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MACA in autonomy first

by Michael Washbourne

riverless trucks could eventually become the norm across also cost-effective technology. It needs to be something we can
Dmultiple Australian gold mines after leading contractor deliver in a cost-effective and beneficial way to our clients.
MACA Ltd successfully pioneered an autonomous haulage “We also see autonomy as the gateway into potential other fuel
technology system at Capricorn Metals Ltd’s Karlawinda systems, whether that’s battery power into trucks or hydrogen
operation in the Pilbara. fuels, but we think it’s going to be very difficult to optimise if
MACA, in conjunction with global autonomous heavy equipment you’re not in an autonomous operating system.
company SafeAI Inc and distributor Position Partners Pty Ltd, “We want to be the contractor at the forefront of technology.
recently completed Stage 1 proof-of-concept field trials in a We won’t necessarily lead the majors, but for us it’s a different
cleared and safety-bunded area away from the active mining solution. It’s a cost-effective solution for the mid-tier and smaller
operation at Karlawinda to evaluate the capabilities of the mining side of what goes on, which is actually the bulk of the
proprietary autonomous vehicle technology. mines.”
A Hitachi EH3500 model 180T dump truck was installed with the MACA general manager estimating and technical services
technology and a haulage cycle route established for navigation. Shane Clark said demonstrating the autonomous technology
MACA selected this particular model because it has never been system had commercial viability was a breakthrough moment
fitted with any type of autonomous controls. for the business.
MACA has now formally entered into a binding MoU with “It’s far lighter on capital upfront but we’re also taking that on-
SafeAI and Position Partners with the intention of deploying the road technology and applying it to the mining space, which
autonomy across its mining fleet. More trucks at Karlawinda are is seeing these economy of scale benefits, so it comes at a
expected to be retrofitted with the technology over the coming different price point,” Clark said.
months.
“Also because of the way that we’re approaching the
Speaking to GMJ following the successful proof-of-concept communications, it doesn’t require the heavy backbone that the
trials, MACA managing director Mike Sutton indicated there was
strong demand for autonomous technology at other gold mines.
“We certainly have a pipeline of other clients that are very keen
to see this technology roll through their projects,” he said.
“We’ll get an autonomous fleet running up at Karlawinda and
then potentially that whole site will be running autonomously. We
were quite surprised how quickly we managed to get a system
out there and cycling around. And we’ve done that without any
real significant issues to be honest.
“We’re certainly confident to enter into the next phase of getting
an autonomous fleet running over a whole site.”
MACA had been reviewing autonomous solutions for its mining
fleet for some time, but found most of the current versions of
autonomy were geared towards large iron ore operations with
more than 20 years of mine life.
Large capital requirements and potential non-transferability
across MACA’s mixed fleet of equipment also emerged as larger iron ore players have had to invest in to get the current
sticking points. technology off the ground. The reason for that is because we’re
After about 18 months of intense legwork to identify a suitable doing more computing actually at the edge. We don’t need to
technology partner, MACA started collaborating with SafeAI and bring as much data back to the mine centre or remote locations.”
now has autonomy at the forefront of several other business While the autonomous system being trialled and deployed by
plans. MACA is considerably different to those which have already
“MACA is 20 years old this year and we’re now looking at where been rolled out on major iron ore mines, Sutton said it still
do we take the business for the next 20 years,” Sutton said. carried the same benefits such as safety improvements and fuel
efficiencies which have been well documented by the likes of
“We think we need to be at the cutting edge of technology, but
Rio Tinto Ltd, BHP Ltd and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.

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