ChinaManufacturing2024 – ongoingZijin Mining
AI-assisted autonomous equipment at an open-pit copper mine
Zijin deployed 28 machines for automated open-pit copper mining
Problem
Zijin sought to reduce workers' exposure to hazardous mining tasks. Its mines had different operating conditions, requiring equipment suited to each site.
Approach
An open-pit copper operation introduced mining trucks and other equipment using AI computing with positioning and situational awareness. The machines used 5G communications to support automated work from drilling through unloading. The deployment formed part of Zijin's wider mine automation program.
Results
Takeaway
The reported equipment count established deployment scale; it did not isolate the productivity benefit attributable to AI.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Robotics and automation
- Adoption
- Vendor solution
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
The authority published an account of Zijin's mine automation program. It described 28 machines at an open-pit copper operation using AI computing and connected controls for automated mining tasks.
Full details are in the original sources.