Tag Archives: fleet management system

FQM Çayeli Bakir boosts productivity with introduction of Micromine Pitram

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

Micromine says the unification of Çayeli Bakir’s mine control and fleet management processes, with the recent implementation of the Micromine Pitram fleet management system (FMS), has resulted in a significant productivity increase.

Located on the Black Sea coast in Türkiye, Çayeli Bakir is a significant copper and zinc mine operated by First Quantum Minerals.

Facing rising operational costs and the complexities of operating multiple ore bodies, Çayeli Bakir implemented Micromine Pitram to unify its mine control and fleet management under one powerful solution.

Since deploying Micromine Pitram, Çayeli Bakir has doubled its target-hitting activities and achieved an average productivity increase of 18%, according to Micromine, with Pitram’s data visualisation and equipment tracking capabilities allowing Çayeli Bakir to optimise its operations with real-time insights.

This unified approach to mine control has enabled more effective decision making and efficient allocation of resources, helping to reduce costs while improving overall safety and productivity, the provider added.

“Micromine Pitram’s real-time monitoring capabilities have transformed our approach to mining,” Çayeli Bakir’s Cost Control & Design Engineer, Sevda Kartoğlu, says. “With Pitram, we can track our assets and personnel, make data-driven decisions and adjust our operations on the go. This ability to optimise our resources on such a scale has been invaluable to our team.”

Integration with ERP systems further enhances Çayeli Bakir’s ability to convert data into actionable insights, supporting the mine’s broader business intelligence goals, according to Micromine.

Specific gains include an 8% increase in production tonnes, a 39% boost in development and a 26% rise in rock bolting. Additionally, the mobile app Pitram Connect allows supervisors to monitor operations remotely, providing on-demand data access and improving response times to any potential disruptions.

Micromine’s Business Development Manager, Credo Unamaca, said: “The ongoing success of Micromine Pitram at Cayeli Bakir demonstrates the impact that digital transformation can have on
mining operations. We are proud to support Çayeli Bakir in achieving its productivity and efficiency goals, showcasing the capabilities of Micromine Pitram as a leader in mine control solutions.”

Fortescue ready to disrupt the decarbonisation status quo

Automation, Environmental, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It was hard to keep up with Fortescue at MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas, last week – IM did its best – with the mining company having on-booth presentations throughout the three days and four press events on four other stands during the show.

The company’s presence was felt far beyond this, with the headline $2.8 billion agreement to supply 475 new Liebherr machines featuring Fortescue’s innovative green technology to Fortescue’s operations in Western Australia being a major talking point.

This was swiftly followed by announcements that the company would work with MacLean on delivering a fleet of 30 GR8 electric graders to its sites, take delivery of Australia’s first Epiroc Pit Viper 271 E (PV271E) electric-driven blasthole drill rig at one of its mines, and work with Scania on developing and validating a fully integrated autonomous road train solution, leveraging Scania’s technology in truck automation and Fortescue’s own fleet management system (FMS).

The common theme among all these was the perception that Fortescue should be viewed as more than just a mining company.

“There is an opportunity here for Fortescue to be seen as a technology company, as opposed to solely an iron ore miner,” Dino Otranto, CEO of Fortescue Metals, told IM after another press event appearance.

The technology the company acquired and is now deploying via its purchase of Williams Advanced Engineering in early 2022 is a key part of this transition. This has led to the development of battery-electric solutions as well as charging solutions – Fortescue Zero now has a 6 MW charging solution to call on.

Otranto got into some of the specifics behind this offering – including mention of an in-house DC-DC converter that is significantly smaller than other ultraclass battery-electric trucks showcased at the show, as well as batteries that are both cheaper and offer higher power densities than others on the market – and said these elements would all come into the Liebherr and MacLean machines that appear on site in Western Australia.

The Fortescue MINExpo 2024 booth was a hive of activity, with many interested parties looking to find out more about the company’s battery-electric solutions

He went further than this though, outlining how the company’s “Fortex” solution – which combines autonomous haulage, FMS and Level 9 collision avoidance – would seamlessly integrate all the elements to create optimised autonomous and electric sites of the future.

