US manufacturer of construction and mining equipment Caterpillar has announced that, together with its local distributor WesTrac, it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Australia-based miner Fortescue Metals Group to implement an autonomous mining solution that is focused on delivering productivity and performance gains for Fortescue's new Solomon iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Fortescue Metals is planning automation at the Solomon project using robot dump trucks for mining. By mid-2015, when Solomon could be running 45 driverless trucks, Fortescue is planning total production of 255 million mt a year.
The Caterpillar statement said that Caterpillar and WesTrac will work together to implement and operate this autonomous solution for Fortescue.
The mining fleet cost has been left out of Fortescue's estimated $US8.4 billion development cost to increase annual iron ore production from 55 million mt to 155 million mt from its Solomon and Chichester Ranges operations by mid-2013.