The rolling stock would be familiar to anyone who has worked in the Pilbara region, but what sets the AutoHaul project apart is that it will be monitored remotely from an operations centre located 730 miles away in Perth. The locomotive, styled as ‘the world’s biggest robot’, is fitted with cameras, motion sensors and collision detectors. The launch comes just seven months after a 2.9 kilometre-long train operated by BHP (BHP) had to be deliberately derailed after human error caused the train to hit breakneck speeds on route to Port Hedland.
It represents something of a landmark for the group, but Rio Tinto isn’t the only miner adopting new technologies and work practices to not only drive efficiencies, but also to significantly improve safety and environmental standards. Anglo American (AAL) has placed great store in its FutureSmart Mining strategy, a tech-driven approach to mining operations, which is targeting a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse emissions and halving the amount of freshwater it uses in water-scarce regions.
Three years ago, BHP employed Atlas Copco Construction & Mining to convert a portion of its Pit Viper rotary blast-hole rigs to fully autonomous operations. No miners mean there are no tea breaks, no time-consuming shift changes and no strikes – a continuous 24-hour operation with improved utilisation.
BHP has reported a 16 per cent increase in productivity at the sites employing the automated drills, but the transition to greater automation also promises to improve safety performance by partially removing the human element from the equation. For example, since the introduction of autonomous technologies in several of its African mines, Randgold Resources has seen a near one-third decrease in injury rates.
It takes time for working practices to catch up with technologies, but the change under way is probably long overdue. There have been at least 1,840 fatalities in major mining disasters since the turn of the millennium, and scores more through minor one-off incidents.
Class actions are still outstanding in relation to the failure of the Fundao tailings dam in Brazil in 2015 which was operated by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and Brazilian miner Vale SA (BVMF:VALE3). Vale will also find itself in the dock due to the collapse of the Brumadinho dam at the Corrego do Feijao iron ore mine earlier this year, which devastated the surrounding countryside, resulting in the death of at least 237 people.
In the wake of the disasters, dozens of institutional investors, in conjunction with the Church of England Pensions Board and the Swedish Council on Ethics for the AP Funds, asked nearly 700 basic resource companies to provide greater disclosure on their mine tailings management by 7 June.
The results were anything but reassuring. Under the Canadian Dam Association (CDA) Consequence Classification ratings, five of BHP’s tailings dams posed an "extreme risk" to surrounding communities in the event of a collapse, while several others were deemed to pose a "very high risk". Commodities broker Glencore (GLEN) has launched a microsite that provides detailed information on its tailings storage arrangements, while other sector heavyweights have also complied with the request.
Meanwhile, the regulatory framework under which miners operate is gradually being stiffened. The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) is developing new standards with the UN Environment Programme and ethical investors’ body the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). And from the beginning of 2021, the Conflict Minerals Regulation will be brought in across the European Union, designed to stop human rights abuses linked to the trade in four minerals – tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold – which have occasionally been used to finance armed conflict or are mined using forced labour.
