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www.miningaustralia.com.au22 September 2011 AustralianMining

PILBARA SPOTLIGHT

The automated haul trucks atWest Angelas have moved morethan 42 million tonnes of materialin approximately 145,000 cycles,travelling more than 450,000km.

“This is more than we hadplanned for the initial trial,”McGagh told Australian Mining.

Buoyed by the success of trialsat West Angelas, Rio Tinto willdouble its fleet of driverless haultrucks at its iron ore operationsin Western Australia and deploythem at Yandicoogina, its largestmine in the Pilbara.

The existing five Komatsu 930Etrucks fitted with Komatsu’s ‘Front-runner’ AHS system, will be movedfrom West Angelas to the Yandi-coogina mine, where they willcombine with five new 930E trucks,and operate the JSE pit.

The trucks are expected to befully deployed by April 2012.

The trucks will dump ore forthe first time, marking a majorstep in the evolution of the projecttowards full operational deploy-ment. Previously the trucks onlydumped waste product.

“It will be the first operationaldeployment of this technology inAustralia, or anywhere on thisscale,” McGagh said.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore Pilbara opera-tions manager Greg Lilleyman statedthat “this is an exciting step inachieving our Mine of the Futurevision, and a critical one in ourdrive for outstanding safety andproduction efficiency as we growour business towards a 333 milliontonnes per annum capacity”.

The trucks will be used for allhaulage requirements in the Junc-tion South East (JSE) pit, movinghigh grade, low grade and wastematerial from multiple loading units.

“The trials at West Angelas havedemonstrated the value of the auto-nomous haulage systems and givenus a great deal of information abouthow we can use the system goingforward,” McGagh said.

“We will be using our learn-ing from West Angelas as we expandthe program and use the trucksfor all haulage requirements in theJSE pit at the Yandicoogina mine.

“The intention is then to assessthis next stage with the aim oflooking at the role autonomoushaulage can play as we continueto expand our Pilbara operationstowards an annual production levelof 333 million tonnes per year.”

Rio Tinto Iron Ore has nowassumed the lead for the deploy-

ment of the AHS technology acrossall of its Australian operationstaking captured learning from thetrial and embedding them in theiroperating procedures.

“Rio Tinto innovation con-tinues in a technical support rolebut, as planned, we have trans-ferred deployment accountabilityfrom our central technology divi-sion over to production opera-tions,” he said.

Rio Tinto innovation is nowtranslating the outcomes of thetrial experience and assessing thesuitability of the AHS technologyin other product groups.

Although positive about thetechnology, McGagh said therewere some limitations.

“Driverless trucks won’t workfor every mine or for every pit,but can add significant value aspart of our expansion,” he said.

Rio Tinto is also trialling auto-nomous drills designed to providea reliable and repeatable processin blast-hole drilling.

The aim of the integrated systemis that automated the drill rigswill precisely position the blastholes, conduct live rock analysis,dictate to the explosives deliveryvehicle the correct charge for eachhole and provide data supportingthree dimensional mapping systems

to allow for detailed imaging ofeach deposit.

“Autonomous technology re-quires changes in working prac-tices and may require modifica-tions in mine design and layout ifone is to achieve maximum produc-tivity and deliver enhanced safety,”McGagh explained.

Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron oremining and infrastructure has beencontrolled remotely the Opera-tions Centre in Perth for the past12 months.

The Centre has more than 400employees overseeing and ensur-ing the synchronisation of themine, rail and port systems in thePilbara region.

However, the AHS and remoteoperations program is just oneaspect of Rio Tinto’s iron oregrowth in the Pilbara.

The miner recently announcedthat it is accelerating its expan-sion program in the region withUS$676 million in funding forearly works and procurement.

As a result of this, capacityexpansion towards Lilleyman’sforecast 333 million tonnes willnow be reached in the first halfof 2015, a full six months earlierthan planned, Rio Tinto Australia’shead of iron ore, Sam Walshexplained.

