Tag Archives: ControlMaster

RCT brings ControlMaster automation tech to SEMAFO-owned Siou underground mine

1st April 2020Automation, Communications in mining, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metalsAfrican Underground Mining Services, automation, Burkina Faso, Caterpillar, ControlMaster, Guidance Automation, Mana, Perenti, RCT, SiouDaniel Gleeson

OEM-agnostic autonomous solutions specialist RCT says it has executed a project with Perenti-owned African Underground Mining Services (AUMS) at the Siou underground gold mine, in Burkina Faso.

Earlier this year, RCT commissioned its ControlMaster® Guidance Automation technology on two of Siou’s Caterpillar R2900G underground LHDs and supplied two associated Automation Centres.

Siou, owned by SEMAFO, is a gold deposit some 20 km from the Mana mine. Conversion of Siou open pit into underground mining operations began in the September quarter of 2018 with full underground production expected shortly, according to SEMAFO.

Guidance Automation enables the loaders to operate with minimal intervention by machine operators located in the Automation Centres, either on the surface of the mine or in a secure location in the underground mine, RCT said.

“The automation solution improves safety onsite by relocating mine personnel away from the mine face and reducing unplanned maintenance downtime by eliminating machine operator errors,” RCT said.

RCT says its Africa-based staff has provided comprehensive training to machine operators and will continue to provide ongoing after-sales support to AUMS.

RCT tech-agnostic automation solutions find favour in USA

17th March 2020Automation, Coal technology, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining softwareAlliance Resource Partners, automation, Automation Center, Clint Chapman, coal, ControlMaster, Multi-Fleet Select, RCT, River View, USADaniel Gleeson

Having made a name for itself in Australia and elsewhere, RCT’s ControlMaster™ automation and control solution is revolutionising mining operations throughout North America, the company says.

ControlMaster is a technologically-agnostic solution with a history of managing heavy mobile mining plant on active mine sites throughout the USA, Canada and many other mines across the globe.

By utilising ControlMaster equipment, operators can manage mining plant developed by multiple manufacturers from the same operating platform, the Automation Center, RCT says. The Automation Center enables operators to manage multiple machines at once and in real time while located either on the surface of an underground mine, or in designated areas within the mine.

Once in the Automation Center, operators can access the full range of machine functions as if they were sitting in the machine’s cab, according to RCT.

“RCT is also the only supplier that has successfully implemented Multi-Fleet Select on active mine sites meaning operators can manage various machine types such as underground LHD loaders, water trucks and rockbreakers from the same secure station,” the company said.

RCT North America Operations Vice President, Clint Chapman, said the company has a strong history of developing innovative solutions that other companies have been unable to match.

“RCT is the only company with a proven history of delivering mixed, multi-fleet autonomous solutions into active mine sites in North America,” he said. “Our technology is designed to integrate seamlessly with all forms of heavy mining equipment and provide the same functionality promised by original equipment manufacturers.”

Chapman said the company can provide technical assistance on any mine site at short notice.

“We can deliver on-ground support through our experienced Field Service Technicians backed by professional support staff in our branches in Salt Lake City, in Utah, and Sudbury, in Ontario. We also have significant experience developing customised technological solutions to meet site-specific requirements and tailoring our products to operate in a range of rugged conditions often in very remote locations.”

RCT’s USA team has previously customised and commissioned its autonomous technology as part of a complex project for Alliance Resource Partners’ River View coal mine in Uniontown, Kentucky (pictured). This project involved the company retrofitting its ControlMaster Remote Dozer system (ATX2200) to Caterpillar D6T and D8R dozers that were pushing coarse coal refuse into a tailings pond at the site.

The River View underground mine uses continuous mining units employing room-and-pillar mining to extract high-sulphur coal. It is the largest mine of its type in the nation, according to Alliance Resources, with a preparation plant that has a throughput capacity of 2,449 t/h of raw coal.

RCT says it has also delivered a customised multi-fleet project for Western Contracting Corp to clear unexploded ordinance at the former army munitions facility Fort Wingate in New Mexico.

