Gold and copper miner Newmont has started production use of an autonomous haul truck fleet at its Boddington in Western Australia.
Newmont said it is the first gold mining company to use autonomous haulage system (AHS) technology in an open pit mine.
The announcement comes as the company said it had hit a milestone in the deployment with the first production delivered. “Achieving first production from our autonomous fleet is an important step in the full deployment of the fleet,” Newmont Australia’s regional senior vice president Alex Bates said.
Newmont says it’s on track to successfully transform its mining operation into an AHS operation by the end of the year. It hopes the technology will lead to safety and productivity enhancements, while extending the life of the operation.
The company says it intends to buy 29 new Cat 793F haul trucks from Caterpillar dealer WesTrac, and retrofit another seven 793F vehicles already operating on site to autonomous operation.