Robots in Mining

Since 1990 there has been a resurgence of interest in robotics from a new industry group - the mining industry. For a long time, Australian miners dismissed robots as fragile curiosities which academics liked to peddle, and if they wanted a robot, it was often wanted "yesterday", prefereably costing no more than $1000.

All this has changed because the industry now realizes that the benefits of automation are essential for long-term profitability and cannot be realized overnight. In Western Australia, Hammersley and CRA have led the way with extensive automation of iron ore sampling stations at Port Hedland, Tom Price and Marandoo.

Marandoo makes extensive use of new technology and would not have been economic without it.

We have completed a study of this technology for a private client, Fluor Daniel Australia Pty Ltd.

Robotics and Automation in Mining by Pornsawan Jongkaiboonkit (Honours Thesis, Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, 1995).

For further information, write to:

The accompanying pictures show three Hammersley robots at work in Port Hedland.

Robot "Casper" building a screen shaker stack at the sampling station, Parker Point, Dampier. (by permission) Click for full picture (~350k)

Robot "Lars" transporting an auto-weigher tray at the sampling station, Parker Point, Dampier. (by permission) Click for full picture (~350k)

Robot "Lars" loading a Thermo-Gravimetric Analyser at the sampling station, Parker Point, Dampier. (by permission) Click for full picture (~350k)

Research groups active in this area include CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Technology, Queensland (http://www.dem.csiro.au/) and University of Sydney: Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, Professor of Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney, tel +61-2-9351 2341 fax 61-2-9692 9169, email: hugh@tiny.me.su.oz.au.

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LAST UPDATE: December 2003 http://www.mech.uwa.edu.au/jpt/mining.html