Robots and remote controlled mines could be the solution to some of the biggest challenges facing Australian miners today, according to industry giant Rio Tinto.

But innovation would likely only come after long runs of trial and error and at considerable cost to miners, according to a privately commissioned report.

Rio Tinto’s labour-intensive iron ore business is already trialling automated trucks, drill rigs, sorting machines and trains at mines across the Pilbara.

These systems can be operated from more than 1000 kilometres away in the comfort and safety of the Perth city office, according to Rio Tinto head of innovation John McGagh.

“The revolutionary technologies being tested now cement Rio Tinto’s leading position in the field of mining innovation,” Mr McGagh said in a statement.

Consultancy firm BAEconomics yesterday released a report commissioned by Rio Tinto on how the rise of autonomous and remote operation technologies would impact on the mining industry.

The Rio Tinto-operated West Angelas iron ore mine near Newman currently uses five autonomous trucks fitted with radars, lasers, communication antennas and high-precision GPS.

These trucks “take themselves” to tie-down areas when they need to refuel, navigate haul roads and intersections, and communicate with manned equipment like bulldozers and cars.

Rio Tinto plans to increase this fleet to 150 by 2015 and eventually automate all aspects of a mine.

The company is also working with machine manufacturers to create next wave tunnelling machines to replace traditional human-driven drilling and blasting equipment.

But Rio Tinto is not the first miner to move in this direction.

Codelco Chile has reportedly spent $3 billion on automated systems to mine a new level at its El Teniente copper mine in Chile, already the largest underground mine in the world. Codelco is aiming at a 2017 start-up.

Swedish miner LKAB, on the other hand, has used driverless underground trains since the 1970s at its Kiruna iron ore mine in Sweden.

Later developments at Kiruna included entirely automated crushing, weighing, skip loading and hoisting, which meant the mine’s 3000 workers in 1983 were reduced to 1800 in 2003.

In its report for Rio Tinto, BAE argued that as well as overcoming labour shortages, the automated systems would mean less waste as efficiency improvements would result in reduced need for energy and consumables.

Greater safety and lower costs would also follow the shift from human to machine labour, according to the report.

“These benefits may help to counteract a number of the challenges currently facing the industry, including persistent skills and labour shortages, declining ore grades, and more complex mining environments, as well as environmental challenges arising from the need to reduce emissions and impacts on the environment,” BAE reported.

BAE argued Australian mines also needed to innovate and change in order to remain cost competitive as mining began to come online in other countries.

The report does not cover the impacts such innovation might have on the future of Australian skilled labour and trades.

But it does mention the offshoot emergence of an Australian mining and technology services and equipment (MTSE) sector, which BAE claims has already become a dominant presence in the global market for supply and development of technology goods and services for the minerals industry.

The Australian MTSE labour force almost doubled from 17,300 in 2000-01 to 31,300 in 2008-09, according to BAE, suggesting the move towards robotics is creating more jobs, rather than taking them away.

UnionsWA secretary Simone McGurk said she hoped local manufacturing jobs would result from this fledgling sector.

“When it comes to innovation, WA can’t afford to have its head in the sand,” she said.

“If WA is to become more than just a robotic-hole-in-the-ground for minerals extraction, nurturing local manufacturing jobs will be the key to maximising the benefits of innovation.”

However, BAE warns installing remotely controlled and autonomous technologies comes at a substantial cost and innovation is a long and complicated process.

“The funding costs of Rio Tinto’s research centres alone, for instance, amount to several tens of millions of dollars,” BAE reported.

But BAE’s researchers concluded the potential benefits to the mining industry and Australian economy from automated and remote controlled mining were worth the investment.

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