Methods and systems for mining

A mine site configured to yield a predefined average daily material throughput over a month using a fleet of autonomous small capacity haulage trucks having a predefined maximum payload size, said mine site comprising:

• a wireless communications network for handling communication between each autonomous small capacity haulage truck and a remote control centre;
• a network of roads, wherein a first proportion of said roads have an average gradient in excess of 10%, wherein a second proportion of said roads are sealed, said second proportion being in the range of 10% to 60% of said roads, and wherein a third proportion of said roads have a maximum width in the range of 3 metres to 12 metres;
• and
• a processing site situated at least 25 km from a blast site within said mine site, wherein said processing site and said blast site are coupled by said network of roads and further wherein said network of roads does not include a materials rehandling station.

A method for extracting a predefined amount of blast material from a mine site within a predefined period, said mine site having a network of roads, wherein a first proportion of said roads are sealed, said first proportion being in the range of 10% to 60% of said roads, and wherein a second proportion of said roads have a maximum width in the range of 3 metres to 12 metres, said method comprising the steps of:

• blasting material from at least one blast site within said mine site;
• and
• utilising a fleet of autonomous small capacity haulage trucks to transport material from each said blast site to a processing site, wherein said processing site is one of an ore processing site or a waste dump,
• wherein said small capacity haulage trucks have a maximum capacity in the range of 10 tonne to 80 tonnes or less than a predefined percentage of said predefined amount of blast material, and
• further wherein movement of said autonomous small capacity haulage trucks is controlled by control commands transmitted from a control centre.