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Executive summary of Autonomous and Remote Operation Technologies in the [Australian] Mining Industry
Over the past decade, Australia has benefited greatly from its natural resource endowments. The sustained mining boom has contributed significantly to economic growth, investment, employment, as well as taxation and royalty payments to governments, and continues to do so. While some parts of the manufacturing sector have suffered from the appreciation of the Australian dollar, Australia’s services sector has played a key role in supporting the growth of the mining sector and has profited accordingly.
On recent Reserve Bank of Australia estimates, around half of the cost of new mining investment was spent locally on labour and other inputs. In addition, Australian residents received more than half of the earnings from the mining sector. Moreover, while mining operations are concentrated in the resource-rich states, the distribution of mining receipts has been dispersed across the country and has played a key role in keeping unemployment rates low in all states since the onset of the resources boom.
In the future, the consensus is that the strength in demand for raw materials will be sustained as developing countries industrialise and lift the living standards of their populations. Rising demand and recent higher prices have accordingly fuelled a global exploration and development effort that will result in mining activities expanding in both traditional and emerging minerals producing countries.
Australia has the reserves to remain a major resources producer for many years, but faces a number of challenges in remaining competitive. Productivity improvements in the mining sector have been weak for a number of years, reflecting a declining quality of deposits and increasing difficulties in accessing them. Surface and underground mining is inherently hazardous; the health and safety of employees is a priority for mining companies and must be assured at great cost. The mining sector also faces a shortage of skilled workers that is projected to become more severe in the future. Finally, the impact of mining operations on all aspects of the environment is a key issue and must be addressed as an integral part of all mining operations. This context contrasts with that in many other resource rich countries with significant untapped deposits that have only recently begun to develop their own mining industries. While non-traditional producing countries face a number of hurdles in bringing their mines to full production, a significant development effort with associated large capital flows is directed toward the emerging mining industries in these countries. In order to succeed in the global market place, Australian mining businesses must therefore innovate and change their operations to at least match the costs of their international competitors.
A process of incremental innovation has taken place in the mining industry for many years, but has recently accelerated with the emergence of powerful new technologies. These innovations have delivered a broad range of benefits, including enhanced employee health and safety outcomes, technical efficiencies that make better use of equipment and cut down on materials and energy usage, and improved environmental outcomes. They are also diverse and specifically tailored to a particular mining environment, such as a wide range of safety and monitoring systems developed for underground and surface mines.
Today, the focus in mining innovation has turned to the development of remotely operated and autonomous mining equipment and systems. These technologies represent a class of innovations that involve a step-change in the research and development (R&D) effort and are likely to profoundly change how minerals are mined and processed in the future. Automated systems allow humans to communicate with and control machinery remotely without exposure to hazardous mining environments, reduce or entirely eliminate health and safety risks, and make for a more attractive work place, including for women. Automated equipment can be better utilised, operates in a more controlled and precise manner and has a longer useful life, resulting in significant efficiency improvements.
In many instances, efficiency improvements translate into reduced requirements for energy and consumables, as well as less waste, and therefore better environmental outcomes. Examples of existing innovations range from specific pieces of equipment such as remote controlled or autonomous vehicles and drilling equipment, to entire mines that have been designed and built around automated systems so as to minimise the human presence in a dangerous mining environment. Such automated mines also deliver material improvements at the system level, in terms of the ability to monitor and control all aspects of an operation in real-time. In Australia, Rio Tinto’s ambitious ‘Mine of the Future™’ program to automate and remotely control almost all aspects of the company’s Pilbara operations from Perth is the most high-profile of these initiatives.
While the direct benefits of automated mining operations, in terms of improved safety, efficiency and environmental outcomes are immediately apparent, these systems also come at a significant cost. Automated mining relies on an array of new technologies in the fields of computing, signalling and sensing technologies, as well as sophisticated communications systems. Developing these technologies for a particular mining environment is correspondingly complex and requires collaboration between experts from different scientific fields, as well as between mining companies and equipment producers. The full-scale roll-out and commercial use of these technologies can only occur after extensive R&D and multiple intermediate testing stages; a process characterised by very high rates of failure.
In spite of these challenges, Australia today is a global leader in research into mining automation. Institutions such as the CSIRO and CRCMining that are funded partly by government and partly by business, have developed a number of mining and associated processing innovations, including in the field of mine automation. Rio Tinto funds three Australian research centres, including the Rio Tinto Centre for Mine Automation, as well as two centres located overseas. A notable development alongside Australia’s world-class mining R&D capability is the emergence of an Australian mining technology services and equipment (MTSE) sector. That sector consists of small to medium-sized companies, and has become a dominant presence in the global market for the supply of innovative products and services for the mining industry.
Overall, and while the costs and associated challenges involved in mine automation are substantial, they are potentially far outweighed by the benefits they can deliver to Australians and the Australian economy. Such innovations can significantly reduce the risks to human health and safety, as well as delivering process and systems efficiencies and environmental benefits. These benefits may help to counteract a number of the challenges currently facing the industry, including persistent skills and labour shortages, declining ore grades and more complex mining environments, as well as environmental challenges arising from the need to reduce emissions and impacts on the environment.
From a longer-term perspective, increased automation may sustain Australia’s competitiveness compared to a situation where resource exports decline in importance relative to those from competitor countries with equally good or better resource endowments but fewer constraints. In addition, the Australian mining technology services and equipment sector is now a dominant presence in the global market for the supply and development of technology goods and services for the minerals industry. As technologies have progressed, the range of applications has also widened and a number of companies now supply industries beyond mining. This industry is set to become a major export earner as a spin-off from the mining industry. Longer-term, and if trends over the past decade are anything to go by, the corresponding economic benefits for the economy are likely to be substantial.
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