The autonomated haul trucks at West Angelas have moved more than42Mt of material in approximately 145,000 cycles, travelling more than450,000km. Photo Courtesy of Christian Sprogoe Photography.

The mines of the future are likely to rely on remote monitoring andcontrol, with employees undertaking tasks from cities thousands ofkilometres away. Photo Courtesy of Christian Sprogoe Photography.

Continued from page 20

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www.miningaustralia.com.au46 September 2011 AustralianMining

The man from OZ

Speaking recently beforemembers and guests ofthe WA Mining Club,

Terry reflected on five keychanges he said had definedthe industry today: safety,workplace culture, commu-nity relationships, technologyand the growth of China.

The following is anabridged version of his speechedited by Australian Mining’sWA correspondent JamieWade.

SafetyThe mining industry has beena leader in the area of safetyand has assisted in safetyimprovements across manyindustries. It’s likely that inno-vations and practices devel-oped in the mining industryhave been responsible forsaving lives across many differ-ent workplaces.

For example, mining hassupported the high visibilityclothing that’s seen through-out the community.

Another example is fromthe medical industry wheremining industry practices suchas an active reporting culturehas often been cited as a valu-able learning tool to improvepatient safety.

For our industry, safetycontinues to be our majorchallenge. In our own companyI still feel that we have a longway to go, and safety statis-tics indicate that there’s stillwork to do, but overall as anindustry we really do careabout safety.

Workplace cultureThe second area which I thinkhas improved significantly inour business is the workplaceculture.

The focus has now shiftedto include more people in thedecision-making.

Another big change in theworkplace culture has comefrom women moving into theindustry which has been verypositive.

Women have brought newways of thinking and problemsolving to the business whichhas benefited from it. Womenrepresent about 20 per centof the OZ Minerals work-force which is above average– especially for a fly-in fly-out operation.

Relationships withcommunities When I started in the indus-try communities were thepeople you tended to keepaway from your operationwith fences and guards.

As we all know, compa-nies now require a social licenceto operate and the way to get

that is to be a wanted guestin the host community.

In 2010 over 20 local busi-nesses were employed at Promi-nent Hill and we give prefer-ential treatment to purchasegoods and services locallywherever feasible.

Our operation has madesignificant contributions tolocal and regional economiesthrough payments to suppli-ers and contractors during2010 with over $12 millionspent locally, $7.5 millionspent regionally and approxi-mately $80 million spent withinSouth Australia.

Now 82 per cent of ourworkforce at Prominent Hill

is from South Australia andwe spend $30 million on salaryin South Australia – not includ-ing our contractors – and lastyear we paid $16 million inState Government royalties.

The other thing that’schanged dramatically is ourrelationship with Indigenouscommunities.

We’re working at Promi-nent Hill to increase the numberof Indigenous employees, whichis currently about 60 in total,for OZ Minerals and its con-tractors.

One of our targets now isto increase the number ofIndigenous people we have atthe supervisory level.

We have a pre-employ-ment training program whichenables local and Indigenouspeople with no previous miningexperience to gain the skillsrequired to get a job at Promi-nent Hill. This is somethingwe’re proud of and we continueto invest in.

The program in short is a60-day program which includesthree weeks of work experi-ence onsite at the ProminentHill mine and after that ifthey’re successful they will beoffered permanent employ-ment at our operations

Since the program waslaunched in 2006 we’ve hadsix groups of trainees includ-ing 51 successful graduatesthat have taken up roles atProminent Hill.

One of the key successfactors in making this workhas been to create a culturewhere the Indigenous peopleenjoy the work; where theircolleagues are understandingand supportive; where thereis mentoring by other Indige-nous people; and where specificattention is paid to trainingand to safety.

The success of the programto date has been largely becauseof the accepting nature of theexisting workforce at Promi-nent Hill who help peoplewho’ve been long term unem-ployed and not use to the chal-lenges and responsibilities ofworking on a mine.

