BHP chief technical officer Laura Tyler talks automation in Queensland mining

In an exclusive interview, BHP’s chief technical officer has spoken about the role of driverless trucks and machinery in mining and why she’s adamant automation doesn’t mean fewer jobs.

BHP chief technical officer Laura Tyler. Picture: Thomas Graham

The brave new world of autonomous mining could deliver a slew of productivity and safety gains but some of Central Queensland’s largest coal mines could miss out on the revolution.

BHP tech guru Laura Tyler said the commodities behemoth would only consider more automation at its seven Bowen Basin sites on a “case-by-case basis”, the result of an investment pullback in the face of higher coal royalties and Same Job Same Pay reforms.

“If it costs us more to produce a ton, then it impacts the mine life, it impacts what investments we make, it impacts the NPV on any investment that you make, we have to look at where is the best place to put our money,” she said on the sidelines of last week’s World Mining Congress in Brisbane.

“Mike (CEO Mike Henry) was quite clear on that.”

BHP has introduced autonomous haul trucks to its Goonyella Riverside and Daunia mines, but Ms Tyler’s cautious assessment of future investment into the Basin means other regions could soon outstrip Central Queensland in technological sophistication.

BHP’s iron ore operations in WA already boast autonomous shiploaders at Port Hedland remotely operated in Perth, though Ms Tyler said this was largely a function of the volume of material shipped from the Pilbara.

BHP chief technical officer Laura Tyler leads the company’s minerals exploration, technology, centres of excellence and innovation portfolios. Picture: Thomas Graham

Ms Tyler, who leads BHP’s minerals exploration, technology and innovation portfolios, said the company would still invest to maintain “asset integrity,” to rebuild or replace equipment as it wore out.

“We may choose at that time to automate that equipment, it will be a business case that’s made case-by-case so it’s not a guarantee,” she said.

But even if there is reduced investment in automation, Ms Tyler denied Central Queensland’s operations would be less safe than other sites.

“We’ve got a fatality elimination program that we’ve got underway that is looking at constantly how do we move people out of a line of fire,” she said.

“Mines are safer when they’re automated but it’s also around how do we put in place the right controls.”

Automation is expected to generate safety gains because workers would be removed from direct interaction with machines, with mining increasingly run by operators housed in remote control centres.

“We look at automation as one of the ways that we can steadily move to increase and improve safety so it’s a case-by-case basis and we continue to work through it,” she said.

BHP chief technical officer Laura Tyler talked the future of mining at the World Mining Congress in Brisbane. Picture: Thomas Graham

“What are the controls that we have in place from a minimising of risk, from a health and safety perspective?

“Are they effective? How can we improve them and does automation make it better?

“We are driven primarily by – how do we have safe production, not just any production?”

Ms Tyler was adamant automation would not destroy mining’s lucrative jobs market.

“When we when we look at automation, we don’t see an automatic kind of outflow of work because actually all we’re doing is we’re changing the types of work that people do,” she said.

“Instead of people being out in the line of fire, they’re running control rooms or they’re running service jobs.

“So, what we have found is we are actually retraining people, giving them new jobs, new skills.”

She said working-class Australians could continue to fill the skills demand of future mining.

“We will still need apprenticeships, they will just be different apprentices,” she said.