Nutrien staff have began mining potash from afar.

Chris Reynolds, an govt vice-president of Nutrien and its president of potash informed Gormley using tele-remote know-how is altering the face of the mining trade.

“It allows that machine (in the mine) to be run remotely, so there’s not someone sitting physically in a chair on the machine,” Reynolds mentioned earlier this week.

“As you can imagine, in that (mine) environment, (it’s) very dusty, (there’s) a lot of noise (and) a lot of vibration coming from that huge machine mining the potash. That person can be removed

from that machine (and) can be sitting adjacent to it or even at the surface of the site.”

According to Nutrien, the tele-remote system makes use of a mix of radar, mild detection and ranging (LIDAR), superior sensing programs, and AI-powered applied sciences to permit the operator to run the machine from 1000’s of metres away.

Reynolds mentioned the corporate has been engaged on the know-how for the previous decade, desirous to take miners out of doubtless harmful conditions underground and right into a safer setting.

“A lot of it is through a lens of safety, which is absolutely (the) No. 1 core value of ours at Nutrien,” Reynolds mentioned. “But then also we’re starting to see some operational and efficiency benefits from this technology.

“It’s something that we’re really excited about it.”

One of the check runs occurred final 12 months, throughout an indication in Saskatoon. Reynolds mentioned the corporate had a management panel arrange at Prairieland Park and ran a mining machine on the Cory mine outdoors the Bridge City.

“It was incredible to see,” he mentioned. “You’re watching a screen (and) you’re watching this machine mining potash 1,000 metres underground 20 kilometres away.”

Earlier this 12 months, the tele-remote know-how was used to higher impact.

Nutrien reduce a manufacturing wing at its Lanigan mine with out anybody being within the space, one thing which Reynolds mentioned had by no means been executed.

Reynolds confused the know-how received’t have an effect on the workforce — “We still need an operator,” he mentioned – and people at present within the mines apparently are on board with the system.

The Nutrien govt recalled chatting with a longtime worker on the Lanigan mine and asking him in regards to the tele-remote know-how.

“He said, ‘I can walk over there and go to a bathroom. I can go and get coffee there. I’m sitting in an air-conditioned office and I’m running this machine,’ ” Reynolds mentioned. “One thing he mentioned was, ‘What I do miss is the noise of the machine.’

“As you can imagine, running this machine over 20 years, they start to get almost a sixth sense into how the machine is running. We heard that feedback and we’re able to pipe the sound of the machine itself into headphones so that that operator can have that feeling of being on the machine but in a nice, safer environment.”