Russia allows driverless dump truck pilot at Baimsky copper project

VLADIVOSTOK. June 25 (Interfax) - The Russian government has established an experimental legal regime for the use of driverless mine dump trucks in open-pit mining by mining company GDK Baimskaya at its Peschanka copper-porphyry deposit in Chukotka, the regional government's press service reported.

The project will involve the use of 50 driverless dump trucks with capacity of 330 tonnes each on a service road between the mine and the processing plant, a closed road intended only for driverless vehicles.

"The experimental legal regime is strategically important for the Baimsky project. It creates the legal conditions for the introduction of the country's first fully automated, artificial intelligence-controlled mining model," the CEO of Baimskaya Management Company LLC and board member of GDK Baimskaya, Georgy Fotin was quoted as saying in the press release.

GDK Baimskaya's project involves the development of the Peschanka copper deposit in the Baimskaya ore zone, and construction of a mine and processing plant with capacity of 70 million tonnes of ore per year. The first phase with capacity of 35 million tonnes is scheduled to go into operation in 2029, with the second phase following in 2030 to double capacity. Capital expenditures in the development of the Baimskaya zone were earlier estimated at about $8.5 billion.

Annual production is expected to average 300,000 tonnes of copper and 490,000 ounces of gold in the first full ten years of operation.