DRONE CAPTURES PIT TO PORT

We don’t know about you, but the sheer size and scale of what happens at a working coal mine still amazes us. The size of the pit itself, to the dragline, haul trucks and excavators, it is next level.

The team at Anglo American still find it cool too even after all these years. They wanted to share the sheer scale of the working Capcoal Open Cut Mine with everyone, so they sent a drone out to capture the whole process.

“When you work in mining every day, you can become immune to the size and scale of what we do. But this footage uniquely captures the complexity and magnitude of the journey to produce high-quality steelmaking coal in the Bowen Basin. It’s a powerful reminder of the innovation, co-ordination and effort behind every tonne we produce,” said Capcoal General Manager George Karooz.

The drone video captures FPV (first-person-view) drone fly-through footage from pit through to the train load-out.

The Capcoal operations are huge, comprising of Lake Lindsay Mine, Oak Park Mine and the CHPP at German Creek. The mine employs 821 employees and embedded contractors and produces about 7 million tonnes of stealmaking coal annually (including with the neighbouring Aquila Mine).

It wasn’t an easy project to undertake. It involved several teams and required months of preparation including completion of site-specific training and assessments in line with Ango American’s global safety standards.

Filming was conducted over two days with the flight paths all carefully planned and rehearsed. The specialist drone pilot even built a custom computer simulation environment to refine pilot skills and build familiarity with operating in a mining context and around the different equipment.

“We use draglines with 100m booms, shovels, dozers and haul trucks – all huge pieces of equipment – to extract coal from our open cut pits,” George said.

“This vision takes you inside the mining process like never before as we zoom under haul trucks, dart around shovels and dive through a Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP).

“This project demonstrates Anglo American’s commitment to innovation. It represents one of the earliest uses of FPV drone technology to provide a seamless, immersive perspective of the coal journey, delivering insights rarely captured within the industry in Australia. 

“Behind that incredible footage is a world-class team of operators and engineers working with precision and pride at Capcoal near Middlemount.”