RCT ControlMaster solution boosts safety at Whyalla Port

19th February 2020Automation, Bulk handling, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron oreControlMaster, Phil Dean, Qube Bulk Pty, RCT, WhyallaDaniel Gleeson

RCT says it has finalised an automation project with port, logistics and infrastructure specialist Qube Bulk at the Whyalla Port in South Australia.

In 2019 RCT installed and commissioned its ControlMaster® Line of Sight automation solution as well as a single camera teleremote solution onto a Liebherr R920 excavator working at the port.

RCT says Qube Bulk approached it to develop a safer and more productive way to remove bulk cargoes – such as coal, dolomite and limestone – from bulk vessels to support the Whyalla steelworks operation.

“Now machine operators stand at a safe distance and use the automation technology to carry out the full range of functions that would normally be available to them when sitting in the cab of the machine,” the company said.

RCT Account Manager, Phill Dean, said: “Our ControlMaster solution interfaced seamlessly with the excavator’s systems and offers operators the exact same functionality available to them under the original equipment manufacturers’ guidelines,” he said.

“Now operators have a much safer and productive way of carrying out their work and ensuring operations at the Whyalla Port run smoothly.”

RCT embeds machine automation expertise in new Wi-Fi offering

14th January 2020Automation, Communications in mining, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining servicesautomation, Brendon Cullen, ControlMaster, digital communications, RCT, RCT Connect, underground communications, Wi-FiDaniel Gleeson

RCT says it has released the first digital Wi-Fi communications network designed specifically for machine automation and control in underground mining operations.

RCT Connect is designed to be user friendly and portable and can be installed into a production area and commissioned with minimal time and expertise, according to the automation leader.

The company has already made significant headway with RCT Connect, with the network having been tested at a mine site in Western Australia and recently deployed in an underground mining operation outside of Australia.

RCT Connect has been built to withstand the harsh conditions, common in underground mining environments, and can operate in temperatures ranging from -20°C (-4°F) to 60°C (140°F), RCT said.

It uses a coaxial cable able to transfer power and information to access points for up to 1.5 km before additional power insertion is required along the length of a drive, according to RCT.

“This feature offers several major benefits over traditional Wi-Fi deployments such as reduced requirement for configuration, eliminating costly cables to run between access points and a simple installation with only two connections,” the company said.

Once operational, RCT Connect provides a simple connection to a ControlMaster® Area Access Control at strategic locations which then links into the mine-wide communications backbone to transfer information to a machine operator located in a ControlMaster Automation Centre on the mine’s surface, the company said.

The platform operates at 2.4 GHz and is capable of carrying out remote diagnostics, live machine tracking and delivering live health and production data from the machine, according to RCT.

RCT Product Manager Automation & Control, Brendon Cullen, said RCT Connect offers several distinct advantages over commercially available digital communication networks.

“RCT Connect is specifically designed to ensure uninterrupted communication between the machine and the operator regardless of location,” he said.

“The platform has very stable performance with low, consistent latency and so ensures reliable communications between command inputs from the surface station and subsequent machine activities.”

He added: “We have also optimised the platform to enable smart roaming and, therefore, seamless handover between wireless access points so that there is no dropout along the length of the drives.”

In other commercially available communications networks, node handover is configured differently so if the machine is looking for a node or hangs on too long then communication failures arise, Cullen explained.

RCT Connect can be sold as a standalone package or in conjunction with RCT’s ControlMaster automation products.

RCT improves safety at South Africa diamond operation

8th January 2020Automation, Diamond mining, Mining equipment, Mining safetyCat, Caterpillar, ControlMaster, line of sight, Mike Thomas, RCT, wheel loaderDaniel Gleeson

RCT says it has installed its ControlMaster® Line-of-Sight solution on equipment at an open-pit diamond mine in South Africa.

In 2019, RCT installed and commissioned the solution on a CAT 994 wheel loader, which has been utilised to clear pit benches of debris falling from the crest of the bench above at the mine, owned by a major mining company, RCT said.

RCT’s locally-based Field Service Technician carried out commissioning works and empowered site equipment operators with the training necessary to efficiently manage the wheel loader, it said.

RCT’s Johannesburg-based Business Development Manager for Africa, Mike Thomas, said: “South Africa’s Department of Mining Regulations prohibited any mining personnel to be in close proximity with the bench’s toe.

