Komatsu and Rio Tinto celebrated a historic milestone in August, with Rio Tinto’s Pilbara operations in Western Australia accepting delivery of their 300th autonomous haulage system (AHS) truck. Image: Komatsu
Rio Tinto has celebrated the delivery of its 300th autonomous haulage system truck from Komatsu in a major milestone for the two companies.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in 2011 to deploy 150 AHS trucks to Rio Tinto. More than a decade later, the partnership continues to deliver benefits for both companies.
“We’ve led the industry in mining automation since 2008, when we commenced the Rio Tinto trial. We delivered the first five AHS trucks to Rio mine sites in Australia in 2011, and it’s incredible to see how much the business has embraced this technology over the years, helping to make their mines safe, and also highly productive,” Garry Povah, Komatsu Australia’s general manager for mining automation, said.
“AHS trucks are a crucial solution to both mine safety and addressing labour shortages in the sector. By removing human operators from potentially hazardous environments, AHS trucks significantly reduce the risk of accident and injury, and while enabling continuous operation that considerably impacts site productivity.
“The AHS fleet at Rio Tinto sites have completed 8.9 million operating hours and have moved over 4.8 billion tonnes of material – all while improving their sites effective utilisation (EU%) by 15 per cent – a remarkable feat.”
The 300 AHS trucks are across 10 of Rio Tinto’s Australian mine sites and contribute to 80 per cent of daily production capacity.
“This significant milestone is an excellent example of the partnership approach that Rio Tinto takes with its suppliers,” Jamie Sanders, Rio Tinto’s global head of procurement, said.
“Komatsu is a fantastic partner that has helped us improve our operations from a health and safety, and efficiency perspective. From the initial trial in 2008 to the work we do with Komatsu today, they have played a major role in helping us accelerate the automation of our mining processes. We look forward to continuing our collaboration into the future.”
Max Moriyama, Komatsu and Jamie Sanders, Rio Tinto with their teams at the Daruma doll ceremony, a special Japanese ritual, to celebrate the 300th delivery. Image: Csfoto – Christian Sprogoe photographer
The 300th delivery was marked with a special ‘Daruma doll’ ceremony, a Japanese ritual where one eye of the doll is painted to symbolise the setting of a goal and the beginning of a journey. Once the goal is successfully achieved, the second eye is painted.
“We held the initial ceremony when the MoU was signed in 2011, and it was very special to be able to celebrate the achievement of our partnership this year with the painting of the other eye,” Povah said.
“It gave us a moment to not only reflect on how much has been achieved, but also to look towards the future as we continue to partner together on sustainable solutions for our industry.”
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