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TECHNOLOGY Fri 12/09/2008

Time to confront collisions head on

By Richard Roberts, 8=20 September 2008

=20

Part of Rio Tinto's Brockman mine truck = fleet.

AN AUSTRALIAN=E2=80=93developed mining product might have saved the = life of a BHP=20 Billiton mine worker in Western Australia last week and it must now be a = matter=20 of when, not if, the industry faces a government-led crackdown on the = use of=20 adequate mine-vehicle collision avoidance technology.

Amid union calls for a =E2=80=9Ctransparent investigation=E2=80=9D of = the work safety culture=20 at mine sites =E2=80=93 calls that should be directed at head office = culture rather than=20 mines =E2=80=93 and a BHPB spokesperson=E2=80=99s dull comment about the = company putting =E2=80=9Csafety=20 before production=E2=80=9D, the big miner could perhaps start by = explaining why=20 collision avoidance technology that has been deemed fit for use at its = central=20 Queensland coal mines, and in Chile, has not been adopted at its Pilbara = iron=20 ore operations.

The company shut down the Yandi mine, 140km north-west of Newman, = last week=20 after a collision between a large dump truck and a light vehicle = resulted in the=20 death of a mine worker. Contractor HWE Mining operates the mine for = BHPB.

A similar incident at Rio Tinto=E2=80=99s Paraburdoo iron ore mine in = October 2004=20 maimed a mine worker. Rio Tinto is about to start introducing = at its=20 Pilbara mines a vehicle collision avoidance technology developed by the = same=20 University of Sydney team working to establish a blueprint for the = industry=E2=80=99s=20 first automated openpit mine at West Angeles in the Pilbara. The = technology has=20 been successfully tested at the Brockman iron ore mine, near Tom Price, = and has=20 been working at what was recently described by an Alcoa mining engineer = as=20 =E2=80=9CAustralia=E2=80=99s most technologically advanced = quarry=E2=80=9D, at Bracalba in Queensland,=20 for 12 months. Freeport Indonesia is also rolling out the Acumine mine = collision=20 avoidance system at its giant copper-gold mine in Irian Jaya, where = conditions=20 at high altitude =E2=80=93 and in one of the world=E2=80=99s busiest = openpit operations =E2=80=93 can=20 make visibility problematic for much of the year.

Numerous industry reports have catalogued not only the deaths and = injuries=20 caused by vehicle collisions in and around working pits, but underlined = the high=20 near-miss rate typical at some mines.

Acumine, a commercial spin-off of the University of Sydney=E2=80=99s = engineering=20 department, has been developing an intelligent proximity = detection/collision=20 avoidance system for five years with the aiming of reducing, or = eliminating, the=20 high false-alarm rate experienced with other systems =E2=80=93 which = hits productivity=20 and can give operators too many reasons to switch off vehicle-based = alarms =E2=80=93=20 and, in more recent times, to produce technology that will become part = of the=20 automated mines Rio Tinto hopes to operate in future.

=E2=80=9CThe successful safety system must have a combination of = sensing and=20 intelligence to be able to determine not only that there are resources = [vehicles=20 and plant] in proximity but to know what these resources are = doing,=E2=80=9D said=20 Professor Eduardo Nebot, director of the Australian Centre for Field = Robotics at=20 the University of Sydney. =E2=80=9CThat is, to know their position, = velocity and=20 direction of travel. This is essential to evaluate the actual threat of=20 collision to generate an appropriate level of warning or provide = assistance to=20 the driver.=E2=80=9D

Australian Securities Exchange-listed Industrea has attempted to make = much of=20 contract wins with BHPB and Anglo American in central Queensland, to = supply its=20 CAS-CAM camera-based collision avoidance technology under = =E2=80=9Calliance=E2=80=9D style=20 supply arrangements. Industrea has extended its relationship with BHPB = and Anglo=20 American to South America, and has described the deals as an indication = that=20 =E2=80=9CCAS-CAM was being adopted as the preferred collision avoidance = technology by=20 the leading mining houses=E2=80=9D.

