Rio Tinto stands up digital radio backup for bauxite mines

Rio Tinto has deployed a backup digital radio system for its Aluminium integrated operations centre in Brisbane to facilitate communications with bauxite mine sites in an emergency.

Weipa operations (Credit: Rio Tinto)

The backup system uses terrestrial trunked radio or TETRA equipment and digital radio handsets and dispatch consoles made by Motorola Solutions.

It was “developed and deployed in just five days”, the vendor said in a statement.

The integrated operations centre provides 24/7 monitoring of all safety, production and quality aspects at remote bauxite mine sites in Weipa, Queensland and Gove, Northern Territory.

It plays an essential role in “coordinating Rio Tinto’s bauxite supply to Australian alumina plants and export markets.”

“If the centre becomes inaccessible for any reason, Rio Tinto can continue tracking mine production movements via its mission-critical TETRA digital two-way radio communications system which feeds directly into the mining organisation’s disaster recovery centre,” Motorola Solutions said.

“The solution forms an important part of Rio Tinto’s business continuity plans to keep operations running safely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling commercial supply chain continuity and planning for future eventualities.”