BHP’s remote operations have hit a milestone, with BHP WA Iron Ore (WAIO) marking 10 years of working from its Integrated Remote Operations Centre (IROC) in Perth, Western Australia.

The IROC, which operates most of BHP’s WA iron ore logistics and processes, connects the four processing hubs and five mining hubs with more than 1,000 kilometres of rail and port facilities in the Pilbara region.

The centre operates a wide range of machinery, trains, trucks and drill rigs in the Pilbara and has recently begun the process of automating the company’s shiploaders in Port Hedland.

WAIO Asset President Brandon Craig noted the remote operations centre runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and is crucial to its mission to get its iron ore from pit to port in the safest, quickest and most efficient way possible.

“Our iron ore operations are safer, more sustainable and more cost efficient now than they were 10 years ago, and the remote operations centre has been critical to achieving that,” he added.

“The growth in the centre has supported technological advances, career opportunities and with that has come diversification of the team – nearly half of the workforce is female and 12% identify as Indigenous.”

The IROC, located at its office at Saint Georges Terrace, first opened in 2012.

Source: BHP