The great tech race
August 25 - 31, 2010
FIRST out of the blocks in the race to develop an autonomous mining truck, Caterpillar is no longer the frontrunner. But it’s not important to be first, representatives of the equipment giant maintain; what’s important is to have the best technology and building blocks for “an autonomous mine” they now see as inevitable.
Danckert’s view of mining’s brave new world
August 18 - 24, 2010
ORGANISATIONAL visibility – including visibility of the people driving change within Rio Tinto – is a cornerstone of the mining giant’s bid to change to enable it to cope with an increasingly complex and uncertain world, Rio Tinto Iron Ore general manager, resource development, Gerard Danckert said at the AusIMM Open Pit Mining Conference.
A TULIP and a ROES
August 25 - 31, 2010
MINERS seem to have a growing affection for technology. But two radical concepts look likely to test the depth of that fondness – literally – in the coming months.
Closer scrutiny of comminution power needed
August 25 - 31, 2010
AN increasing focus on cost and carbon-footprint reduction in mineral processing among researchers and the metallurgical community has been slow to make its way into mining boardrooms, according to Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, managing director of Australian company Gekko Systems. “The education of company directors is essential to assist acceleration of new comminution strategies for the mining industry,” she says.
Five technologies that will rock the mining world: exclusive HighGrade survey
July 28 - August 3, 2010
CENTRALISATION, visualisation, simulation, optimisation, automation and communication are all words linked to technologies that industry leaders around the world believe can radically change mining in the decade ahead. Corporate “motivation”, they say, has been lacking in the past. That’s why two words have fundamentally changed that perspective now.
Door opens to new frontiers
July 28 - August 3, 2010
THE mining industry has struggled with implementing technology over its existence, however, pressures from society to keep up with safety and productivity improvements are offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate, innovate and implement new solutions.
Beware the false dawn
July 28 - August 3, 2010
DON’T get too excited about new technology – there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit that hasn’t been picked and it’s hanging there still for good reason.
The communication revolution
July 28 - August 3, 2010
THE bedrock of mining’s technology age is certain to be robust communication networks, with new mine proponents and their technical advisors now looking for maximum leverage from an elevated technological base.
Here today, gone tomorrow?
July 28 - August 3, 2010
THE mining industry is seen to have a lot of catching up to do to reap the full benefits from existing technologies before it goes on some new crusade looking for the holy grail of fully robotic mining. But many believe it still must find a way to look beyond current machines and processes into a future where they may well be redundant.
Miners wishing well
July 28 - August 3, 2010
HIGHGRADE did not ask respondents to its Five technologies that will rock the mining world survey to name individual technologies and products. But 20 items mentioned most frequently among more than 130 responses are listed here in order.
Adjusting settings not that simple
July 28 - August 3, 2010
MINING industry people don’t talk about a ‘technology nirvana’ without the regular rider: no change to processes, no successful or lasting benefits from technology. That proviso, of course, applies to all parts of the technology integration process, whether it pertains to a new or brownfields project, from the front-end engineering to commissioning and ongoing support.
Five game-changing mining technologies
July 28 - August 3, 2010
THE interesting thing about the mining industry is the range of hardware and software technologies we already have available to us.
Digging for value
July 28 - August 3, 2010
EXTRACTING valuable material buried under a mountain of waste. That’s the big challenge for today’s mining industry information systems leader (or whatever name you’re currently giving them).
Innovation versus self congratulation
July 28 - August 3, 2010
ACCORDING to a panel presenting in Perth this week, the small in inner-city enclave of West Perth represents the Australian mining industry’s answer to Silicon Valley thanks to its cluster of innovative mining juniors, suppliers and technology companies. But is this view accurate or a little too self-congratulatory?
New era in mining
July 21 - 27, 2010
HighGrade exclusive: Five technologies that will rock the mining world. July 28-August 3 edition.
Rio Tinto has the mining world talking about technology with the opening of its remote operations centre in Perth, Western Australia. Gold miner Newcrest Mining could be next after turning the first earth at a site earmarked for a similar centre in Orange, New South Wales. But what of other significant developments across the global industry that will impact mining processes, costs and jobs in the next 10 years? In the July 28-August 3 edition we examine the technologies set to rock the mining world.
Time to talk about the bleeding edge
July 21 - 27, 2010
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were well represented in a crowd of about 80 in attendance at last week’s Mine Automation & Communication conference in Perth, Western Australia. Communication and IT engineers and managers dominated the audience, which heard that “autonomous systems and robotics would be among the most important and transformational technologies in the future of mining worldwide”.
Raising the bar
July 21 - 27, 2010
RIO TINTO’S Victor Schweikart hinted at the need for it, and almost highlighted the lunacy of not having it: a mining industry rulebook on the use of technology that pretty much guarantees collisions between heavy and light vehicles, and people, don’t occur.
Technology extends Argyle life
July 21 - 27, 2010
ONE of the longest work-place commutes in world mining, the three-hour flight from Perth to the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia, might become a thing of the past for many of the site’s staff if the Rio Tinto business unit is able to run its new underground block cave mine from the group’s recently opened operations centre at Perth airport.
Conference briefs: CSIRO ROES; phones and communication; time out
July 21 - 27, 2010
INVESTORS in companies with more than a passing interest in CSIRO’s alternative underground hard-rock mining method, ROES (remote non-entry mining system), might fancy their chances of seeing corporate action at some stage if recent history is any indicator.
Staying connected
July 21 - 27, 2010
THE $US3.85 billion Koniambo nickel project in New Caledonia is among the most technically and logistically challenging remote mining project Sylvain Picard has come across in 20 years in the mining industry. And, as a former Australian PM was wont to say, they’re “not out of the woods yet”.
