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Roy Hill ingenuity was on display as thousands took the opportunity to visit a strongly backed showcase of resources technology by Australian miners at the Perth Convention Centre.

From leveraging technology used to build some of the most popular computer games on the planet, to ground-breaking automation, Roy Hill presented some of the most exciting initiatives it is undertaking at the Resources Technology Showcase. But just as importantly, a significant section of the company’s display was dedicated to work Roy Hill directly supports for the benefit of communities in Western Australia.

Pilbara Faces, a partnership between the Roy Hill Community Foundation and Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation, is already helping solve a range of medical mysteries involving rare diseases in Aboriginal children through 3D facial imaging. This amazing scanning and analysis technology is a portable non-intrusive system that uses facial features to detect genetic facial clues.

Roy Hill CEO, Gerhard Veldsman, spent time with guests during the event where a consistent stream of school aged children from years 4 to 10, along with members of the public, were keen to get a glimpse of world-leading technology.

“We hope that we can inspire and encourage the next generation who are attending to look at the vast number of opportunities the resources sector, and Roy Hill in particular, can provide,” Mr Veldsman said.

“We also hope that they can see how a successful mining industry supports a better Australia with rising living standards, and that mining is essential to their future. The willingness of resource companies to innovate and drive better outcomes enable the sector to continue to provide employment, bolster the economy, and support our communities.  If mining does well, so does Australia.”

There was no lack of impressive activations to attract the eye, but a pink 4WD ute converted to drive autonomously was a big crowd puller to the Roy Hill stand. It is part of the world’s largest independent autonomous haulage project. Roy Hill is working alongside Epiroc and ASI Mining to deliver a solution that will make autonomy more accessible and build a more productive and safer mine environment.

“One of the things that employees and visitors comment on is the amount of pink across our mine. We have pink trucks, pink crushers, and a huge pink wet high intensity magnetic separation (WHIMS) facility. All of it driven passionately by our Chairman, Mrs Gina Rinehart, and her dedication to the ongoing support of those in our community going through breast cancer,” Mr Veldsman said. ”Roy Hill encourages women in the mining workforce and has one of the highest percentages of female employees in the industry.”

An eight meter long video wall was also a crowd pleaser, especially with the huge screen displaying an exact digital replica of the Roy Hill mine where guests could control a drone or haul truck across the entire site! Using data from a vast array of systems already in place, Roy Hill worked with Voxel Farm to recreate the mine in a way that had a very familiar feel to video games. This definitely appealed to the audience on hand but is just the tip of the iceberg for how Roy Hill is planning on applying this technology to enhance its operations.

“We’re very fortunate to be in West Australia and hold events like this in a global environment where COVID is still very much a stark reality impacting people’s lives. At Roy Hill we take our responsibilities of being able to continue to deliver to our customers and in turn deliver economic outcomes for the state very seriously,” added Mr Veldsman.

“The event is a wonderful chance to celebrate the positives and showcase the incredible resourcefulness and ingenuity of the Australian resources sector and its people, and the ability to embrace and leverage technology to keep us firmly as world leaders in sustainable mining.”

Find out more about the Roy Hill Community Foundation here.

Roy Hill CEO Gerhard Veldsman with visitors to the Roy Hill display

Guests enjoying the activities at the Roy Hill display

Visitors had the chance to fly a drone over an exact digital replica of the Roy Hill mine

Roy Hill’s display at the Resources Technology Showcase included iron ore samples to touch and feel