Russia Builds the “Mine of the Future” With Robots and Automation
Mining Experts Discuss How Robotics Are Transforming Resource Extraction
Russia’s mining industry is entering a new era of robotic and automated operations. Faced with a shortage of skilled labor and the need to improve safety, companies are adopting technologies like autonomous vehicles, remote control systems, and AI-based monitoring to create what experts call the “mine of the future.” The topic became central at the Digital Industrial Ural Forum in Yekaterinburg.
Industry leaders emphasized that the shift toward autonomous production is driven by two key factors — a shortage of qualified personnel, especially heavy-equipment operators, and increasingly strict safety standards. As a result, mining companies are turning to intelligent, task-specific automation to sustain productivity and reduce human risk.
Robots That Work Where Humans Can’t
A standout example is Nornickel’s phased deployment of remote-control and unmanned systems. Initially, these technologies enabled continuous production during blasting operations, boosting equipment utilization by 15%. Full-scale robotization later added another 8–10% increase in efficiency.
Other innovations include a robotic rock breaker developed by Rexsoft, which automatically crushes blasted rock with high precision and zero downtime — completely eliminating human presence in hazardous zones.
A Unified Digital Mine
Experts say the next step is not merely replacing humans with machines, but creating a fully digital environment. The concept of a “digital passport” for each enterprise — a living archive of all operations, maintenance logs, and downtime events — allows knowledge retention, error reduction, and best-practice sharing across projects.
These technologies are especially vital for operations in extreme environments, where traditional methods are inefficient or unsafe. The systemic approach to mining digitalization presented at the forum demonstrates how Russia is building a safer, smarter, and more sustainable model of industrial production — one that could influence the future of mining worldwide.
