Back in 2003, the vet professor of mining at the Varsity of British Columbia started telling students to prepare for a ground-shaking transition into automated mining equipment: bots.

Think driverless dump vans, remote-operated drilling autos, and other craft to do difficult or threatening work underground.

The installation of these facilities and the maintenance of apparatus will be done by electrical and valve testing mechanical people, but mining engineers have to understand the guidelines behind this equipment and how it all coordinates together. Within just a few years you are going to be accountable for a fleet of wagons that are absolutely robotic. ‘”

This transition isn’t about replacing folk. Demand for mining engineers and skilled labour has skyrocketed and mining firms around the planet anticipate an employee shortage. Worker safety is the most important reason for automation.

Going underground is a deadly occupation and if we are able to set up systems where we will be able to operate the equipment remotely from surface, then we’ve took away the miner from the danger.

There are similar advantages for the open-pit mines that typify operations.

A van driver in an open pit mine … At the beginning of a shift could be wide awake, but what about the end of 12 hours of driving back and forth between Point An and Point B? Every year, three or four truck drivers are killed because they have fallen asleep or driven over the side. It is a dangerous occupation.

Robot lorry movements are so consistent that operators must make minute permutations in the path they follow, otherwise they’d wear ruts into roads around the mine.

There’s another reason for the transition. The quality of ore at older mines has a tendency to decline as operations move from the original ore body. That implies mine operators need to get even more efficient if they wish to continue to be profitable.

What we are seeing in the industry are real challenges linked with the falling ore grades at existing operations and existing mines – and having to move with larger and bigger equipment to get the same yield.

Also , exploration and new findings of ore areas are generally in fairly evil places on Earth with almost no existing structure. The new frontier in the north, with an absence of infrastructure – prerequisites for power and water solutions – is definitely a trend.

Andy Swallow’s works are in books, articles and websites all around the world. Read more: contact us or free quote