Abstract
The mining industry is under increased pressure to enhance productivity while dealing with lower quality ore in deeper mines often located in remote parts of the world. Material haulage often takes up the largest share of operating expense (OPEX) in the extraction phase. Statistically, workers in material transport are also perhaps the most exposed to safety risks.
Autonomous haulage systems that remove operators from hazardous areas, enhance consistency in operations, collect data and receive instructions from command centers are poised to optimize mining operations. Railveyor is an autonomous, electrically controlled and powered light-rail material haulage system composed of simple components orchestrated by a software program. The system's central controller is the Railveyor TrulyAutonomous software, a proprietary program that allows Railveyor to run without any human intervention. Humans may monitor the system from a control room or on a mobile device anywhere with an internet connection. The TrulyAutonomous software gathers data from multiple sensors and has multiple alert levels for different system events.
Currently, the system is commercially operating in six commercial applications around the globe. In 2020 at an aboveground industrial solution in South America, a Railveyor system was in the commissioning phase when the COVID-19 pandemic restricted international flights. The system was able to be commissioned remotely and has since exceeded haulage targets. During the same period, the productivity of a Railveyor system in an underground gold mine in Quebec was praised for mitigating the negative effects of the pandemic-related shutdown.
Because of the integrated, computer-controlled nature of the system, in the future, sophisticated operators may leverage the data collection and transmission ability of the Railveyor system to optimize their material haulage and overall operations. For instance, Railveyor trains will be able to respond to demand from processing plants to deliver ore from certain load points to other specified discharge points, with or without human intervention. This is just one of the features that may be developed in the Railveyor system as this novel technology accrues more commercial use and resultant development.