Rio to Reinstate Automated Trains at Australian Iron Ore Mines
December 5th, 2009 | File Under : Companies - Iron Ore - Mining Exploration
Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- largest mining company, will reinstate a $371 million automated train program at its iron ore operations in Australia as the global economy continues to recover from recession.
“They have been successfully trialed on our main line work and it was a case of the financial crisis slowing down the deployment,” John McGagh, head of innovation at London-based Rio, said today in an interview, without giving a start date. “It won’t be a question of if, but a question of when that technology comes online in the future. They are getting dusted off now.”
The train program was postponed in January amid the worst global recession since World War II as Rio, seeking to cut debt, was forced to halve spending, sell assets and eliminate 14,000 jobs. The company in October raised its 2009 forecast for iron ore output by as much as 7.5 percent.
Spending on the innovation and technology unit, which looks for ways to improve mining and reduce costs, was cut by 25 percent this year, according to the company’s Web site. Rio spent $158 million on the unit last year, down from $160 million in 2007.
Rio today agreed to spend $11 million on a new research centre to develop technologies in mineral separating, part of the processing of ore. A trial plant using the separating technology at Rio’s Kennecott Utah copper operations will begin next year, McGagh said.
“Grades are getting lower, mineralizations are getting harder,” he said. “We want to get more out of the ore bodies that we are currently gifted to produce from. If we are going to satisfy the demand that is coming down the track we have to use science and technology.”
Find More Other News : iron ore mine project - Iron Ore Prices - Iron Ore Production