Inside Rio Tinto’s most advanced mine

Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia
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Published 2023-10-22
Sky News Business Editor Edward Boyd has travelled to Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri mine in Western Australia to see the mining corporation's newest and most technologically advanced mine.

This is the first large-scale media trip Rio Tinto has hosted since the Juukan Gorge scandal – which saw 46,000-year-old aboriginal shelters blown up by the company.

The $3.1 billion Gudai-Darri mine began its production in 2021 and reached its capacity of 43 million tonnes in less than four months.

Rio Tinto plans to invest a further $130 million – expanding the mine's output to 50 million tonnes.

Gudai-Darri uses autonomous trucks, drills, water carts and trains – as well as remote control robots that inspect conveyor belts for bearing failures and damage.

The driverless trucks only stop to be refuelled or serviced.
All Comments (21)
  • @bm5906
    This was possibly the most interesting and well made video I've seen from Sky News Australia since I started watching this channel in early 2020. I would love to watch an hour long documentary from the team who made this.
  • @gm16v149
    I get up there quite a lot, keeps me employed and paying taxes. The autonomous trains are something else, you know there’s no driver when you see the blue lights on either side of the cab. BHP’s trains are heavier and longer but they have a driver. The locomotives in the Pilbara are fully imported from North America and are huge, you won’t see them anywhere else in Australia.
  • @aligungor3856
    Very well put together and an absolute great story about Rio. Thank you
  • @MrSmith-ve6yo
    Great to get a look in so far away from the majority of us here on the east coast.
  • @Atricapilla
    Man I would love to work in one of those mines. Amazing
  • @jdubs604
    Wow that’s crazy. AI will replace a lot of human labor.
  • @MilzyWiz
    Amazing work. I can't wait to start working ❤️❤️❤️❤️
  • @hotwheels70
    So much for value adding. Imagine if Australia turned the iron ore into steel, imagine if Australia turned the steel into usable products and then sold that overseas rather than just the raw materials.