Epiroc boosts Roy Hill efforts to be world’s largest autonomous mine

Epiroc says it will continue to support its Roy Hill iron ore mine, as it enters the final stage of creating the world’s largest autonomous mine. The company aims to employ its autonomous haulage system (AHS) and convert Roy Hill’s mixed fleet of 96 haul trucks to driverless operation by March 2023.

This follows a two-year testing phase. Since 2020 Epiroc, together with automation specialist ASI Mining, has worked with Roy Hill in Australia to develop an autonomous haul truck solution that is interoperable and scalable regardless of manufacturer.

The project’s production verification phase is complete, according to Epiroc. Ten haul trucks have been converted to driverless operation using ASI Mining’s Mobius traffic management and on-board automation systems to navigate the mine’s virtual map and communicate with other vehicles and with the remote operations centre in Perth.

The AHS fleet is meeting the desired safety and productivity metrics and achieving higher productivity rates than the conventional truck fleet, which was a key objective of the program.

The project’s progressive expansion will see autonomous haul truck numbers grow steadily from March 2023 and throughout 2023. The fleet will comprise 54 Caterpillar trucks and 42 Hitachi trucks. In addition, more than 200 ancillary vehicles will interact with the autonomous haul trucks.

“The ground-breaking automation work together with Roy Hill and ASI Mining over the past couple of years has been successful and very exciting,” said Epiroc’s president and CEO Helena Hedblom. “The team working on this is doing a fantastic job, and we are now looking forward to collaborating with Roy Hill in ultimately achieving the world’s largest autonomous mine. This will bring significant benefits for both safety and productivity.”

To learn more, visit www.Epiroc.com.