Nornickel is scaling up the robotization of mines and plants, testing demolition robots, autonomous dump trucks and AI-powered rock breakers. At the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, 15 demolition robots are already operating: each is capable of replacing the labor of 30 people, and an operator controls the equipment from a distance of up to 150 meters.

At the Komsomolsky mine, an autonomous rock breaker with machine vision is being tested; it independently detects oversized rock and selects the impact point. Company head Vladimir Potanin stated that only “a couple of steps” remain until the creation of a fully unmanned mine.

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