Northparkes is located 27 kilometres north of the township of Parkes in central New South Wales, Australia. The operations consist of underground block cave mines, sub level cave mines and an ore processing plant which produces high grade copper and gold concentrate. Production is currently sourced from the E48 Lift 1 block cave mine, E26 SLC and open cut stockpiles. Mining at Northparkes has been underway for over 20 years in various forms. Beginning with open pit mining and later progressing to block cave and sub-level cave mining methods, operations havent been without their technical challenges. Northparkes was the first mine in Australia to use the highly efficient block cave mining method, becoming a more widely used mining method throughout the world. In 2014, Northparkes became the worlds most automated underground mine with 100% of production from automated loaders. This breakthrough allows Northparkes to operate continuously, 24/7, without pause. Higher daily production are achieved at a significantly reduced cost. Importantly, complete automation reduces the risk profile: operators are located on the surface, rather than underground in the cab, thereby eliminating exposure to hazards such as dust, noise and vibration. This paper presents the development of the mining automation system and its performance at Northparkes. The current used automation system is Sandviks AutoMine system. This system enables multiple simultaneous loader control from one or more operator stations. One operator is able to control multiple loaders from one operator station. The system is designed for fast installation and start-up. This enables quick relocation from one production area to another. AutoMine system offers a high level of productivity and is the perfect solution for hazardous mine environment.
CITATION: Li, Z, George, B and Plummer, M, 2019. Development of mining automation system at Northparkes, in Proceedings Future Mining 2019, pp 5564 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).