A visitor to Rio Tinto’s West Angelas iron ore operation in the hot and dusty Pilbara region of Western Australia could be forgiven for thinking it is just another mine. But looks can be deceiving.
The huge Komatsu trucks that follow a precise path over the red earth have no drivers. Instead, they are controlled by computers that are monitored from a nearby air-conditioned Portakabin. The rig drilling holes for the next round of blasting nearby is also piloted remotely.
For an industry that has failed to keep up with technologies used in big engineering projects such as the Channel tunnel, this is revolutionary. But Rio believes its vision – which includes unmanned trains, X-ray sorting machines and new boring technology – will give it a competitive edge.