Australian miners prioritise investment in collision avoidance technology

A new report from Timetric suggests investment in collision avoidance technology will see a huge surge in the Australian mining sector of the coming years.

The report indicates that over 30% of Australian miners plan to invest in collision avoidance – a technology that lets heavy mobile machinery monitor their surroundings and stop when they are likely to hit something or someone in their environment.

Cliff Smee, lead analyst at Timetric, says: “This technology would prevent many deaths and accidents within the mining industry, as many mining trucks and other equipment have very poor visibility.”

According to Timetric’s report, there are noticeable variations in investing, based on company size. For instance, large companies with revenue greater than US$ 10 billion are more likely to pioneer new technologies. This is due to the large companies operating larger mines with larger fleet sizes: 56% of companies with revenues greater than US$ 10 billion have already invested in collision avoidance technology –compared with less than 44% of companies below that size.

Investment expected in environment monitoring and equipment health technology

Environmental monitoring and emissions management, as well as equipment health monitoring and diagnostics, are also on top of the list for planned investments. Out of twelve technologies investigated, environmental monitoring and emissions management had the highest share of respondents planning to invest at 35%, with only 10% of respondents neither having this technology at their mines, nor considering investing in the next two years. Some 34% are also planning to invest in equipment health monitoring and diagnostics, as mining companies look to maximise the lifetime of their heavy equipment.

Edited by Sam Dodson

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/mining/09072014/collision_avoidance_technology_a_priority_in_australian_mines_1060/