Modern Mining with Caterpillar MineStar

By Erin Bennett, Project Development Superintendent

In late August, the Field Technician Crew and the Project Development Team had the opportunity to visit the historic Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota to take a closer look at the Caterpillar MineStar Technology for underground mining. The MineStar Technology for underground provides solutions to increase efficiencies, control costs, extend equipment life, work more productively, and keep people safe. This technology essentially brings the underground environment out of the dark by monitoring equipment and personnel in real time. The teams were able to witness firsthand the benefits of this technology as it applies in the underground space.

?After an initial safety presentation and outline of the underground exercise, the teams headed a couple thousand feet underground by way of the Yates Shaft to the 1700 level. A train took everyone a mile and a half to the “working area” where the crews received pre-shift instructions and went to work. The crews were split into four teams, each representing a member of the mining crew. Two teams represented underground loader operators, one team represented a haul truck operator, and the last team represented the shift supervisor. The first half of the “shift” was spent completing work without MineStar Technology. The second half of the “shift” displayed how much more efficiently the crew and equipment ran by utilizing the MineStar Technology.

The Black Butte Copper Project is truly world class, and it is technologies like MineStar that will elevate Black Butte into the future of modern mining.

?Overall, the experience did an effective job of displaying how technologic advances in the underground mining environment serve to boost safety and productivity.?Many of the field crew members also experienced their first trip underground on this tour.