http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
BHP Billiton’s mining truck drivers are outpacing their robotic counterparts when it comes to efficiency and loading at West Australian iron ore mines, indicating the miner is a long way from any decision to follow rival Rio Tinto in a large-scale driverless truck rollout.
For a little more than a year, BHP has been trialling Caterpillar autonomous trucks at its newest Pilbara region iron ore mine, Jimblebar.
The trial was recently extended to March and a decision to add three more trucks to the nine-truck fleet was taken.
But despite autonomous Caterpillar trucks making up a little over a third of the 25 trucks at the overperforming Jimblebar — the mine came on early, ramped up quicker than expected and will now produce more than flagged — they are only moving 16 per cent of the dirt and ore.
The fact annual truck hours in the manned fleet across BHP iron ore have grown from 4500 to more than 6000, a one-third improvement, is a big factor.
“We’ve seen a very material improvement in the manned truck productivity level,” BHP iron ore mines boss Eduard Haegel said at the company’s Perth office last week.
“Every time the autonomous truck improves a little bit, the manned truck improves just as much, so, as it stands today, the manned truck team is out-¬competing the autonomous fleet.”
BHP has been a slower mover on autonomous haulage than the more technology-embracing Rio.
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