SYDNEY, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- A key iron ore mining operation in Western Australia plans to introduce driverless vehicles in order to increase productivity, the mine's chief executive Barry Fitzgerald said.
The majority share of the Roy Hill site is owned by Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited.
"We, are firmly of the view that autonomous trucks are the way of the future," Fitzgerald told the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne on Tuesday evening.
"Clearly a major industry trend, at this point in time we are working towards looking at starting the final implementation, or the phased implementation, probably in the second half of next year."
"The implementation model is driven by resources and as we develop the pit, so that when you go to autonomy, as we develop different pits we need to do it pit by pit by pit."
Eventually, the operation wants to introduce around 70 vehicles to replace the current fleet, but at the moment the mine plans to slowing introduce 24 trucks which are currently under construction in the process of being delivered.
"Numerous sites in Australia and around the world have already began to introduce autonomous and driverless trucks," EY's digital mining leader Mark Cotter told Xinhua on Wednesday.
"Even though it's a relatively mature technology now, organisations do, and have taken a very cautious approach to ensure there is no threat to safety, operations or personnel."
"It's something that needs to be done very carefully."
Although many predict the implementation of driverless trucks will lead to job losses across the industry, Cotter believes that may not be the case.
"The impact for the resources sector is that clearly we will see a decline in some site-based personnel," he said.
"But we actually may not see a decline in overall work force as organisations look to redeploy those people into different areas."
