according to Sandvik. The software code has been simplified and harmonised for stable and reliable operation. The new SafePLC improves machine safety and is extendable for additional developments. The new machine control system will fully integrate all future digital services, including tele-remote operation as well as Racoon for machine telemetry data collection and digital customer services platform SmartMate.

The Sandvik MT721 remains the only roadheader on the market that uses the proven and unique ICUTROC® technology for seamless cutting in challenging hard-rock conditions. Another key feature in both roadheader models is the CUTRONIC® automated cutting technology for reliable and fast rock excavation with the highest profile accuracy, and now also made suitable for geometrically complex tunneling applications, Sandvik said.

The new Sandvik boom control includes new optimised machine control software and upgraded machine hydraulics for fast tunnel excavation and accurate tunnel profiling.

“We are extremely proud of these new tunneling roadheaders, which will set the standard for reliable, productive and sustainable mechanical rock excavation, and continue our journey towards being able to deliver our customers fully autonomous mechanical rock excavation machines,” Uwe Restner, Product Manager Roadheaders and Digitalisation, Mechanical Cutting Division, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said.

RCT equips Northern Star’s Ramone mine with autonomous and digital tech

Automation, Communications in mining, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , ,

RCT says it has partnered with Northern Star Mining Services (NSMS) to implement a digital autonomous mining fleet at the Ramone gold mine in Western Australia.

The Ramone mine, near Wiluna, is owned by Northern Star Resources, the parent company of NSMS. It is 35 km southeast of the Jundee Gold Mine, which Northern Star also owns.

The technology has significantly advanced autonomous fleet production activities and sets the underground operation on a pathway to full mine digitisation, according to RCT, which is now owned by Epiroc.

The rollout represents the latest in a long line of successful projects that has seen RCT automate NSMS’s underground mining fleets across the Kalgoorlie and Yandal regions.

At Ramone, machine operators will use RCT’s ControlMaster® Automation Centre and supervise two Sandvik LH517i underground loaders commissioned with the latest ControlMaster digital solution.

The technology significantly enhances production by enabling faster autonomous loader cycles and greatly reduces maintenance downtime associated with machine damage, RCT said.

Once RCT’s ControlMaster Automation Centre is relocated from underground to the surface on site, it will allow for fast “hot seating” and enable site managers to capture the time previously lost over the shift changes and continue production cycles during firing activities, it added.

The NSMS team at Ramone is benefitting from the rollout of RCT Connect, the only mine site communications network designed to accommodate autonomous mobile machine fleets, according to RCT.

RCT Account Manager, Scott Phillips, said: “Our digital automation technology will provide the Ramone operation with every advantage to mine safely, efficiently and continue to make solid advancements for years to come. Northern Star Mining Services’ investment in our specialised communications technology provides a strong foundation from which to grow autonomous operations as the mine evolves and site needs change.

“Our experienced Goldfields team has worked very closely with the Ramone site team to ensure this initial rollout goes smoothly and we are very pleased with the successful outcome.

“This is just the first chapter in what we hope will be a long and very productive working relationship between RCT and the Northern Star Mining Services crew at Ramone.”

South32 and Emesent collaborate on LiDAR-equipped Spot trials at Cannington

Automation, Explosives and blasting, Mine operation news, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , ,

South32’s Cannington Mine, in Queensland, Australia, says it is supporting Emesent in its pursuit of developing and testing light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scanning and automation technologies in real underground mining environments.

The team from Emesent were recently on site at Cannington with Spot the Robot Dog, trialling Spot’s autonomy development and capabilities in the underground silver-lead mine.

While the technology is still in its research and development phase, it has the potential to guarantee safer outcomes and ultimately transform the way Cannington operates, South32 says. Mining work safety and productivity can be improved by deploying the autonomous capabilities of Spot in various potential scenarios with different data capturing tools, including scanning, video recording and heat sensing, it added.

The focus on site was testing Spot’s capability in ‘post blast re-entry’ scenarios and emergency response. Spot, with an integrated LiDAR scanner, autonomously navigated sections of the mine, travelling through uneven and wet ground without operator intervention and exploring unlit areas. It was able to produce a 3D Point Cloud map of the underground mine in the process, South32 said.

The Cannington team has previously worked with Emesent to help develop industry-leading technologies including its Hovermap System for underground scanning, which is now used in mines all over the world.

Vale, Epiroc planning for automation shift with battery-electric loaders at Creighton

Automation, Base metals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The industry has been told continuously that there are plenty of synergies between automation and electrification when it comes to loading and haulage, yet the hard evidence of this complementary nature has not yet surfaced. That could be about to change if a trial at Vale’s Creighton mine in Sudbury, Ontario, proves successful.

Vale has been a key electrification partner for mining OEMs and service providers, testing out a whole host of battery-electric equipment from light utility vehicles to 42-t-payload trucks at its deep mines in Sudbury. This builds on its experience of running diesel-electric Kiruna trucks since the mid-1990s at the Coleman mine (also in Sudbury).

The miner has also commenced trials on surface with battery-electric trucks and is set to commence trolley assist operations at its massive Carajas iron ore mining complex in Minas Gerais, Brazil, later this year.

