Rio Partners with Caterpillar on Koodaideri Equipment

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,LSE:RIO,NYSE:RIO) announced Tuesday (May 7) that it had partnered with equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) to provide machinery for the company’s Koodaideri iron ore project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

As stated in the press release:

Caterpillar, with support of their local Western Australian dealer WesTrac, will supply a fleet of 20 autonomous 793F trucks as well as four autonomous blast drills. Beyond the autonomous fleet, Caterpillar will also provide loaders, dozers, graders, water carts and diggers for the operation which will be Rio Tinto’s first Pilbara mine to be primarily operated using Caterpillar machinery. The two companies have also agreed to study the potential for increased levels of automation of heavy mining equipment at the mine in the future.

The partnership with Caterpillar at Koodaideri will enhance Rio Tinto’s industry-leading Mine of the FutureTM programme which connects all components of the mining value chain for the first time, as well as making increased use of automation and digitisation. Caterpillar’s machinery will be integrated with Rio Tinto’s Mine Automation System (MAS), which collects and enhances data created by the company’s mining operations, to improve productivity across Rio Tinto’s entire iron ore network.

Chris Salisbury, Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive, commented:

“We’re pleased to be partnering with Caterpillar and WesTrac to help make Koodaideri the most technology-enabled and innovative mine in our Pilbara iron ore network.

“Technology is rapidly changing our mining operations as we harness innovation to make our operations safer, smarter and more productive. This extension of our partnership with Caterpillar and WesTrac represents an exciting step for our business.”

Click here to read the full press release from Rio Tinto.