Byrnecut Mining at Mt Gordon, 200km north of Mt Isa in Queensland, is using the radio tags on trucks that pass a newly-installed computerised weighbridge, keeping tabs on ore throughput and efficiency.

Security consultant, Roger Whyborn, for Protrac iD, Australian distributor for the tags, is confident that it will revolutionise the way large businesses, particularly the coal industry, keeps track of equipment, load amounts and personnel.

“An ID tag and software system will probably pay for itself in 12 months due to greater efficiency, information gathering, monitoring, tabulating or just simply keeping track of throughput and expensive equipment,” Whyborn said.

The ID tags can attach to any surface and transmit information that is assimilated by dedicated computer software.

“Previously the antennae on radio transmitter tags used to short circuit on metal surfaces, a problem that has dogged this technology for years, but the manufacturer recently came out with a new antennae that can transmit signals without any aerial malfunctioning or interference,” Whyborn said.

He believes the tag is the only one in the world that will work on both metal and plastic surfaces. It is so finely tuned that several millionths of a watt can still generate a signal. A powerful signal is not necessary, hence batteries last much longer than normal, up to five years compared to the average 6 months.

Dan Valmadre, general manager of Transcale, the weighbridge company that installed the system at Mt Gordon, said each truck has a radio ID tag that “talks” to the computer, identifies the truck, tells the driver when to drive onto the weighbridge, when to drive off, and the time and weight of the load. All this is automatically logged in a computer.

The weighbridge is unmanned, truck drivers don’t have to climb out and push any buttons or fill in any forms, and production and efficiency can be assessed at will. Every fortnight a company employee visits the weighstation and downloads the information onto a laptop computer.

“We only found out this product was available in Australia after talking to Wavetrend, the manufacturers overseas. Technical support from Protrac iD, the tag’s exclusive distributor in Australia, has been pretty amazing,” Valmadre said.

The tags have also been installed on Tamrock underground haul trucks at the Barminco mine in Tasmania.

Nine trucks have ID tags that are linked to a computer, recording which trucks have dumped what tonnage of ore at which sites. Barminco are validating the exact amount of ore extracted which will eliminate gliches in the old system, saving the company a considerable amount of money over coming months.