Modern Mining January 2018

DIAMONDS

autonomous route, says Kühn, is safety. “There is a huge reduction in ‘machine-to-man’ interfaces,” he explains. “The majority of the machines will be operated from a high-tech, air-conditioned control room on surface so clearly there will be far fewer people employed underground than would be the case with a conventional operation – in fact, we estimate a reduction of between 40 and 50 % of person- nel underground. Of course, we also eliminate the problems associated with manual operation – such as driver fatigue – which are major con- tributors to accidents.” Another benefit that Kühn points to is an improvement in asset utilisation. “Put simply, we’re going to have less equipment working over longer hours. In addition, we’re going to extend machine life. As has been proven at

drilling. All these technologies have been used at other mines around the world but we will almost certainly be the first diamond mine – and possibly the first mine of any type – to implement all three simultaneously. We will be engaging with the various OEMs who pro- duce autonomous trackless mining machinery over the next year or two to determine which of them can best meet our needs,” he states. Kühn points out that De Beers is no stranger to autonomous technology. “We put in a fleet of driverless trucks at the Finsch mine roughly 12 years ago in what was a pioneering move at the time – certainly in South Africa. The mine has since been sold to Petra but that fleet is still working today, hauling ore from the ore passes to the crusher stations.” The primary motivation for going the

The new shaft-sinking sys- tem deployed for the VUP in- volves the use of ‘sling down’ vertical drill rigs (VDRs), one of which is seen here (photo: Arthur Tassell).

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50  MODERN MINING  January 2018