The financial incentive for these mining companies are huge though, as a driver can earn A$120k before even considering the total cost of employment for a remote FIFO site.
Mine site are open cast, mine large tonnage and have long mine lives justifying the large initial investment.
Australian mining operations are also very dry, which helps a lot.
Rain introduces a lot of variables.
Large scale automation is particular to the Australian mining industry at this point.
South African deep level gold mines have been working on this for many years with little success, and I think they have mostly given up.
The dry conditions help the automated vehicles, but there's special challenges when it DOES actually rain.... everything tends to be underwater, by a lot :-)
Mine site are open cast, mine large tonnage and have long mine lives justifying the large initial investment.
Australian mining operations are also very dry, which helps a lot. Rain introduces a lot of variables.
Large scale automation is particular to the Australian mining industry at this point.
South African deep level gold mines have been working on this for many years with little success, and I think they have mostly given up.