On June 10, Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Group announced that, within the scope of its Mine of the FutureTM program, a new tunnel boring system, which is expected to reduce the time taken to construct an underground mine by 40 percent, will be trialled next year at the Northparkes copper and gold mine in New South Wales in Australia, with shaft boring system trials to follow.
The Mine of the FutureTM program, which was launched in 2008, tests advanced techniques for underground tunnelling, mineral exploration and improved recovery of ore. With this program, Rio Tinto aims to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve health, safety and environmental performance in mining operations.
Rio Tinto is also working on ways of improving rates of ore recovery and the advanced exploration technologies.