DIGITAL MINING
“ TECHNOLOGY IS CONTINUING TO BE FURTHER DEVELOPED IN AN EFFORT TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS , AND ACHIEVE NET- ZERO EMISSIONS WITHIN THE MINING INDUSTRY ”
ANDREW MARTIN GENERAL MANAGER INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS , GLOBAL MINING GROUP , HITACHI
“ Autonomous equipment is one of the recent major trends , to increase safety , productivity and predictability . Hitachi Construction Machinery has developed the ZCORE system platform , which will help further facilitate the development of autonomous excavators , wheel loaders and rigid dump trucks ,” says Martin .
Safety is a major priority for mining companies . When looking at the safety aspect of the fleet management and autonomous haulage systems , allowing heavy machinery to move across mines without human operators on board may seem like a contradictory solution . The adoption of technology such as Hitachi AHS , however , can enhance safety and provide more productive operation across haul operational areas within high-risk environments and even mixed operational fleets . Hitachi Construction Machinery ’ s AHS embeds Hitachi technologies used in railway signalling safety systems , providing the ability to control the movement of vehicles around open-pit mines . Its applied object detection functionality identifies and directs the autonomous trucks to avoid potential collisions , and has the capability to manage and control operation when non-AHS vehicles are present , offering maximum site safety . Martin says “ our Autonomous Haulage System ( AHS ) is an enhanced system that delivers safety benefits and a streamlined mining solution to boost productivity , by enabling the unmanned autonomous operation of mining dump trucks . The deployment of Hitachi ’ s AHS is already underway with a focus to help customers realise greater value through higher fleet utilisation , increased operational efficiency , improved productivity , safety and cost performance .”
How does the Autonomous Haulage System integrate ? According to Martin , “ technological advancement through IoT , automation , AI and the effective use of data platforms are extremely relevant in mining . Hitachi
36 November 2021