“The Line-of-Sight technology meant equipment operators could stand at a safe distance in accordance with regulations and carry out their work as if they were sitting in the machine’s cab.”

He concluded: “Our ControlMaster automation technology integrated seamlessly into the wheel loader’s operating system and carries out the same range of functions as specified by the original equipment manufacturer.”

RCT takes Control of chutes at Indonesia mine

5th December 2019Automation, Communications in mining, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining servicesautomation, ControlMaster, Indonesia, ore chute, RCT, Shane Smith, West PapuaDaniel Gleeson

RCT says it has finalised the last stage of a project to automate 24 underground mine chutes for a client in West Papua, Indonesia.

Recently, RCT implemented ControlMaster® Teleremote technology onto 14 chutes to be managed by operators from four ControlMaster Automation Centres in a surface control room.

The latest work follows on from stage one works completed earlier this year where Teleremote technology was commissioned on 10 chutes connected to three Automation Centres.

All seven Automation Centres are equipped with Multiple Machine Selection enabling an operator to control any single chute system from their respective station, according to the automation specialist.

“The operators will now be able to observe chute operations through strategically placed cameras and remotely open and close the throat of each chute to pass ore and other material between different production levels for trucking to the surface,” the company said.

The individual camera feeds can be manipulated and adjusted via intuitive mouse control options at each Automation Centre. Previously operators were situated at the throat of each chute and manually operated each chute via their own line of sight.

RCT Account Manager, Shane Smith, said: “Previously chute operators contended with heat, dust, exhaust fumes and potential wet muck situations, which represent a substantial safety risk.

“Now they can more effectively manage the chutes from the safety and comfort of a surface control room which is far more preferable for everyone involved.”

The convenient location of the control room will also significantly reduce shift changeover time, as personnel can easily access the central control room rather than travel to each individual chute chamber, according to Smith.

RCT will provide on site training for site operators, while locally based technicians will deliver ongoing technical servicing and support to the site, the company said.

Costerfield gold-antimony mine firing on all cylinders thanks to RCT solution

28th November 2019Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, Explosives and blasting, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining servicesantimony, Australia, automation, ControlMaster, Costerfield, digitalisation, gold, Jayson Guzzo, Mine networks, RCT, teleremote, VictoriaDaniel Gleeson

Removing personnel from underground loading operations at Mandalay Resources’ Costerfield gold-antimony mine in Victoria, Australia, through RCT’s ControlMaster® Teleremote and Guidance Automation, has led to time and cost savings, as well as maintenance and safety benefits, according to a recent case study from the automation specialist.

Costerfield produces ore via a single portal underground mine with narrow vein mining carried out to extract vertical veins of ore. The mine produces up to 80,000 gold-antimony-equivalent ounces per year in a concentrate comprising around 54% antimony and 60 g/t gold.

The nature of narrow vein mining dictates that ore drives are quite thin to reduce the amount of waste material that is captured, with Costerfield’s drilling and blasting program designed to maximise ore recovery by throwing the ore towards the draw point. Historically, however, the site could only recover 75% of the ore, according to RCT, due to the remaining ore sitting in the stope void out of reach of the underground LHD as manually operated loaders could not exceed the stope brow.

Looking to increase productivity, Mandalay investigated implementing a loader that could be managed remotely to extract additional ore and to safeguard equipment operators from hazardous situations at the mine face. This led to it, in 2015, engaging RCT to implement its ControlMaster Teleremote and Guidance Automation product on a Sandvik LH203 LHD.

The automated loader enabled Mandalay Resources to retrieve significant amounts of ore that were previously unreachable, RCT said.

In recent years RCT has increased the autonomous fleet at Costerfield by commissioning ControlMaster Teleremote and Guidance Automation on a second Sandvik LH203 as well as a Sandvik LH151D.

The machines are managed from Fibre Optic Control Stations at secure locations in the underground mine protected by Laser Guard Containment Units as well as stations on the mine’s surface.

Jayson Guzzo, Major Projects and Innovation Manager – Costerfield, Mandalay Resources, said removing operators from the machine is the “best outcome” as it eliminates their exposure from one of the highest risk jobs, which is working at a stope brow.

