Mining companies betting on autonomous technology to make dangerous jobs safer

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press CALGARY — Forget about the canary in the coal mine — experts say the day is coming when there won’t even be a need for a human.

Today, companies are employing everything from driverless haul trucks to remote-controlled and robotic drilling machines to remove human labour from some of their most hazardous operations.

Teck Resources Ltd. is already using an autonomous haulage system at its Elkview steelmaking coal mine in British Columbia.

“Automation is changing where a mine actually gets controlled – it doesn’t have to be at the mine site,” said W. Scott Dunbar, head of the mining engineering department at the University of British Columbia. Productivity is one reason mining companies are making the move to automation. A tele-remote operated mining machine, for example, doesn’t need to take breaks, and doesn’t need to pause for shift changes.

At an investor presentation earlier this year, Imperial Oil CEO Brad Corson said the company’s fleet of autonomously operated heavy-haul Caterpillar trucks at its Kearl oilsands mine in northern Alberta is demonstrating 10 to 15 per cent higher productivity than staffed trucks.

The swift pace of automation is changing the types of jobs available at mine sites, in some cases making software

Northern, central B.C. airports getting upgrades

Nine small airports in northern and central B.C. are receiving provincial grants to support economic development, improve safety and increase access for rural communities.

The provincial government announced $19.8 million in funding for 40 projects at 29 rural and remote airports in B.C. through the BC Air Access Program. Projects include runway extensions, improved runway lighting, pavement improvements, terminal enhancements and better fire protection.

“The BC Air Access Program helps communities, especially smaller ones, with important improvements to their aviation facilities,” Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said in a statement. “This investment will help move people and goods, improve safety and benefit front-line services, like air ambulance and wildfire fighting, as well as making for more secure access to remote and Indigenous communities.” Projects in northern and central B.C. which received fund- skills more valuable at some companies than the ability to drive a truck.

Language in the current collective agreement between Teck Coal Ltd. and United Steelworkers Local 7884 — which contains an entire section about “technological change” and lays out the employer’s obligations in the event that “mechanization or automation of duties” leads to job losses — illustrates the nervousness some employees may feel about the prospect of remote-operated equipment and driverless trucks.

Imperial, too, says its former truck drivers haven’t lost their jobs, but have been redeployed to other parts of the organization or retrained to operate other equipment. Mark Crouse, industry account executive for mining with software giant SAP, said he’s been hearing mining customers talk about the potential for remote and autonomous technology for more than 20 years.

While the industry has only recently started moving more rapidly in this direction, Crouse said, he believes a day is coming when no one will have to go underground at all to mine the earth’s resources.

“Remember how not that long ago people were using flip phones, and how quickly things shifted? It’s not that far off,” Crouse said.

“The capabilities are already there. The technology already exists.”