PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining major Rio Tinto has successfully completed the first fully autonomous rail journey at its Pilbara iron-ore operations.
The miner on Monday said that the nearly 100-km pilot run was completed without a driver on board, making it the first fully autonomous heavy haul train journey ever completed in Australia.
“This successful pilot run puts us firmly on track to meet our goal of operating the world’s first fully-autonomous heavy haul, long distance rail network, which will unlock significant safety and productivity benefits for the business,” said Rio Tinto iron-ore CEO Chris Salisbury.
“Rio Tinto is proud to be a leader in innovation and autonomous technology in the global mining industry which is delivering long-term competitive advantages as we build the mines of the future. New roles are being created to manage our future operations and we are preparing our current workforce for new ways of working to ensure they remain part of our industry.”
The company is hoping to fully implement its AutoHaul project in late 2018, once all relevant safety and acceptance criteria have been met and regulatory approvals obtained.
“Gains from AutoHaul are already being realised including reduced variability and increased speed across the network, helping to reduce average cycle times,” Salisbury said.