Page 24 - Forbes - Asia (June 2018)

FORBES ASIA
DIGITAL DIGS

Iron Ladies of

Mining Tech

Australia looks to the onset of cost-saving intelligence down under.

BY TIM TREADGOLD

digital-technology revolution is rocking the more than $3 billion each to what Rio Tinto calls “intelligent
world’s mining industry just as it has seen a mining” and BHP “the mine of the future.” Both are about to
symbolic inlux of women into executive roles make radical changes in their most proitable divisions by de-
long reserved for men. signing mines without the burden of legacy equipment, some
A Two iron ore projects in Australia dem- of which hasn’t changed in decades.
onstrate what’s happening as the world’s biggest mining Driverless trains and trucks, already being used in a
companies, BHP and Rio Tinto, move closer to committing number of projects, will be joined by an array of sensors,

REUTERS/AARON BUNCH

Kellie Parker, a managing director at Rio Tinto Iron Ore, is the brains behind Koodaiderie, Rio Tinto’s first intelligent mine.

22 | FORBES ASIA JUNE 2018