Understanding the Historical Development and Recurring Implementation Challenges of Mine Automation
Author: Sandra Nowosad, Curtin University, Western Australian School of Mines, Australia
DOI: 10.66356/mrg.2026.05.05.ENUHDRI
Mine automation has developed through diverse technological, regional and operational pathways, encompassing remote control, computerised machine functions, autonomous equipment and interconnected operations. Drawing on patents, academic publications, technical reports, industry records, guidance and standards, this article examines five overlapping themes in that history: the ambition to remove people from hazardous working areas; the challenge of enabling machines to perceive and respond; commercial adoption; dependencies between automated equipment and wider mine systems; and emerging perspectives on intelligent mining and human-technology collaboration. A focused literature comparison identifies four recurring implementation concerns: communications, sensing and localisation, interoperability, and human participation. Selected regional cases and market inventories illustrate differences in the scale and forms of adoption across surface and underground mining. Bringing these findings together, the article proposes six overlapping implementation areas: technology, infrastructure, systems integration, mine and operational context, organisation and implementation, and people and society. This synthesis highlights dependencies that machine capabilities or autonomy classifications alone cannot explain. The historical account suggests that the value of increasing autonomy depends on its suitability for particular mining conditions, operational purposes and working arrangements.
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