Epiroc’s automation milestones at Agnico Eagle Mines’ Odyssey mine in Quebec, Canada, have continued with the OEM deploying its first autonomous Minetruck MT65 MKIII at the operation.
The company announced the milestone today, saying the truck would use its “deep control” system to display the location of the truck in 3D underground. This same deep control system will be retrofitted to 10 existing trucks at Odyssey in the coming months.
The mine has been a key partner in developing and testing the system on site, with Epiroc announcing around a year ago that it had successfully automated a Minetruck MT42 with a 2-km spiral ramp. In this scenario, the Minetruck MT42 autonomously trammed from the surface to underground, where it was loaded by our a teleremote Scooptram ST18 before it returns to the surface to dump its load.
Around a year ago, Vladimir Sysoev, Global Product Manager – Truck Automation at Epiroc, told IM that the next stage of automation following this project could see the MT42 trucks replaced with MT65s, with the end goal being an autonomous Scooptram ST18 loading these 65-t trucks, which will transport the ore in autonomous mode to the surface.
It appears this feat is now close to fruition following the arrival of the Minetruck MT65.
In the March quarter, Agnico Eagle Mines said total development at Odyssey South was a record at approximately 4,377 m. Gold production was a quarterly record and in line with target at approximately 22,430 oz of gold driven by higher ore mined of approximately 3,720 t/d compared with the target of 3,500 t/d.
“The increased use of remote-operated and automated equipment (including scoops, trucks, jumbos and cable bolters) was the main driver for exceeding the development and production targets in the first quarter of 2025,” it added.