#mining

Common Mine Model

In June 2012 we submitted the Common Mine Model (CMM) proposal to AMIRA. The role of the Common Mine Model […]

Surface Mine Automation Framework

In May 2008 we submitted the Surface Mine Automation (SMA) framework proposal to AMIRA. For more than two decades there […]

Rock Breaker

Rock-Breaker Automation

Together with colleagues from across the ICT Centre as well as CSIRO's Division of Exploration and Mining, researchers from the […]

Excavator

Excavator Guidance

This project developed and demonstrated a system that is able to simultaneously track the bucket of a mining excavator and […]

Mining Machinery

Shovel Loading Automation

With funding from the Australian coal industry's research program ACARP, CSIRO is collaborating with the Cooperative Research Centre for Mining, […]

Dragline excavation systems

Dragline Automation

The Mining Automation team at QCAT has been developing high-technology systems to assist dragline operators and mine planners since 1994. […]

Dragline on the Moon

The aim of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility of tele-operation of a dragline for large-scale regolith excavation for […]

The LHD navigation system was first tested on a vehicle operating in a simulated mining tunnel on the QCAT site. Our solution involved placing a number of sensors on the LHD, including high speed scanning lasers, and developing software to control the machine. Unlike competitive systems, our automation system is based upon the principals of reactive navigation and opportunistic localisation - meaning that there is no prescribed path for the vehicle to take, but rather the system continuously reacts to the environment and tunnels walls and decides how to respond. As it drives the loader builds a map of the underground structure and compares it to an abstract mine map, evaluating the information before proceeding. The advantage of this system is that it is able to tolerate errors in position and lack of traction. If the vehicle is slightly off the expected path, it can quickly regain its normal course.

Load Haul Dump (LHD) Automation

An LHD is a mid-sized (up to 60 tonnes) underground mining vehicle that loads, hauls and dumps (hence its name) […]

3D Coal Fuller graphic

Haul Truck Volume Estimation – Trayscan

CSIRO has developed a system called Trayscan to measure the in-situ volume of material contained within the tray of moving […]

Blast Hole Charging Prototype

Blast Hole Charging Automation

The aim of this project was to automate the charging process in underground mining. This process involves placing primer and […]