“What we are developing with Fortex is akin to Android,” he said. “Where the traditional OEM models lock you into Apple and iOS, we want to offer an Android-style open source platform that allows you to share data and interface with other apps within the ecosystem.

“You will soon see us demonstrate that through the process of a traction power system at a mine site.”

With some of the energy requirement numbers for full battery-electric fleets being discussed today it is hard to see any company being able to commercialise zero-emission fleet haulage solutions without an overriding energy management platform. The operation will inevitably have to be optimised (read: automated) to ensure no kilowatt of energy is wasted and no machines run out of battery power. Add in automation, and the safety element around vehicle interaction also comes into play.

The AHS solution Fortescue and Liebherr have jointly developed as part of its latest rollout in Western Australia has a fleet management assignment engine at the core to monitor fleet energy levels. This should mean material movement and energy replenishment tasks can be assigned efficiently within zero emission fleets equipped with the system.

In this regard, Fortescue has its ‘ducks in a row’ to compete with the traditional mining OEMs in the evolving decarbonisation space.

The company will have to take these OEMs on, with Otranto acknowledging there are a finite number of Liebherrs and MacLeans willing to provide the machines that the company’s batteries will power, as well as an even smaller pool of companies open to accepting the type of AHS and FMS integration Fortescue currently envisages.

“We’re aware that some OEMs will do everything they can to protect their supply chain, but what we are offering – especially on the software side – represents real disruption,” Otranto said.

“We are looking to take a decent market share in the mining sector when it comes to decarbonisation, but there are even bigger opportunities outside of mining – in construction, in shipping, with locomotives, etc.”

IM Editor, Dan Gleeson (left), with Dino Otranto, Fortescue Metals CEO (right), at MINExpo 2024

Such a move would bolster the company’s bottom line, as well as allow Fortescue to be rated by the investment community as something equivalent to a technology stock: a status that comes with premium trading multiples.

This business model adaptation already appears to be gaining traction.

IM has spoken to mining companies in touch with Fortescue about potentially deploying some of its solutions within a mine decarbonisation context.

Reuters also reported, last week, that Fortescue and Liebherr have secured orders for 100 autonomous battery-powered mining trucks for other mining and transport companies, quoting Fortescue Executive Chairman, Andrew Forrest.

Fortescue is evidently ready to disrupt the decarbonisation status quo. The question is: is the wider mining company community willing to accept this new market dynamic?

Fortescue, Scania to develop fully integrated autonomous road train solution

Automation, Environmental, Mine operation news, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , ,

Fortescue and Scania have agreed to jointly develop and validate a fully integrated autonomous road train solution, leveraging Scania’s technology in truck automation and Fortescue’s own Fleet Management System (FMS).

The autonomous solution would be developed, tested and validated in partnership at Fortescue’s iron ore operations at Christmas Creek.

“By utilising Scania’s extensive knowledge in supplying trucks to the mining industry and our expertise in autonomous driving, the Road Train solution will reduce the overall mining footprint,” Manfred Streit, Managing Director at Scania Australia, said.

With Scania’s technology in truck automation, the autonomous solution would be integrated with Fortescue’s FMS designed to optimise fleet utilisation and maximise productivity, while ensuring efficient fuel and energy consumption to reduce carbon emissions. The solution would also integrate Scania’s on-board autonomation hardware and technology for the Scania R770 prime mover platform, coupled with three trailers weighing 120 t with a payload of 240 t.

“This is a great opportunity for Scania to learn more about autonomy in demanding conditions with an innovative partner,” Peter Hafmar, Head of Autonomous Solutions, Scania, says.

Fortescue Metals Chief Executive Officer, Dino Otranto, says: “Our deep expertise in autonomous haulage has enabled us to jointly develop a unique autonomous solution that unlocks high grade, satellite deposits for us to mine economically. This project would help us maximise productivity with unique low-cost solutions in our mining value chain.”

Scania Australia has been working closely with Fortescue for many years, and is pleased to see this joint development project become a reality.

Robert Taylor, Head of Mining at Scania Australia, said: “Their heavy haul trucks operate in an incredibly harsh environment. The local and global mining specialists have devised a solution that will bring both efficiency and safety.”