The theme has been picked up by some of the brokers covering the = company.

=E2=80=9CWe see a good opportunity for this product to become = =E2=80=98best practice=E2=80=99 in=20 openpit mines around the world,=E2=80=9D said one, Foster Stockbroking, = in a research=20 note last month.

However, the CAS-CAM system has been rejected by the biggest = BHPB-operated=20 coal mine in central Queensland =E2=80=93 which describes = Acumine=E2=80=99s technology as the=20 =E2=80=9Cnext generation system available=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93 and at = least one other BHPB-operated mine=20 in the Bowen Basin. Industrea chief executive Robin Levison has failed = to=20 respond to numerous HighGrade phone calls and = emails.=20 However, it is understood the main problem mines have with CAS-CAM is = the ease=20 with which individual vehicle drivers can shut down the system if = intermittent=20 alarms become too much of an irritation.

Damaged cameras also cause production downtime because if they fail = protocol=20 dictates a truck driver, or other equipment operator, must park and wait = for=20 maintenance to come and put the vehicle back on line.

The Acumine technology has also been chosen by Rio Tinto over CAS-CAM = and=20 other products.

=E2=80=9CUnlike the other technologies ours is not only line of sight = but ...=20 provides a 360-degree view and we see through the dust, the fog, = but also=20 some stockpiles, etc,=E2=80=9D Professor Nebot said.

=E2=80=9CWe can assess the risk in the context; that is, know exactly = what everything=20 is doing and about to do. This we can do because of our SLAM = (Simultaneous=20 Localisation and Mapping) software, and we have patent pending for what = we call=20 context switching, which is very clever because it actually keeps all = moving=20 parts in the mine in context. [It knows where] every part is, where = it=E2=80=99s going,=20 how fast each is going, it tracks the trajectory, and it only alarms = when there=20 is a potential danger and not just because it is nearing other vehicles = or=20 objects. No-one else has that.

=E2=80=9CWe have customised the level of alarms [so] regardless of = the conditions and=20 visibility a small monitor will always give the operator a view of where = he is=20 going and what is ahead and behind him but it will only alarm if there = is an=20 actual danger. For example, it will alarm the driver if he is travelling = at=20 60kmph coming up behind a truck doing only 20kmph and he can=E2=80=99t = see it because of=20 a stockpile, but it will only alert the driver if he too is going slowly = and=20 only gradually gaining on the truck in front.=E2=80=9D

While a spokesperson for the WA Government=E2=80=99s Resources Safety = division said=20 there were currently no moves afoot to regulate the use of collision = avoidance=20 technology at the state=E2=80=99s mines, HighGrade = understands=20 such a direction is being considered in New South Wales and at least one = other=20 state.

=E2=80=9CI think the regulators will make them [mine operators] do = something,=E2=80=9D said=20 Australian Centre for Field Robotics CEO Olga Sawtell. =E2=80=9CMy = concern is these=20 types of incidents will just continue to go on.

=E2=80=9CWe have no doubt that our Acumine system will save lives and = prevent=20 accidents at mine sites in Australia and the rest of the = world.=E2=80=9D

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Also in the September 8 - 14, 2008 edition

AFRICA=20: Moydow=E2=80=99s=20 kimberlite count at four=20
COAL = TRADE=20: Ready = to fire=20
CONTRACTING=20: Field=20 catches up to swift Swick=20
FINANCE=20: Take=20 AIM - but then, what's the point?=20; The=20 numbers that lied=20; Too=20 many waiting for the tide to rise=20; Young=20 Turk says strategy is working=20
MINING=20: When=20 the going gets tough, get bigger=20
ReGENERATION =: 60=20 seconds with Peter Rossdeutscher=20; Back=20 to where it all started=20
TECHNOLOGY=20: Innov-X=20 marks its spot=20
VIEW=20 FROM THE WEST END=20: To=20 list or not to list - that is the question=20

=C2=A9 HighGrade 2008 | site by = Itomic

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