Sandvik and Rio Tinto collaborate to advance autonomous drilling in Finland and Australia

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Sandvik and Rio Tinto recently announced a partnership aimed at integrating the Autonomous Drilling System (ADS) into Sandvik surface drill rigs. The core of the collaboration lies in combining Rio Tinto's expertise in autonomous drilling and remote operations with Sandvik's AutoMine automation technology.

Under the agreement, both parties will jointly develop the interoperability and autonomous capabilities required to support remote, multi-rig, and multi-site autonomous operations. The project will initially be conducted at Sandvik's facilities in Finland, before moving to Rio Tinto's operations center in Perth, Australia, for field trials and testing.

Petri Virrankoski, President of Sandvik Surface Drilling, noted that this joint development demonstrates Sandvik's commitment to enhancing safety and productivity through open, interoperable automation technologies.

This work builds on Rio Tinto's recent autonomous deployments, such as the remote systems already in practical use at its iron ore mines. Meanwhile, Sandvik has also launched several initiatives to expand and refine AutoMine's capabilities.

The two companies stated that this collaboration direction is to support future autonomous drill fleet operations, aiming to enable different types of drill rigs to operate on a unified autonomous platform, thereby driving surface operations toward greater safety and flexibility.

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