 have celebrated the 300th delivery of an autonomous haulage system (AHS) truck at Rio’s Pilbara operations in WA.){kind=link}
Komatsu and Rio Tinto celebrate 300th AHS truck delivery
Komatsu and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) have celebrated the 300th delivery of an autonomous haulage system (AHS) truck at Rio’s Pilbara operations in WA.
In 2011, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deploy 150 AHS trucks to Rio’s site and 13 years later the partnership is still going strong.
Komatsu Australia’s general manager – mining automation Garry Povah says the milestone gives the companies an opportunity to reflect on the partnership.
“AHS trucks are a crucial solution to both mine safety and addressing labour shortages in the sector,” he said.
“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 8.9m operating hours and have moved over 4.8bt of material – all while improving their sites effective utilisation by 15% – a remarkable feat.”
The 300 trucks are spread across 10 of Rio’s Australian mine sites and contribute to around 80% of the company’s daily production capacity.
Rio Tinto global head of procurement Jamie Sanders commented on the milestone.
“Komatsu is a fantastic partner that has helped us improve our operations from a health and safety, and efficiency perspective,” he said.
“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.”
The delivery of the 300th truck was marked with a ‘Daruma doll’ ceremony, a Japanese ritual where one eye of the doll is painted to symbolise the setting of a goal and beginning of a journey. When the goal is successfully achieved, the second eye is painted.
“The Daruma doll ceremony is symbolic of perseverance, determination and achievement,” Mr Povah said.
“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.
“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.”