Caterpillar 793 trucks going autonomous at Freeport’s Bagdad copper mine in Arizona

Caterpillar and Freeport collaborating to convert the mining company's fleet of 33 Cat 793 haul trucks at Bagdad mine to an autonomous haulage system.

Caterpillar and Freeport-McMoRan collaborating to convert the mining company’s fleet of 33 Cat 793 haul trucks at its Bagdad mine in Arizona to an autonomous haulage system using Cat MineStar Command for hauling.

“We look forward to partnering with Caterpillar to become the first US copper mine to implement a fully autonomous haulage system and are excited about the numerous benefits it will bring to our Bagdad operation and employees,” said Kathleen Quirk, president of Freeport-McMoRan.

“The three-year conversion project is expected to improve safety, optimize our fleet, reduce GHG emissions through reduced idle time, and position us to capitalize on future technological advancements in electrification.”

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Command for hauling, Caterpillar has more than 620 autonomous trucks operating with 15 customers on three continents. While operating autonomously, these trucks have hauled more than 6.3 billion tonnes of material and traveled more than 230 million km without causing any reported injuries.

Located approximately 160 km northwest of Phoenix, Arizona, the Bagdad mine is a porphyry copper deposit containing both sulphide and oxide mineralization. It consists of a near 77,000 t/d concentrator that produces copper and molybdenum concentrate and a solution extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) plant that produces 4.1 million kg) of copper cathode per year. It is one of the oldest, continuously operating SX/EW plants in the world.