by Chris Becker
Automated drills and driver-less trucks are among the new tools employed by the four biggest companies, including BHP Billiton Ltd., in a bid to preserve profit margins during a bear market that began more than two years ago. Using more technology helped reduce costs at Rio Tinto Plc by 8 percent since 2013, even as it boosted output by 5 percent, according to Paul Young, an analyst at Deutsche Bank in Sydney. Improvements by top producers is defying a productivity collapse for the rest of the mining industry, which consultant McKinsey & Co. says declined as much as 28 percent in the past decade, forcing smaller operators to shut.
Automated drills and driver-less trucks are among the new tools employed by the four biggest companies, including BHP Billiton Ltd., in a bid to preserve profit margins during a bear market that began more than two years ago. Using more technology helped reduce costs at Rio Tinto Plc by 8 percent since 2013, even as it boosted output by 5 percent, according to Paul Young, an analyst at Deutsche Bank in Sydney.
Improvements by top producers is defying a productivity collapse for the rest of the mining industry, which consultant McKinsey & Co. says declined as much as 28 percent in the past decade, forcing smaller operators to shut.
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