A mining services company celebrated favourable results from an autonomous trial.
Thiess recently declared two automated Caterpillar rigs were successfully piloted.
For the first time a multi-pass MD6250 and two single-pass MD6310s drills completed their trial run while remotely controlled from WesTrac’s off-site remote operating centre in Tomago, more than 120km away from the test site.
“It is also the first time that we have passed autonomous drills back and forth between an on-site remote operating station and an off-site remote operating centre,” Thiess head of autonomy and asset management Matt Petty said in a public statement.
Site manager production John Hamson claimed autonomous technology will improve workplace safety, productivity and efficiency.
“Autonomous operations enable us to remove people from a high exposure, active mining environment. It also gives us greater fatigue management opportunities enabling controllers to take coffee and toilet breaks, stand up and stretch their legs without interrupting operations,” he said.
“It has delivered a material improvement in drill utilisation, by reducing unscheduled stoppages due to weather and allowing drilling closer to blasts. We have also seen a 20 per cent improvement in drilling performance, with daily utilisation of more than 20 hours per drill and improved accuracy with zero redrilled holes.”
Affected employees will be retrained and redeployed.
“It provides career pathways for our people to develop and upskill to operate and maintain latest technology, equipping them for future mining,” Hamson said.
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