Modern Mining December 2018

MINING News

Cat® autonomous mining truck fleet hauls one billion tonnes

“Spectacular” surface intersect at Lindi Jumbo graphite project ASX-listedWalkabout Resources reports that Northern Block drilling and trenching assay results now confirm that high-grade graphite domains continue for 300 m to the north- east and remain open at its 100 %-owned Lindi Jumbo graphite project in Tanzania. Drill and trench assay results confirm the Lindi Jumbo deposit to contain the highest grade reported graphite mineralisation in Tanzania. Highlights include a spectacular surface intersect in trench LJTR004 of 36,1 at 23,5 % Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) from 3 m including 7,1 m at 32,9 %TGC from 28 m; and 27,6 m at 16,9 % TGC from 12,5 m including 5,9 m at 18,7 % TGC from 13,5 m in LJTR006. High-grade at, or near surface, minerali- sation continue for 300 m to the north-east and remains open towards the north and down-dip. “These results easily demonstrate that Lindi Jumbo remains the highest grade, lowest risk graphite project around,” com- ments Trevor Benson, Executive Chairman of Walkabout. “The high-grade nature of the deposit gives the mine a huge advantage in mitigating start-up risks that face new mine operations. “The upcoming upgrade of the mineral resource should have a positive knock-on effect on the initial mine plan and LOM economics of the project, further support- ing the Lindi Jumbo graphite project as the most significant graphite project ready for development.” Walkabout’s Lindi Jumbo project is situated in south-eastern Tanzania, approxi- mately 200 km from the export port of Mtwara. The company has taken the proj- ect from discovery in October 2015 to the completion of a highly robust Definitive Feasibility Study within 16 months and has been granted a mining lease over the deposit. The DFS was based on an annual produc- tion of 40 000 tonnes of graphite concentrate with a high grade feed to the plant of less than 300 000 tonnes per annum. Mining studies were based on a measured and indi- cated mineral resource only. The upfront capex for the project was estimated at US$29,7 million. The project has a very short development timeframe of seven months from financing. 

Cat® mining trucks working within MineStar™ Command for hauling recently reached a milestone of one billion tonnes hauled. Caterpillar deployed the first six commercial autonomous trucks in 2013, and the fleet has now grown to more than 150 with six different mining companies operating Command for hauling in iron ore, copper and oil sands. “Command for hauling has proven its value to mining customers,” said Sean McGinnis, Product Manager, Caterpillar Mining Technology.“That value is reflected in the rate at which the Cat autonomous fleet achieved this milestone. The fleet is growing quickly and production continues to climb as mining companies benefit from greater truck productivity, increased truck utilisation, consistent truck operation and reduced costs. “In the process of hauling one billion tonnes, the autonomous trucks travelled nearly 35million kilometres,”McGinnis said. “No lost time injuries have been attributed to Cat autonomous haulage. Command for hauling has demonstrated how it enhances safety by eliminating truck operating errors and by reducing the number of people working in the active mining area.” Initial development of Cat autonomous mining trucks began more than 20 years ago. “In 1996 Caterpillar debuted the first

autonomous mining truck at MINExpo,” said Michael Murphy, Chief Engineer of Cat MineStar.“Caterpillar was an early adopter of GPS guidance technology, and we had success with it in a number of applica- tions. At that time, Caterpillar focused on developing the building blocks for auto- mation. These technologies are now the core of MineStar capabilities, which assist onboard operators and enable teleremote, semi-autonomous and autonomous machine operation.” Currently, Cat autonomous trucks are operating in Australia, South America and North America. A fleet of 70 Cat autono- mous trucks in Australia has achieved productivity increases of 30 % at signifi- cantly reduced costs. Driven by additional process improvements, greater productiv- ity gains are possible. The current Cat autonomous truck fleet is primarily composed of Cat 793F trucks, which have a 227-tonne payload. But the range of truck models is expanding. Caterpillar has developed and is deploying autonomous Cat 797F (363-tonne payload) and Cat 789D (181-tonne payload) trucks. To serve customers with mixed fleets, Caterpillar has developed a retrofit kit for another brand of trucks. The retrofit equips the trucks to work autonomously within Command for hauling. 

A Cat 793F CMD mining truck leaving an iron ore pit.

December 2018  MODERN MINING  7