Rio Tinto has announced the opening of its new Operations Center,
a key part of the “Mine of the Future,” in Perth, Western Australia.
The high-tech center, located alongside Perth’s domestic airport, is now the primary
control center for the company’s network of mines, rail systems, infrastructure
facilities, and port operations in the Pilbara.
The center hosts 200 controllers and schedulers, as well as over
230 technical planning and support staff, using cutting-edge networks that
ensure all Pilbara operations up to 1500 kilometers (932 miles) away are not
only controlled from Perth, but can be performed with the maximum efficiency.
“Two-and-a -alf years ago, Rio Tinto announced that it would press
ahead with plans to create the ‘Mine of the Future’ to build on the technology
advantage we had established over our peers,” said Sam Walsh, chief executive,
Iron Ore and Australia. “Since then we
have faced an astonishing array of challenges, including the global financial
crisis, but we did not waver in our commitment. This Operations Center
is fundamental to our vision of the Pilbara as a single, integrated ‘one mine’
logistics system.
“There is no other mining operation anywhere in the world
attempting this on this scale. Our driverless trucks, remotely operated drill
and blasting, automated train systems, and remote train loading functions are
just the start of a revolution that is transforming the way we extract value
from our resources, and will result in a far better, safer industry than could
have been imagined even a decade ago.”
It will help Rio Tinto to not only retain
workers, but enable them to do more complex and valuable work than traditional
mining practices would allow, according to the company.
For
more information, visit
www.riotinto.com.
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