Rio Tinto and Caterpillar to build smart mines in Western Australia

According to foreign media reports, mining giant Rio Tinto and global construction machinery giant Caterpillar announced this week that they will sign an agreement to build a technologically advanced Koodaideri mine.

The two companies said that the iron ore business in Western Australia will soon be available through the region's official CAT distributor Westrac for mining machinery, automation and enterprise technology systems.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore CEO Chris Salisbury said in a media statement: "Technology is rapidly changing our mining business because we use innovation to improve operational safety, intelligence and productivity. "The expansion of our partnership with Caterpillar and Westrac represents an exciting step in our business."

Kudeli is still under construction and is expected to provide a new production center for Rio Tinto's iron ore business in the Pilbara region. The first batch of products is scheduled to go into production by the end of 2021. Once completed, the mine will have an annual production capacity of 43 million tons, which supports the production of Rio's flagship iron ore product, the Pilbara mixed mine.

Caterpillar will supply a range of self-driving trucks including 20 automatic 793F trucks through the local Western Australian distributor WesTrac. While the equipment is being supplied, the two companies are also planning to study the potential to improve the automation of heavy mining equipment in the future.