‘Incredible to see:’ Nutrien using tele-remote technology to mine potash

Nutrien employees have started mining potash from afar.

Chris Reynolds, an executive vice-president of Nutrien and its president of potash told Gormley the use of tele-remote technology is changing the face of the mining industry.

“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 said 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 uses a combination of radar, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), advanced sensing systems, and AI-powered technologies to allow the operator to run the machine from thousands of metres away.

Reynolds said the company has been working on the technology for the past decade, eager to take miners out of potentially dangerous situations underground and into a safer environment.

“A lot of it is through a lens of safety, which is absolutely (the) No. 1 core value of ours at Nutrien,” Reynolds said. “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 test runs occurred last year, during a demonstration in Saskatoon. Reynolds said the company had a control panel set up at Prairieland Park and ran a mining machine at the Cory mine outside the Bridge City.

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

Earlier this year, the tele-remote technology was used to greater effect.

Nutrien cut a production wing at its Lanigan mine without anyone being in the area, something which Reynolds said had never been done.

Reynolds stressed the technology won’t affect the workforce — “We still need an operator,” he said – and those currently in the company’s six Saskatchewan mines apparently are on board with the system.

The Nutrien executive recalled speaking to a longtime employee at the Lanigan mine and asking him about the tele-remote technology.

“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 said. “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.”