Golden hour for automation

It’s early morning and the air is still cool outside Orange in New South Wales, Australia. The low sun casts long shadows and a soft glow over the rolling hills of the valley – the time of day photographers often refer to as the “golden hour” due to its ideal conditions for capturing dramatic and beautiful images. If you’re lucky, you might even spot kangaroos moving between the trees during the 25-kilometer drive from the city center to Newmont Cadia, one of Australia’s largest and deepest gold mines.

The mining history in the Cadia valley dates back to the mid-1850s and has since evolved from open pit operations to one of the world’s most advanced underground mines. Today, the mine consists of two main panel caves: PC1 and PC2, 1 200 meters and 1 400 meters deep, respectively, which are mined using a block cave method where the ore body is undercut, causing it to gradually collapse under its own weight. The ore can then be extracted from a production level using underground loaders.

“Block caving gave us a method to mine the large ore body at a relatively low cost. And if we can mine at the right cost and keep our team safe – we can be here for decades to come,” explains Matthew Taylor, Head of Operations, Newmont Cadia.

Epiroc has been present at the Cadia operation since 2005 when the development of a new section of the underground mine, Cadia East, was initiated. Since then, the operation has included a large number of Epiroc machines, including the development of the very first Simba E7C production drill rig, one of Epiroc’s most popular production drill rig models to date. Cadia has also utilized the Boomer M20 face drill rig as well as multiple Scooptram ST18 underground loaders. Adding to this, there are currently about 20 Epiroc employees stationed at the mine, primarily working with service and maintenance of the fleet.

Safety is one of Newmont’s core values, which is reflected throughout its operations globally. Safety is also a big challenge in underground block caving due to the occurrence of inrush and seismic hazards. This was particularly a problem in Panel Cave 1, which motivated Newmont and Epiroc to initiate efforts toward an autonomous production level in 2017, based on a vision of having fully remote operations with no persons exposed to inrush risk. While Epiroc provided automated loaders for the production level, other types of equipment were needed in case a draw point became blocked by wedged rocks or boulders too large to haul out. This led to the necessity of developing an automation system also capable of handling secondary-break equipment from various equipment manufacturers – something that had never been done before.

The solution was Epiroc’s Deep Automation, a cutting-edge set of systems and applications used to orchestrate the underground material handling flow. “Never before have we integrated other types of equipment in the same system so we can complete every activity in our extraction level autonomously – without putting people at risk,” says Taylor.

Today, the production level is fully orchestrated from the surface using Deep Automation, with six to eight Scooptram ST18 loaders working simultaneously, hauling ore from draw points to the crusher. When needed, a rock breaker, a water cannon from MacLean Engineering, or an inspection robot can be navigated inside the production area using teleremote techniques – without interrupting the other machines.

“The development of Deep Automation and the integration of different OEMs and tasks into one system now form a unique capability that both Newmont and Epiroc have – and this can be used in many different mining environments and mining methods,” says Taylor.

Matthew Gibbons, Director of Technology at Newmont Cadia, has been deeply engaged in the development of the automation project during the past few years and sees the interoperability of Deep Automation as a crucial feature for forward-thinking mines with different types of equipment that need to work together.

“The OEM-agnostic approach is vital for the future of technology in automation. Without Deep Automation at Cadia, we would not operate in Panel Cave 1,” says Gibbons.

The surface control room at Newmont Cadia is far from the harsh setting often associated with underground mining. Multiple operator stations are lined up next to each other, while larger screens with dashboards provide a clear overview of the operation for all to see.

Here, the operators can enjoy an air-conditioned office as well as a much shorter commute to and from work compared to working underground. Another benefit is the ability to keep the loaders working over shift changes, unlocking additional hours of production and utilization.

And this is just the start. Epiroc and Newmont hold regular meetings to highlight technical and ease-of-use improvements, which has created a strong partnership over the years rather than a traditional supplier-customer relationship.

“The collaboration between Newmont and Epiroc has been great. We’ve put up some very ambitious challenges, and not once did Epiroc say that they couldn’t do it,” explains Gibbons.

Perhaps it is the combination of cutting-edge automation solutions, open mindsets, and deep collaboration that has been the key to Newmont Cadia’s success – which is also reflected in the production records and the high utilization of the machines. Call it a golden hour for automation, with ideal conditions for brave new ideas to materialize.

With the development of Deep Automation, it certainly looks like the challenges along the way have only helped to strengthen the relationship between Newmont and Epiroc. Guided by their shared vision of pushing the boundaries of technology forward, both parties now remain firmly committed to advancing the future of productivity and safety in mining even further.

“I’ve seen the average performance from PC1 improve, and I’ve seen the record of daily tons increase as well. We hit a new record almost every month or every second month – and it’s really thanks to this great collaboration and great people that we’ve been able to do that,” says Taylor and concludes with a smile:

“The team should be incredibly proud.”