Automation Expertise Enricher for Mines

SURFACE MINING

Rio Tinto Vice President of Human Resources Scott Browne with WesTrac CEO Jarvas Croome"

Automation Expertise Enricher for Mines

more than 100 rIo tInto worKers have already received training to handle autonomous equipment as a result of a collaboration between WESTRAC and Rio Tinto, who’ve already celebrated their first sixmonth partnership.

A100 more trainees are yet to finish training by the end of the year at the WesTrac Technology Training Centre in Collie. In March, Rio Tinto implemented this new program that prepares its employees for several jobs at its Gudai-Darri mine in the Pilbara. The site at Collie has been renovated to enable this training. Students in the course either have no previous experience in the sector or are former employees of non-automated Rio Tinto facilities.

During a recent interview, Rio Tinto's vice president of human resources, Scott Browne, said that roughly 40% of Gudai-employees Darri's were redeployed and had no experience handling such machinery. It also comprises practical elements, such as equipment operated and used manually, for managing and utilizing vehicles used for passenger transport in autonomous transportation zones. Equipment to enable safe contact with autonomous cars has to be equipped with technology!

New autonomous truck system users may find that concept difficult to comprehend. They see the independent haul truck, but they don't perceive all the underlying mechanisms that enable it to function. These mechanisms monitor the whole fleet and mine and prioritize to optimize the mine. There is also artificial intelligence that examines the fuel level of a vehicle, together with other fleet data, and discovers an opportunity for the truck to carry an additional shipment.

WesTrac CEO Jarvas Croome said that knowledge such as this will be essential when the industry shifted away from traditional sources of power, such as gasoline and diesel, and moved to alternative power sources, such as batteries. To support this, a service maintenance training module for autonomous equipment on-field activities is also provided at the Collie location.