Roy Hill is preparing to deploy remote controlled bulldozers to work the coarse ore stockpile at its mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The miner has engaged Remote Control Technologies (RCT) on the “extensive project” which sees dozer operators relocated to a control station.
Two dozers have been fitted with the RCT equipment, which enables remote control operation but also enables the equipment to communicate with the “coarse ore stockpile stacker infrastructure”.
The stacker is a large piece of equipment that transports ore or other bulk material along a conveyer belt and tips it onto a stockpile, where it is then worked by the bulldozers.
The connectivity between the equipment was needed “to ensure [the] machines operate free from potential collisions and damage”, RCT said.
The system has reached “operational readiness” and implementation is likely to begin shortly, the vendor indicated.
The Roy Hill mine has been designed from the ground-up to be heavily automated. Like other major miners, it runs a remote operations centre 1200km away from the mine, which manages much of the mine’s operations.
