Pilbara mining all by remote

PERTH - Rio Tinto formally opened a high-tech operations centre in Perth that remotely controls the mining giant's vast network of mines, rail systems, facilities and port operations in Western Australia's Pilbara.

The centre was opened yesterday by West Australian Premier Colin Barnett, after a six months ramp-up.

"The centre features 200 controllers and schedulers and more than 230 planning and support staff, using cutting-edge networks that ensure all Pilbara operations up to 1500km away are not only controlled from Perth, but can be performed with maximum efficiency," Rio Tinto said.

Rio Tinto's CEO in Australia, Sam Walsh, said: "There's no other mining operation in the world attempting this on this scale."

- AAP