Newmont has achieved a gold industry first, delivering production from the new autonomous truck fleet at their Boddington mine site this month.
When fully operational later in 2021, Boddington will be the world’s first open pit gold mine with an autonomous haul truck fleet.
The Boddington team recently gave the Gold Industry Group, Shooting Stars participants from Narrogin, and West Coast Fever players Jhanielle Fowler and Stacey Francis a private tour around the site and a chance to see the AHS control room in action.
Newmont Australia’s Regional Senior Vice President Alex Bates said their autonomous fleet’s first production was an important step in its full deployment, which will see enhanced safety and productivity for the mine as well as extending mine life.
“We remain on track to successfully transform to an Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) mining operation by the end of the year and it is a testament to the enthusiasm and professionalism of our team that we have achieved this first milestone safely,” said Mr Bates.
The first five autonomous trucks commenced production between stockpiles and the crusher at Boddington, after completing commissioning and testing in a dedicated Autonomous Operating Zone on site.
The Boddington AHS fleet will consist of 29 new CAT 793F AHS enabled trucks and seven converted existing 793F trucks.
WesTrac General Manager Technology Alister MacPherson expressed their excitement in being part of this significant milestone for Newmont.
“Newmont has acknowledged that when combined with the extensive experience of the WesTrac team, the project’s aim to commission all trucks across the new and existing fleet to AHS seamlessly will place Western Australia as one of the world’s leaders in AHS,” Mr MacPherson said.
Two of the trucks don the rainbow flag in celebration of their commitment to increase visibility and inclusion of the LGBTIQA+ community.