Anglo American Partners with ASI to Develop Innovative Haulage Solutions

Anglo American initiates field trials of a new autonomous haulage program developed in partnership with Autonomous Solutions, Inc. The system is designed to improve safety, productivity, and sustainability in haulage operations.

PETERSBORO, UTAH—December 15, 2014. Representatives from Anglo American recently announced their partnership with Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI). The goal of the multi-year relationship is to deliver enhanced productivity, sustainability, and safety through mining vehicle automation systems for the company’s haulage operations.

The joint effort is part of Anglo American’s FutureSmart™ initiative through which the company is partnering with third party technology groups like ASI to drive innovation within the mining industry.

Facing challenges such as lower commodity prices, declining grades of ore deposits, and difficulty of access to ore bodies, the mining industry “needs to leap forward twenty years in five,” said Tony O’Neill, Anglo American’s Group Director for Technical and Sustainability, at the Dassault Systemes 3DExperience Forum in November.

To help drive this innovation, Anglo American is working with ASI automation engineers to create fully autonomous, teleoperated, and remote control haulage operations.

“Anglo American is at the forefront of innovation in the mining industry and they have been the ideal partner in creating disruptive mining solutions,” said President and CEO of ASI, Mel Torrie. As Anglo American’s OEM-independent automation partner, ASI leverages more than fourteen years of experience developing robotic solutions for the mining, farming, automotive, industrial, and military industries.

Development and testing of the autonomous mining systems have already commenced with active field trials with Anglo American and at ASI’s new 100 acre mining proving ground in northern Utah.
About ASI

For more than 14 years, ASI has been a world leader in vendor independent unmanned vehicle systems. From their northern Utah headquarters, ASI serves clients in the mining, agriculture, automotive, military, and manufacturing industries with remote control, teleoperated, and fully automated, coordinated multi-vehicle solutions.

ASI’s solutions can be found in applications such as remote control excavators in Rio Tinto’s Bingham Canyon Mine and Ford Motor Company’s robotic automotive durability program.

For more information about Anglo American, please visit www.angloamerican.com.