“The small loaders we use are very rigid which has the potential for repetitive strain injuries,” he said. “They also have open cabs and, in this environment, dust, machine exhaust and debris can be an added safety concern.”

In mid-2019, Mandalay made the decision to implement a digital mine communications network to accommodate future technological growth.

Guzzo said: “Given that we are a narrow vein operation we may have to access ore a significant distance from the mine access point so we are looking at going to a digital platform so we can run a fibre backbone and autonomously operate machines over a vast distance.

“In a traditional mine, you might spend a whole week bogging a single stope before moving, but at Costerfield we might bog three or four headings in one shift, so the number of sites that we have to have set up at any one time are multiple, hence a digital system will significantly speed up the process of commissioning new drives.”

Mandalay has reported that ControlMaster Guidance Automation enabled them to carry out bogging and firing operations simultaneously, saving them substantial time which was previously spent clearing personnel to a safe distance, RCT said.

Guzzo said the solution has enabled the company to reduce shift changeover time by two thirds – which is a significant cost saving – and the site has also experienced less unplanned machine downtime.

“At Costerfield, the drives are roughly 2 m wide so Guidance Automation keeps the machines off the walls and stops them bouncing around the tunnels, so the damage to the machines is a lot less and results in significantly reduced unplanned maintenance time,” he said.

Guzzo concluded: “Relocating operators from the cab of our loaders to safer environments on the mine’s surface is essential and being able to continue bogging during firing as well as significantly reducing shift changeover time is critical to improving site productivity.

“Plant automation is definitely the way of the future in the mining industry and RCT are the leaders in that area, which is why they are our preferred supplier with this equipment.”

RCT brings teleremote options to Hindustan Zinc’s Rampura Agucha mine

3rd October 2019Automation, Base metals, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining softwareControlMaster, Hindustan Zinc, India, lead, Rampura Agucha, RCT, zincDaniel Gleeson

Autonomous solutions specialist RCT has entered into its first automation project in India, commissioning its technology on machinery at Hindustan Zinc’s Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine in Rajasthan province.

The agreement with Hindustan Zinc Limited and its mining services provider Barminco will see ControlMaster® Guidance Automation installed on two Cat R2900 underground LHDs at the mine. These loaders will now undertake teleremote mining in open stopes developed by Barminco.

Barminco, in February, was awarded a three-and-a-half-year underground mining services contract at Rampura Agucha. The mine, meanwhile, is currently undergoing an expansion to boost production to 5 Mt/y of ore.

RCT will install two underground ControlMaster Automation Centres, as well as four ControlMaster Area Access Cabinets into mine stopes, as part of this package. These will collectively enable machine operators to safely manage the machines away from the mine face, according to RCT.

The Automation Centres will also be equipped with Multiple Machine Selection and Multiple Machine Control options, enabling a single operator to manage both machines at one time, according to RCT.

The project represents the first time RCT has deployed its proprietary digital communications network RCT Connect into a mine site anywhere in the world, the company said, adding that RCT will carry out training programs to empower local operators and maintenance personnel then machine servicing works on an ongoing basis.

RCT and GBF reflect on decade-long automation partnership

4th June 2019Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining softwareAlan Moyle, automation, Brendon Cullen, Cat, ControlMaster, G-Dash, GBF, Guidance Automation, RCT, SandvikDaniel Gleeson

RCT and underground mining specialist, GBF, have marked 10 years of working together to implement autonomous technology into underground mining operations.

Since 2009, when GBF & RCT conducted underground trials of the ControlMaster® Guidance Automation system at Gold Fields Caves Rock mining operations, RCT has delivered 19 autonomous systems including Sandvik LH203s, CAT 2900Gs, R1700s, R1700Gs and R1300Gs at multiple GBF-run mine sites throughout Western Australia’s Goldfields, according to RCT.

The work collectively amounts to roughly 15,000 hours of machines operating on Guidance Automation within GBF-run operations.

“ControlMaster Guidance Automation has seen numerous software iterations over its product life starting with dynamic operator engagement, surface control to independent autonomous tramming and, more recently, multi machine control via RCT’s latest automation offering,” RCT said.