Master Drilling takes stake in mining fleet management specialist AVA Solutions

Communications in mining, IoT, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , ,

Master Drilling Group has announced a 40% investment in AVA Solutions, a specialist in data-driven mining fleet management solutions.

Founded in 2015 by Anton Fourie and Jason van der Watt, two engineers with over 25 years of combined mining industry experience, AVA has achieved significant recognition in South Africa by creating a captive market for its disruptive, hardware-agnostic and quick to implement Software as a Service (SaaS) model at much lower costs to other solutions, Master Drilling says. Currently, AVA’s digital platform analyses and tracks more than 1,800 load and haul vehicles across 28 different sites in five countries for a range of major companies including the likes of Anglo American, Exxaro and South32.

Danie Pretorius, Master Drilling CEO, said: “Technological innovation is a key priority for Master Drilling as we continue to support our clients to move down the cost curve, optimise their operations and increase safety. Our investment in AVA is aligned with our strategy to diversify our services and invest in opportunities in our existing target markets with low capital requirements and short return cycles.

“We believe that AVA has great growth potential, and we look forward to supporting them through our existing client base and networks internationally.”

AVA’s solution was shaped by the founders’ knowledge of the mining industry and understanding of the challenges faced in the production environment, according to Master Drilling. “By condensing multiple technology layers into a single interface, AVA ensures that equipment operates at its optimal level of performance with little to no additional capital investment,” it said.

Anton Fourie, Co-Founder and COO of AVA, said: “We have grown exponentially from a start-up five years ago to a recognised player with a proven technology for the mining industry. We have a clear strategy to provide an end-to-end solution that goes beyond the load and haul environment and across the entire mining value chain. Through our partnership with Master Drilling, we are gaining access to extensive experience that will support the ongoing development of our platform and a footprint that will accelerate our international expansion.”

The next developments for AVA’s scalable platform will focus on new elements including scheduling and logistics that will enable mines to not only improve productivity of the load and haul value chain but of the entire mining value chain, according to Master Drilling.

Newcrest looks to new FMS, haul truck trays for Red Chris improvements

Base metals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , ,

With gold and copper production dropping and costs increasing, the Red Chris mine, in British Columbia, Canada, is set for a number of improvement initiatives, according to 70% owner Newcrest Mining.

In the company’s September quarter results, Newcrest said Red Chris gold and copper production came in at 12,636 oz and 7,050 t, respectively, during the three-month period. This was down from the 15,440 oz of gold and 8,401 t of copper registered in the June 2020 quarter.

Newcrest said the circa-3,000 oz drop in gold output reflected a higher proportion of lower-grade stockpile material being fed to the mill due to unseasonal rainfall hitting the availability of higher grade ex-pit material.

This lower-grade mill feed adversely impacted recovery rates, partially offset by a 13% increase in mill throughput following process control improvements and a higher proportion of stockpiled material with “characteristics that enabled increased processing rates”, it said.

Red Chris’ all-in sustaining cost of $2,621/oz in the September quarter were significantly up on the $1,536/oz seen in the previous quarter. This was driven by increased sustaining capital expenditure, higher operating costs due to “seasonal benefits allowing increased activities to be scheduled”, together with the impact of a strengthening Canadian dollar against the US dollar and lower copper sales volume, it said. These factors were only partially offset by the benefit of a higher realised copper price.

With one quarter of Newcrest’s 2021 financial year down, the company said it is planning to put in place a number of additional improvements across the site. Included in this is a new fleet management system, the replacement of the conventional Cat 793 truck trays with “high-performance trays” to realise payload benefits, and several throughput and recovery-related projects.

The company has 45,000-55,000 oz of gold and 25,000-30,000 t of copper production slated for Red Chris in its 2021 financial year.

Upon announcing the acquisition of a majority stake in the asset in 2019, Newcrest Managing Director and CEO, Sandeep Biswas, said there was potential to turn the Red Chris orebody into a Tier 1 operation.

It also outlined a two-stage plan to deliver value from the $806.5 million acquisition. This included applying its “Edge transformation approach” to the existing Red Chris open-pit mine and processing plant, and potentially leveraging industry leading mining methods and technology such as block caving, coarse ore flotation and ore sorting.

