The-Gatherer-Volume-7

THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF AUTONOMOUS MINING

A lmost 3 years ago I wrote an article relating to remote mine site operations. That article is the most viewed article of the many I’ve written and published on the LinkedIn platform. This demonstrates the high level of continuing interest in remote mine site operation, and what has increasingly grown to become referred to an ‘autonomous mining’. The virtues of autonomous mining are often spruiked as the way forward for the industry, and there are certainly many clear benefits for the miners and their shareholders, for those working in or on the mines, and for consumers. However, the issue of the miner’s social license to operate is often raised, particularly in reference to concerns that jobs are, arguably, being lost – if not in the short term, with displaced workers being retrained into other jobs - perhaps over time we will simply see less intake relative to what might otherwise have been. Dynamic Depiction of a Vehicle The earlier article looked in particular at a Rio Tinto/ Technological Resources patent application directed to a method of depicting in a dynamic manner a vehicle on a map of a mine operation, so that the depiction of the vehicle actually looks like a mine vehicle (and not, say, a blob or a box). The colour or some other identifier of the vehicle depicted indicates the status, such as whether the vehicle is full or empty. Should the status of the vehicle change, the identifier changes too. Many readers of this earlier article expressed surprise that a relatively ‘minor’ change, being the depiction of the vehicle in question as a mine vehicle, was considered to provide the necessary quality of novelty and inventive step for an Australian patent, particularly as there were earlier disclosures of arguably similar systems relating to emergency services vehicles and the like. discussing some of the issues associated with patent protection being obtained

Taking this opportunity to ‘check back in’ with developments provides further insight into the intellectual property of autonomous mining. In my experience, the key features of the ‘digital mine’ most commonly discussed are 1. Driverless trucks, and 2. Autonomous drilling. Let’s look at the second feature this time around, but still with reference to Rio Tinto and their subsidiary Technological Resources Pty Ltd. Autonomous Drilling Australian Patent Application 2010249159 is titled “A system and method for the autonomous drilling of ground holes”. The application has been filed in the name of both Technological Resources Pty Ltd and The University of Sydney. Interestingly, it still remains pending, despite having been filed in 2010. This is due to various factors, including the fact that an opposition had been filed to the grant of the patent, and an opposition filed in respect of amendments being sought to be made to the patent application. The technology, expressed in its broadest form, is simply a method for autonomous drilling of ground holes by a ground rig that includes a ‘drilling arrangement’, and using an autonomous drilling procedure to control the drilling arrangement to drill the hole once the rig is positioned where the hole is to be drilled (excuse the circular language). At a more detailed level this includes a processor that selects steps based on ‘statuses’ of the rig or drilling arrangement. There further may be a ‘remotely located operator’ who can intervene for any necessary over-riding or reprogramming. Opposition The party that opposed the grant of the Australian patent, Epiroc Australia Pty Ltd, clearly did not believe that Technological Resources Pty Ltd and The University of Sydney deserved to be granted a patent to such an arguably broad technology. However, what we can see is how the process of opposition to the grant of a patent can have an impact in Australia. A third party that believes it may be disadvantaged by the grant of a particular patent to another party or parties has the right to intervene in that process by filing an opposition. A three month window is provided after the advertisement of acceptance of an application for the filing of such an opposition. The opposition then plays out through the filing of a statement of grounds and particulars and several evidentiary stages.

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