GBF Maintenance Superintendent Alan Moyle, who played a key role in the initial trials and has seen the Guidance Automation system evolve over the last 10 years, said RCT’s technology has significantly improved safe machine operations by removing personnel from the mine face as well as better operator fatigue control.

“Greater control features have reduced the amount of machine damage due to operator errors with consistent machine cycles enabling us to improve productivity and it provides us data when tendering for new contracts,” he said

“RCT have also provided multiple opportunities for GBF apprentices to gain experience with their latest modern technology which they have subsequently applied to their work.”

RCT Product Manager Automation & Control, Brendon Cullen, said GBF’s early adoption of RCT’s technology meant its operations have benefitted consistently as the product has evolved.

“GBF has been influential in driving features and improvements to the system over time and develop new features such as G-Dash which empower operator’s decision making by presenting a dashboard of the machinery in relation to its surrounding in real time,” he said

“GBF’s operators have also consistently provided feedback over time, resulting in improvements such as faster tramming times, better cornering speeds, more efficient braking and the evolution of the fully automated tramming cycle.

“As the mines are becoming deeper the drive to operate the machinery from the surface is becoming a key requirement to maximise production times. RCT continues to work in partnership with GBF to allow them to reach their goals as cost efficiently as possible using the technology available onsite at the time.”

RCT brings automation to MATSA underground operations in Spain

2nd May 2019Automation, Base metals, Communications in mining, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining softwareAguas Teñidas, automation, Automation Centre Surface Control Station, Cat, Caterpillar, ControlMaster, copper, Guidance Automation, Huelva, lead, LH621, Magdalena, MATSA, Mubadala Investment Co, polymetallic, R2900G, RCT, Sandvik, Shane Smith, Spain, teleremote, Trafigura, zincDaniel Gleeson

RCT says it has finalised a major automation project at MATSA’s Aguas Teñidas and Magdalena mines in the Huelva province of Spain.

The project involved installing ControlMaster® Guidance Automation on four CAT R2900G underground LHDs and one Automation Centre Surface Control Station at MATSA’s Aguas Teñidas copper-lead-zinc mine.

MATSA is a jointly-owned company by Mubadala Investment Co and Trafigura. It owns and operates three mines in the Huelva, including Aguas Teñidas, Magdalena and Sotiel, on top of a 4.4 Mt/y copper and polymetallic processing plant.

RCT’s automation centre at Aguas Teñidas is fitted out with RCT’s Multiple Machine Control feature enabling a single operator to remotely control multiple machines at the same time via the mine’s digital communications network.

RCT also commissioned two Sandvik LH621 underground LHDs with ControlMaster Guidance Automation at the nearby Magdalena copper mine. These Sandvik LHDs can operate on a digital network via RCT’s Area Access Cabinets which act as an extension of the automation centre and interfaces between the work areas and the machines.

This instalment builds on a previous project to mount ControlMaster Teleremote and Guidance Automation solutions on three of the site’s CAT R2900G LHDs, which operated on an analogue network via two surface control stations, according to RCT.

Guidance Automation allows machines to tram between two predetermined points on a mine site with the push of a button by operators who also receive real-time information including machine speed, rpm, direction, pitch and roll, RCT said.

“The automation centre consists of an ergonomically designed operators chair facing up from screens, which feed real-time information from sensors and machine-mounted cameras to the operator,” the company added. Teleremote, meanwhile, enables the operator to remotely manage the machine from a control station in real time.

A MATSA spokesperson said: “This system not only allows us to operate in hazardous conditions safely from the surface, but also increases productivity by permitting us to operate during shift change and smoke clearing. We also have the capability to simultaneously operate more than one piece of equipment with the same teleremote operator.”

RCT Account Manager, Shane Smith, said the Guidance Automation products would provide solid benefits for MATSA. “ControlMaster Guidance Automation has a proven track record of improving operator safety in a traditionally hazardous working environment by removing them from the mine face,” he said.

“The faster tramming speeds will also help to boost site productivity on site and limit unplanned machine downtime due to repairs from machinery accidents while the new automation centre will reduce operator fatigue due to improved comfort and ease-of-access on the mine’s surface.”