Capital Equipment News June 2022

RIGID DUMP TRUCKS

Liebherr’s autonomous haulage solution delivers the next generation of on-board intelligence, with reduced dependency on site infrastructure and centralised supervisory systems.

RDT s – leading the shift towards the ‘mine of the future’

As the shift towards the ‘mine of the future’ gathers pace, electromobility and automation are at the centre of the innovation imperative in the mining sector. One area where these trends have taken root is in the development of mining trucks, particularly rigid dump trucks (RDTs). By Munesu Shoko .

A s technology continues to change the face of mining, in ways and at a rate not seen in over a hundred years. While the building blocks for automation have been in place for decades, the use of automated systems in mining has only expanded dramatically in the past decade. There is also a common understanding that ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) represents one of the mining industry’s most significant opportunities for long-term value creation, building trust and sustainable growth. Consequently, miners are engaging with various stakeholders, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), to ‘bake’ ESG into the core of their strategies. automation, digitalisation and electromobility are reinventing processes, transforming mining

Early steps For years, forward-thinking mining companies have been investigating the electric route to decarbonise their operations and reduce their operating costs. The early days saw the rollout of trolley

reduce their reliance on diesel. However, the envisaged widespread industry take-up of the trolley assist technology did not happen. While there have been a couple of installations in the world, with southern Africa being one of the mining markets that has operated trolley assist systems for more than 20 years,

assist technology. Offering significant productivity

1970s At the peak of the oil crisis of the 1970s, numerous studies

the technology has never caught on to the extent expected. To help mines to

benefits, trolley assist has been considered for decades. At

investigating applications were completed and miners prepared accordingly to reduce their reliance on diesel.

stay on top of the cost control battle, OEMs have in recent years revived the trolley assist technology. A case in point is Caterpillar, which commercially introduced its Cat trolley assist system to the global

the peak of the oil crisis of the 1970s, numerous studies investigating applications were completed and miners prepared accordingly to

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