ABB tackles ‘open automation’ with UWA, ETP, AMIRA Global and Gold Fields

Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ABB says it has linked with the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) new Energy & Resources Digital Interoperability Industry 4.0 (ERDi i4.0) TestLab, run by Enterprise Transformation Partners (ETP), to advance Industry 4.0 open process automation standards.

This includes collaboration on AMIRA Global’s P1208 Interoperability Enablement for Natural Resources project, which is designed to realise the future digital mine. It aims to develop and implement interoperability standards for mine planning, mine scheduling and execution so equipment and applications for mine operations become ‘plug and play’. Building on the University of Western Australia I4.0 ERDi Test Lab (pictured), this initiative will enable an off-site test laboratory to evaluate efficacy of interoperability of technology without disrupting ongoing mining activities, according to ABB.

Separate to the AMIRA project, ABB is also working closely with ETP on an integrated systems project at Gold Fields’ Granny Smith mine, 740 km northeast of Perth, Western Australia, one of the largest and highest producing gold operations in the country.

The project will enhance ABB Ability™ Operations Management System (OMS) Platform – Fleet Management Software Module to support the latest in reliable messaging and Industry 4.0 interoperability standards; ISA-95 (IEC 62264) via B2MML V7.0, ABB said. This advancement will enable the mine to connect and coordinate mine operators, workforce, equipment and all mining activities in real-time, from face preparation to crusher, according to the company.

“In 2019, we launched the Integrated Systems project to increase production throughput of the Granny Smith gold mine,” Michael Place, Technical Service Manager, Gold Fields Australia, said. “To achieve the objective of a fully-connected mine, we are working with ABB and ETP to build an integrated business process and system architecture that will enable visibility of operational activities in near real-time via automated information exchange between various mining systems.

“The system architecture has been designed to allow deployment across various operations, both open pit and underground. This deployment will be the major phase of the technology strategy for the Granny Smith mine and will be a pilot for integrated platforms across Gold Fields Australia, which aims to create one of the most innovative, digitally connected mines in the world. This project and agreement will be key to achieving this.”

ETP Managing Director, John Kirkman, said: “ABB’s investment, both in financial terms as well as time, together with their expertise, is critical for this project to support the re-engineering of products that are often required to deliver a reliable, performant and standards compliant software package.

“The performance requirements of a software package that exchanges and processes granular events with rich information in real-time, when compared to a software package designed for periodical manual entry, are like comparing chalk and cheese, and that’s where ABB plays a big role.”

Stuart Cowie, Head of Industrial Automation Process Industries, ABB Australia, added: “Industry 4.0 and digital transformation are huge opportunities for the Australian mining industry with automation, analytics, and artificial intelligence generating insights and accelerating greater productivity and efficiency.

“This underlines ABB’s commitment to ensuring Industry 4.0 concepts influence its product roadmaps into the future, and demonstrates the significant value that can be delivered to customers through interoperability and automation across both processes and systems. It will give ABB valuable insights into digital transformation and Industry 4.0 concepts for mining. Through our work with the ERDi TestLab, the OMS platform has become an even more powerful tool with reliable real-time access to operational data through ISA95 standardised messages.”

As part of POC 1, ABB will showcase ABB Ability Operations Management System and Fleet Management System software to AMIRA P1208 project sponsors, automatically exchanging information with scheduling and materials tracking software packages via i4.0 standard interfaces.

Hitachi to trial autonomous tech on ultra-large hydraulic excavators in Australia

Automation, Communications in mining, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , ,

Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM) is looking at trialling autonomous ultra-large hydraulic excavators at an Australia mine site as part of a series of verification tests.

The tests, set to begin from the start of the 2021 financial year (from April 1, 2021), are geared towards improving future mining site safety and productivity, HCM said.

“The remote controlled ultra-large hydraulic excavator will be developed in order to improve the working environment and ensure the safety of operators,” the company stated. “This excavator will be equipped with operator support systems, such as a collision avoidance system with other mining equipment, to ensure the same level of operability as with the operator on board the machinery.”

