Mineral Resources (MinRes) will deploy a fleet of 120 fully autonomous roadtrains equipped with an autonomous haulage solution in Western Australia under a landmark agreement.
The world’s first fully autonomous roadtrains have been designed and developed for MinRes’ flagship Onslow Iron project in WA.
A team of operators will control the fleet from a central operating centre in Onslow.
MinRes is also developing an artificial intelligence-powered monitoring system.
Each triple-trailer vehicle will carry 330 tonnes of iron ore about 150km on a dedicated private haul road from the Ken’s Bore mine site to the Port of Ashburton.
Ore will be transported to a 220,000-tonne enclosed, negative pressure storage facility at the port.
From there, 20,000-tonne capacity transhippers will move the ore to cape-size carriers 40 kilometres off the coast.
“We’re excited to cement our partnership with Hexagon to deliver the world’s first fleet of autonomous roadtrains, which will be an essential part of Onslow Iron’s safe, efficient and dust-free solution for hauling ore,” said MinRes Chief Executive, Mining Services, Mike Grey.
“Automation will remove the risk of driver fatigue, lower operating costs and reduce fuel use and emissions.
“There’s enormous potential for these vehicles to transform mining across the world.”
The vehicles, combining technology provided from Hexagon AB’s Autonomous Solutions with MinRes’ operational knowledge, are promising enormous benefits.
According to MinRes, they will remove the risk of driver fatigue, increase fleet availability, lower operating costs and reduce fuel use and emissions.
“Autonomous roadtrains form an essential part of the cost-effective and dust-free supply chain that will unlock deposits in the West Pilbara that would otherwise remain undeveloped,” a MinRes spokesperson said.
Safety is at the forefront of the project’s design – grade separation will ensure there is no interaction between the autonomous roadtrains operating on the haul road and vehicles using public roads.
Testing of autonomous roadtrains has been progressing at MinRes’ Yilgarn iron ore operations since late 2021 ahead of the technology’s deployment at Onslow Iron.
The project, which is the cornerstone of MinRes’ strategy to deliver low-cost, long-life iron ore operations, will ship about 35 million tonnes of iron ore per year from mid-2024.
“At Hexagon, we see autonomy as a way to vastly improve our world,” said Hexagon President and CEO, Paolo Guglielmini.
“Today’s agreement with MinRes will ensure that transport activities will be safer, more sustainable, and more productive.
“I’m excited to see how similar solutions can be applied in other markets such as agriculture and heavy industry.”
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