TechnologyThe other area that I see themajor change in is changes oftechnology and these havebeen staggering.

At Prominent Hill todaywe actually have an expertsystem for the flotation circuitwhich uses multi-variablespeed forward control to reducedisturbances to the plant alongwith concentrate flow opti-misation to maximise the recov-ery of the metal.

We’ve also installed someflow force mechanisms to all

Terry Burgess has been a part of the Australian mining industry for four decades.

PERSONNEL

In a career beginning as a metallurgist forty years ago, to the head of OZ Minerals today and its flagship

Prominent Hill copper-gold mine near Coober Pedy, Terry Burgess has enjoyed a diverse career and has seen

changes in the industry for the better. Jamie Wade reports.

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www.miningaustralia.com.au AustralianMining September 2011 47

our flotation cells in the roughercircuit, and also some flowboosters which promotesmaximum contact betweenthe valuable metals and thereagent which has also addedbetween one and two per centrecovery. Two per cent recov-ery is significant; this hightech tweaking has deliveredextra revenues of about $10million per year for each percent gained.

An area that has benefitedhugely from the advances incomputing power in the last30 years or so is geophysics.

ChinaPerhaps the most fundamen-tal change of all to our in-dustry has come from theeconomic development ofChina in recent years.

Thirty years ago Chinawas not an important copperimporter. Today it’s the biggestimporter in the world, count-ing for 40 per cent of consump-tion and demand in Chinacontinues to grow.

In 2011 refined copperdemand from China is expectedto grow to about six per centyear on year.

China’s demand has beendue to its rapidly urbanisingpopulation which requiresheavy investment in copper

intensive sectors such as power,infrastructure and construc-tion. The major downstreamuses for copper are powergeneration and transmission,electrical appliances, build-ing construction and vehicle

production and these are allrequired in the country’s urban-ising populations.

The proportion of urbanto rural populations in Chinais currently 47 to 53 per cent.There has been a big shift that

the urbanisation is far fromover. By 2015, China will have106 cities with more than onemillion people compared withonly 35 cities which have morethan one million people inEurope today.

OZ Minerals Prominent Hill copper mine is one of Australia’s most recognisable operations.

More than 80% of the Prominent Hill mine’s workforce comes from South Australia.

PERSONNEL

About OZMineralsOZ minerals is an Australian-

based mining company with

a focus on copper.

Its primary asset is the

Prominent Hill copper gold

Mine in northern South

Australia.

OZ Minerals recently

finalised the purchase of the

Carrapateena copper gold

project, and an advanced

project also in South

Australia about 250km

south of Olympic Dam.

Prominent Hill is a fly-in fly-

out operation with a

workforce of about 900

people including contractors.

It is an open cut mine with a

new underground mine

currently in development.

According to OZ minerals

managing director Terry

Burgess, Prominent Hill has

a plant consistently

performing at 20 to 25 per

cent above its nameplate

capacity.

Guidance production for

2011 is 100,000 to

110,000 tonnes of copper

and more than 185,000

ounces of gold.

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www.miningaustralia.com.au62 September 2011 AustralianMining

Reaching new heights in safetyImproved contractor management, a unique escape ladderway and a clever solution to working at height have

been recognised for creativity and ingenuity. Jamie Wade reports.

Rio Tinto Argyle Diamonds,underground safety solutionsprovider Safescape and Sinclair

Knight Merz (SKM) were just a fewof the shining lights at the Chamberof Minerals and Energy of WesternAustralia’s (CME) seventh annualSafety and Health Innovation Awards.

Rio Tinto’s Argyle Diamond oper-ation earned recognition for two sepa-rate initiatives including improve-ments to a contractor managementsystem and a program to assess healthand wellness.

The mine took honours in the Sys-tems category for improvements to aContractor Management System (CMS)that saw the contractor All InjuryFrequency Rate (AIFR) fall to zerofor the first time.