Following the initial development, some part of the excavation and loading operation will be automated to allow a single remote operator to operate multiple ultra-large hydraulic excavators, the company said.

“The incremental development will eventually realise the ultra-large hydraulic excavators with autonomous operation features,” HCM said.

The remote control, driving support system for manned excavators and autonomous operation features are all retrofittable onto the EX-7 series of ultra-large hydraulic excavators to enable mining site customers to use the equipment they currently operate, while supporting autonomous operation at mining sites in the future, HCM said.

The company explains: “Mining resources including iron ore and copper sustain the activities of global industries, and the sites which mine these resources are required to operate in a stable manner 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“In contrast, the operators of ultra-large hydraulic excavators are required to repeatedly perform complex operations for a long period of time while paying attention to avoid collision with surrounding equipment and the stability of the vehicle, in order to excavate and load mining resources in an efficient manner.”

Because the safety and productivity of ultra-large hydraulic excavator operation largely depends on the operator’s skill and experience, building a production system that does not depend on these skills and reduces the operator’s workload are important issues at mining sites, it said.

Such developments have been coming from the group considering the company entered the mining machinery business in the late 1970s, and has made leaps in tele-remote operations of excavators within other sectors.

For example, the company used a remote-controlled unmanned excavator to advance the development of technologies in the reconstruction work at Mount Unzen Fugen-dake volcanic eruption in 1992. In 2013, it also led the industry by advancing the development of technologies for long-distance remote control by remotely operating a hydraulic excavator located in the Urahoro test site, Hokkaido, over an internet connection from approximately 800 km away in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture.

“Now, we have decided to begin verification tests at an actual mining site to advance the development of autonomous driving for ultra-large hydraulic excavators, reflecting the needs of customers,” it said.

The autonomous operation for ultra-large hydraulic excavators can be deployed as a standalone system, or as a part of fleet management system (FMS), such as the Fleet Control from Wenco International Mining Systems, a HCM subsidiary with a solid implementation track record at large-scale mines.

“Our goal is to balance a high degree of safety and productivity by having autonomous operation through sharing the information among the autonomous ultra-large hydraulic excavators, dump trucks and other equipment,” the company said.

Operation support system

Because it is difficult to assess the conditions around the vehicle and the inclination of the vehicle during remote control compared with a manned operation, the actual machinery will be equipped with a collision avoidance system and a vehicle stability monitoring system to reduce the burden on the operator performing the remote control during the verification tests, HCM said.

In addition, Wenco has been advancing the development of an excavator payload monitoring system, which measures the weight of the material inside the bucket, and plans to test this feature at the same time.

Reflecting the needs of actual customers through verification testing will further improve remote control and driving support technologies in ultra-large hydraulic excavators, HCM said.

“These operator support systems can be retrofitted onto the EX-7 series of ultra-large hydraulic excavators and are scheduled to be ready for the market during the 2022 financial year (April 1, 2022 onwards) as systems installed on actual machinery to increase operation safety,” the company said.

Integration with the autonomous haulage system (AHS)

HCM began researching AHS in 2009, with six EH5000 rigid dump trucks now starting 24-hour autonomous haulage at Whitehaven’s Maules Creek coal mine in New South Wales, Australia.

Because a diverse and large quantity of manned and unmanned machineries mix together in a large-scale mining operation, the radio communication needed for the operating control must be managed in a stable manner, HCM explained.

“The AHS from Hitachi Construction Machinery runs on the Wenco FMS and utilises various technologies from the Hitachi Group to realise a significant advantage by extending its range of control up to a maximum of 100 vehicles,” the company said.

The goal of autonomous ultra-large hydraulic excavators is to balance a high level of safety and productivity, even in the autonomous mining sites of the future, by sharing information with dump trucks and other machinery.

The Hitachi Construction Machinery Group has thus far been engaged in realising “reliable solutions” to solve social issues as a close and reliable partner for our customers, it said.

“Going forward, we will continue to promote the development of long-distance remote control and autonomous driving, ultra-large hydraulic excavators using ICT and IoT for mining industry customers around the world to help provide the higher level of safety and mine management productivity improvements that our customers require,” the company concluded.