Automation of long assembly lines is a standard practice in most manufacturing industries today. Robotic arms have taken up tedious and repetitive assembly jobs in many industries, so will a robot be taking up the running of a mine as well? Rio Tinto, the world’s largest mining conglomerate sure seems to think so.

The Australian part of the company has been making plans to automate mining processes to a considerable degree. The different forms of automation would include the actual digging, transferring of material, processing the stuff and then transporting the processed end product to the railway lines where they can be shipped out from.

The entire process of mining would be automated and the entire operation would be controlled by a man sitting in a location far away from the physical mine. The remotely controlled system would be able to save money on manpower and be more effective than the current manual system in place.

Of course its not going to happen overnight, but Rio Tinto hopes to make it happen within the next decade. At least on one of its current underground mines. If the process is successful they will naturally use it again on other mines that they own. Now that’s a science project that will need a lot of help.