Champion Iron Signs A Letter of Intent with Caterpillar Inc. for Advanced Drilling Technologies At Its Bloom Lake Mine
August 16, 2021 at 11:30 pm
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Champion Iron Limited announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent with Caterpillar Inc. to implement artificial intelligence based Advanced Drilling Technologies (the "Technologies") on Cat equipment at its Bloom Lake Mine ("Bloom Lake"). The project will progressively implement a remote-controlled, semi-autonomous and fully autonomous Cat electric drilling fleet, utilizing the Technologies engineered, designed, and/or integrated by Caterpillar. With Champion contributing its experienced workforce, and Caterpillar's independent dealer, Toromont Cat, its aftermarket support, the collaboration will aim to optimize Bloom Lake's operational productivity and reduce energy consumption, while demonstrating the capabilities of Caterpillar's advanced drilling technologies. A Drill-to-Mill strategy ("D2M") is expected to be deployed based on a series of tightly integrated systems, driven by Cat MineStar solutions, designed to optimize the drilling, loading and hauling processes. D2M is focused on delivering improved milling performance by supplying optimized mill feed, while contending with dynamic operational conditions. Using real-time data, artificial intelligence and analytics, Caterpillar's integrated technology will support Champion's ability to assess the status of machines, technologies, and material to enable more timely and accurate operational decisions and consistent execution across Champion's entire mining value chain. The goal of the collaborative effort will be to deliver a fully integrated drill-to-mill technology solution powered by data connectivity and advanced analytics to ultimately improve workflow between the mine and plant, providing a more efficient end-to-end enterprise process that delivers more consistent raw material for final product specification requirements.
Caterpillar Inc. is the world's leading producer of mining construction and operation equipment, diesel and natural gas motors, and industrial gas turbines. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- sale of machines and motors (94.5%): terracing and construction machines (power shovels, high-lifts, bulldozers, etc.), agricultural and forestry tractors, motors and turbines (for heavy trucks, boats, industrial machines, and power stations), conveyer systems, hydraulic circuits and components, etc.;
- financial services (5.2%) ;
-other (0.6%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: North America (51.6%), Europe/Africa/Middle East (20.4%), Asia/Pacific (18.1%) and Latin America (9.9%).