Over 25 years of surface miningoperation, Argyle Diamonds’ contrac-tor AIFR exceeded that of employ-ees. Worldwide, Rio Tinto has seensignificantly higher rates of fatality,serious injury and significant injurycases among contractors than its fulltime employees.

In response, Argyle Diamondsestablished a dedicated team to reviseand improve the CMS.

Based on the team’s findings, in2009 Argyle Diamonds implementeda range of improvements. These includedcompany representatives for trainingand audits, quarterly contractor meet-ings, principal meetings, comprehen-sive monthly reporting on contractcompany KPIs, and consolidation ofits pre-qualification process.

Contractors were also included inall Health Safety & Environment(HSE) initiatives including wellnessassessments, hydration testing andHSE awards.

Argyle Diamonds is setting thechallenge to its employee workforceto achieve the same results.

Better ladderwaySafety solutions provider Safescapetook honours in the Engineering cate-gory in the CME’s Innovation Awardsfor a safer and more flexible emer-gency escape ladderway system forunderground operations.

Traditional escape ladderwayshave been manufactured from woodor galvanised materials with wire cagesto provide protection against largerock fall. However, they are exposedto finer materials. In addition, ladders

are subject to constant water and oftensalt exposure, leaving them slippery,scaled and susceptible to corrosion

The Safescape ‘Laddertube’ com-prises ladder sections that can be joinedto provide a straight line of ladder-way at any practical length.

Manufactured from resilient plas-tics, the Laddertube is lighter thantraditional galvanised options, flex-ible and non-corrosive.

Rest platforms are installed at 6mintervals. A static line has also beenincluded allowing people to attach aharness and rope shunt that locks inthe case of a fall.

Although the Laddertube can bemanufactured in any colour, the stan-dard offering is safety yellow, provid-ing an easily visible entry to ladder-ways. As an enclosed structure, usersare protected from falling debris inthe event of emergencies that requireevacuation.

Ventilation is also made simplerand more cost effective, as a ventcurtain can be fitted at the bottom ofthe ladderway. Being enclosed, theneed to install multiple ventilation

walls and the risk of lost ventilationis significantly reduced.

Other advantages include lessmaintenance due to the ladderwaybeing enclosed, no risk from manycorrosive materials, and greater easeof installation.

Managing director Steve Durkindeveloped the Laddertube whileworking as an underground miningengineer in Kalgoorlie.

After researching the cost andinstallation techniques of the variousoptions on the market, he believedthat the industry was paying too muchfor a product which was not opti-mally designed for underground mining,both in terms of durability and thesafety of users.

New heights in safetySKM took honours in the Engineer-ing category in the CME’s InnovationAwards for a collaborative approachto safely and efficiently repairingbeams on the Sinter Fines building atRio Tinto’s Cape Lambert facility.

The facility houses surge bins forthe storage of fines iron ore.

These bins are fed by a tripperconveyer, which runs on trusses sup-ported by transverse beams across thetop of the bins.

During a structural integrity inspec-tion undertaken by SKM engineers,five of these beams were found to bedamaged due to corrosion and in needof urgent replacement.

Traditional repair methods ofinstalling compensation plates on theexisting beams could only occur duringplanned shutdown periods to limitthe impact on the critical nature ofthe fines iron ore operations. This wasnot an option, so contract repairerMonadelphous proposed to insert thebeams with the use of a cantileverlifting apparatus through holes cut inthe bin walls.

Through a collaborative approachinvolving SKM, Rio Tinto and Mona-delphous, the entire repair processwas completed within three weeks.As the bulk of work was conductedfrom the ground, safety risks weresignificantly reduced and the workwas completed without interruptionto the fines operations.

Safety solutions provider Safescape took honours in the Engineering category in the Chamber of Minerals and Energy ofWestern Australia’s (CME) seventh annual Safety and Health Innovation Awards.

SAFETY

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