Despite investing heavily into automated driverless train and trucking solutions to haul ore to its port operations, Rio Tinto Plc stated, it will not be trimming jobs in 2019.
On Friday, Australian mining company Rio Tinto Plc stated although it has deployed automated heavy-haul trains to slash costs, it however does not expect to trim jobs in 2019.
Its $940 million AutoHaul railway project, in development since 2012, is focused on developing driverless train movement to transport ore to its port operations.
“Early results indicate significant potential to improve productivity, providing increased system flexibility and reducing bottlenecks,” said Ivan Vella, Rio Tinto’s iron ore managing director Rail, Port & Core Services.
Rio Tinto operates around 200 locomotives on 1,700 plus km of track in Pilbara to transport ore from 16 mines to four port terminals.
Last year, Chris Salisbury, Rio Tinto’s iron ore chief had stated, Rio Tinto is looking to develop an “intelligent” iron ore mine at a cost of $2.2 billion; Rio Tinto is aiming to fully incorporate technologies including robotics and driverless trains and trucks on a single site.