Austin explained the industry’s need not only for innovation but forward planning to ensure the sustainment of automation technologies.

He stressed the importance of taking a long-term perspective when engineering automation projects.

He said the industry needed to take an integrated approach to ensure shareholder engagement, evaluation, design, support and planning were carried into the future to ensure maximum productivity for the entire lifecycle of the product from the initial scope to decommissioning.

An example of the automation set to revolutionise the mining industry is CRC Mining’s shovel load assist project.

CRC has joined forces with the Australian Coal Association Research Program and manufacturer Joy Global to work towards automated large mining shovels.

The project is developing operator assistance technologies that will help operators do their jobs more efficiently and safely.

It aims to dramatically reduce the scope of human error by protecting against fatigue and complacency, which comes from long hours and repetitive sequences.

SLAP has to date developed three technologies:

• TruckShield: a layer of protection to prevent metal-on-metal collisions between the shovel and truck that may injure truck drivers or damage the truck or shovel
• AutoLoad: a semi-automation swing technology that automates the swing, dump and return phases of the shovel loading cycle
• TrackShield: similar to TruckShield but stops the bucket colliding with the track.

“The benefits of SLAP technology span shovel safety, availability, productivity and maintenance through faster shovel cycle times, lower machine duty, improved material distribution in trucks, fewer impacts between truck and shovel and lower operator workload,” CRC Mining said.

The company has successfully trialled TruckShield in a production environment with a manned truck at Bracalba quarry in Queensland, demonstrating the integrity of the system and its component technologies.

The project has allowed operators to address some of the main avenues for human error in shovel operation.