Komatsu Ltd. has started commercial operation of large-scale ICT dozers for mining, the Komatsu D375Ai-8 teleoperation model, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Komatsu Brazil International Ltd., in partnership with Anglo American.
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Komatsu and Anglo American have been working together since June 2020 to establish new solutions that help create a safer operating environment while maintaining productivity at the Anglo American-owned Minas-Rio iron ore mine in southeastern Brazil. The companies have been promoting the introduction of remote-controlled crawler dozers for mining operations. Through their collaboration, a remote operation demonstration trial was conducted at the production site starting in October 2022, and commercial operation has now commenced.
The dozers are equipped with Komatsu’s proprietary automatic blade control technology that works in conjunction with Modular Mining’s ProVision machine guidance system. The demonstration trial confirmed that the dozer driving and blade operation can be easily controlled remotely from a remote location, even by less experienced operators. In addition, driving comfort has been significantly improved because teleoperation can free the dozer operator from working in an environment with significant vibrations.
Based on the success of this demonstration trial, Anglo American has decided to deploy six D475A-8R machines that are ready to be equipped with teleoperation retrofit kits by the end of 2023 and plans to gradually proceed with teleoperation in the future.
“We take immense pride in the successful implementation of this technology, as it has led to a substantial enhancement in the safety standards of dozer operations at Minas-Rio’s stockpile,” said Evilmar Fonseca, iron ore operation director, Minas-Rio mine, in a statement.
“Furthermore, we are delighted to provide our operators with a heightened level of comfort and improved quality of life,” he said. “Komatsu’s dozer teleoperation system has proven to be highly effective in overcoming the challenges faced by Anglo American, and due to the exceptional results achieved, Anglo American plans to install the teleoperations kit to all six D475A-8R Dozers that will be deployed at Minas-Rio this year.”
