Rio Tinto To Deploy Fully Autonomous Water Trucks At Gudai-Darri Iron Ore Mine

(RTTNews) - Rio Tinto said that it will deploy Caterpillar's fully autonomous water trucks at the Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

The new vehicles, primarily used for dust suppression on site, will enhance productivity by enabling mine operations to digitally track water consumption and reduce waste, Rio Tinto said in a statement.

Three water trucks will join Gudai-Darri's fleet of Caterpillar heavy mobile equipment including autonomous haul trucks and production drills.

The vehicle's intelligent on-board system detects dry and dusty conditions on site, triggering the application of water to roads to keep them in good condition. The refilling the 160,000-litre tank is also an automated process.