Page 25 - Forbes - Asia (June 2018)

radar controls and Wi-Fi systems that will provide the data BHP Chief Technology
to control every aspect of work in the Koodaiderie and South Oicer Diane Jurgens is
Flank mines—all the way through to rail transport and the using biometric sensors
for workers; recent ad
inal stage of ship loading. highlights BHP’s tech.
In early April at the launch of a joint venture with educa-
tion authorities in Western Australia to train workers in pany’s chief tech-
automated systems, Chris Salisbury, chief executive of Rio nology officer, who
Tinto Iron Ore, said that his company’s computer-controlled joined the mining
railway was “already the biggest robot in the world.” giant in 2015 after a
But if Salisbury is in charge of a business that produced career in informa-
330 million tons of iron ore last calendar year, worth $11.5 tion technology and
billion, then Kellie Parker, the managing director of iron ore business development
planning, is who’s got to deliver tomorrow’s loads. She’s in with Boeing, General
charge of designing and delivering Koodaiderie, Rio Tinto’s Motors and Shanghai
irst intelligent mine. OnStar Telematics
Parker, a 17-year veteran with Rio Tinto, likens the new in China (telematics
technology to how “machine learning” is absorbing processes being an essential in driverless cars).
in various industries and continually improving on that work. One of the early technologies being tested by BHP under
It also can give an Asian steel-mill client a peek at supply. the guidance of Jurgens, 55, is a cap that measures an equip-
“he opportunity to look at your ore body, know what’s ment driver’s brain waves to look for signs of fatigue. She
down-hole and how you can model that, mine it, and reine says the sensors can inform the driver, “but just as impor-
the data, means you can bring your [minerals] customer tantly, it’s integrated with our back oice and supervisors can
closer to your ore body,” she says. intervene.”
At BHP her opposite number overseeing the planning Mining has never been an industry which welcomed
and design of South Flank is Diane Jurgens, the com- women despite its patron saint being Saint Barbara, who
CARLA GOTTGENS/BLOOMBERG (TOP)

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