Vale, Caterpillar and Sotreq sign deal to expand fleet of autonomous trucks in Pará, Brazil

[Ben Graham]

Vale (NYSE:VALE), Caterpillar and Sotreq have signed an agreement to expand the fleet of autonomous haul trucks in iron ore operations in the Northern System in Pará, Brazil.  

Currently, the Northern System operation has 14 autonomous haul trucks with a capacity to carry up to 320 tons. The new agreement expands the fleet to approximately 90 autonomous trucks in the region by 2028, operated by Cat MineStar Command for hauling, including trucks with a capacity to carry up to 400-tons.  

The technology, VALE said, will be gradually expanded over the next five years at the Serra Norte and Serra Sul units. The implementation will be accompanied by a plan to prepare employees to perform strategic functions in the digital environment, the miner said.  

Autonomous trucks remove workers from hazardous areas, and increase operational efficiency – with gains of up to 15% in operational performance and a reduction of up to 7.5% in fuel, contributing to the reduction of the company’s carbon emissions, it said.  

Since the implementation of autonomous vehicles in the Northern System began in 2019, more than 260 professionals have been trained in the new roles created and in interacting with digital systems, Vale said.

“The use of autonomous transport technologies in our operations in the Northern Corridor is a fundamental strategy to strengthen our culture of operational excellence and prepare our teams to lead the challenges of increasingly efficient, competitive, and sustainable mining,” Vale’s vice president of operations Carlos Medeiros said in a news release.