The variety of testing the company has carried out – in terms of the types of mining operations, vehicle setups, charging methods and electrical infrastructure – means it can be considered an electrification pioneer.

Now, it is looking to combine this experience with its knowledge of autonomous loading operations – again an area of the technology space it is considered a leader in.

In partnership with Epiroc, a battery-electric and automation project is in the planning stages at Vale’s Creighton underground mine.

The two companies commissioned four Epiroc ST14 Battery Scooptram and two MT42 Battery trucks at the operation in preparation for the deepening of the mine in the December quarter of 2022. Full-scale operation is ramping up with a first charging bay already commissioned and new ones coming in the next months, a Vale spokesperson told IM.

“The next steps will be to leverage the autonomous capability of those battery-electric scoops to enable operations between shifts depending on the application at the mine,” the spokesperson said.

Vale has previously said it will transition to an all-electric fleet at Creighton as part of its plans to develop the orebody down to circa-3km below surface.

HARD-LINE-Polymath

HARD-LINE and Polymath Robotics team up to automate dozer operation

Automation, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , ,

Polymath Robotics and HARD-LINE, on the opening of CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023 in Las Vegas, USA, have announced a collaboration on a solution for autonomous dozing.

In line with this collaboration, HARD-LINE has been added to Polymath’s network of hardware integration partners and Polymath has joined HARD-LINE’s software integration ecosystem.

HARD-LINE is an OEM-agnostic leading supplier of automation, teleoperation and remote-control technology. Polymath Robotics makes safety-critical autonomous navigation software for heavy machinery.

Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, CEO of Polymath Robotics, said: “We are excited to add HARD-LINE to our network of hardware integration partners and join their software ecosystem. Our collaboration brings autonomous solutions to the heavy equipment industry as part of each other’s partner ecosystems.”

The dozing technology is vehicle agnostic and can be implemented on any heavy equipment regardless of make, model, or type of machine, according to the companies. The solution leverages HARD-LINE’s hardware integration, remote operation capabilities, and machine control API, integrated with Polymath’s autonomous navigation tools.

The companies said: “The autonomous dozer is built to tackle important but repetitive tasks, like dewatering, planting and heap leaching. This exciting new technology will be made available for any bulldozer, whether new or existing.”

Ryan Siggelkow, SVP Technology at HARD-LINE, said: “We are proud to have Polymath join our software integration ecosystem, in addition to collaborating on an autonomous solution for remote dozer operations. We see these solutions as a way to further enhance productivity and efficiency by bringing remote autonomous dozing to the market.”

Polymath and HARD-LINE are collaborating on the implementation and are taking pre-orders expected to ship in the second half of 2023, they say. They will be demonstrating elements of the autonomous dozer solution during the event, which runs from March 14-18.

Epiroc achieves major open-pit autonomous drilling milestone with Pit Vipers

Automation, Explosives and blasting, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , ,

Epiroc says it continues to accelerate the transformation of the mining industry toward lower emissions, strengthened safety and higher productivity with its autonomous drill rigs having achieved another milestone in successfully drilling the equivalent length of more than once around the world.

The company’s drill rigs, used by mining and construction customers across the world, are increasingly operated autonomously. The company’s Pit Viper surface drill rigs have now drilled holes totalling more than 41 million metres, exceeding the world’s circumference of 40.1 million metres.

The societal benefits generated so far are significant, including a reduction in CO2e emissions of more than 100 000 t. An equivalent in effect would be to plant a new forest the size of the Swedish capital, according to Epiroc. The reduction in CO2e emissions is achieved through increased efficiency of autonomous drilling, higher-precision drilling and a significantly reduced need for travel to the rigs, which can be at a far distance from the control room.

Similarly, Epiroc’s autonomous underground rigs, such as the Simba production drill rigs, are increasingly used by customers. One of Epiroc’s mining customers has drilled more than a million metres autonomously underground using a single Simba rig.

In addition to lower emissions, other benefits of autonomous drilling include a safer and more comfortable work environment for operators, and higher productivity.

“Our autonomous drilling solutions are one example of how we are accelerating the transformation toward a more sustainable future,” Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO, says. “We have a rigorous innovation agenda, also within digitalisation and electrification, to find new ways to reduce the environmental impact, while increasing safety and productivity.”

Epiroc says it has launched several initiatives to support the industry to extract the needed minerals in the most sustainable and efficient way possible. For example, it is working toward offering its complete fleet of underground mining equipment in emission-free versions by 2025, and its full fleet of surface equipment in emission-free versions by 2030. Another example is the partnership with steelmaker SSAB that began in 2022 to produce mining equipment using fossil-free steel.

Epiroc also supports the transition towards a circular economy by providing equipment and services that enable the recycling and reuse of materials. For example, Epiroc’s hydraulic attachments tools are used by the construction industry to process concrete, asphalt and other materials on site, reducing waste and improving resource efficiency.

In 2021, Epiroc received validation from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for the 2030 targets to halve its CO2e emissions in own operations as well as from the use of sold products. The SBTi validated Epiroc’s climate targets as being in line with keeping global warming at a maximum 1.5°C, consistent with the latest climate science and the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement.