INSIGHTS FROM THE GROUND
International OEMs Have Their Say:
Innovation, Digitalization and Autonomous Mining
“We witnessed strong interest from the market for additional autonomous fleets in Chile and Peru, so we set up a Komatsu Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) base in Santiago consisting of specialists and engineers to support the fleet deployment and operations. The pandemic has not been a significant factor in influencing demand trends for AHS, since drivers for the decision to adopt this technology respond to longer term safety and productivity gains, but the Covid crisis has put in evidence the need and viability for remote solutions, for example monitoring and diagnostics used to support optimization decisions.”
Darko Louit, CEO, Komatsu Cummins Chile
“We are witnessing an increasing demand for automated products in Chile, especially for autonomous trucks and smart equipment. Liebherr made the decision early to offer our truck autonomy packages via an open protocol philosophy, allowing our customers to use our truck with any management system available on the market. This gives the mines more flexibility as they are not bound to one OEM supplier. This will be a real advantage for the future.”
Dale Clayton, Managing Director, Liebherr Chile
“Safety is a key driver of autonomous mining operations and, for example, we now see customers installing controls to manage equipment from the head offices in Santiago or other locations far away from the mine.”
Charlie Ekberg Managing Director, Epiroc Chile
“The Covid-19 outbreak means fewer people on-site working to achieve the same result. This means that digitization has become a vital efficiency mechanism for the survival of mining operations. Most mining companies have been working for years to digitize their operations, but the biggest challenge is knowing exactly which process is intended to achieve productivity and where managers want their mines to be in the future.”
Sales Vice President of Andean & South Cone,
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions
“We are witnessing strong commitment and demand from customers to move to autonomy. Caterpillars’ autonomous system is the best option for customers, as it allows for a 30% increase in productivity and has many advantages compared to other brands in the market, as it can run both on the CAT fleets system but also on different equipment from other brands, as well as in a mixed mode.”
Pedro Damjanic, Senior VP of Mining, Finning
“The pandemic impacted the speed of the implementation of autonomous mining techniques, especially as we see contractors demanding the technology as a result of the enforced social distancing measures. Mining companies had been implementing the technology before the outbreak, but there has been an acceleration in its adoption over 2020 due to uncertainty”
Rodrigo Izzo, Business Line Manager, Epiroc Chile
