Meet Escondida’s giant robotic arm – an example of open innovation

Our global operations need billions of dollars of goods and services every year to support the extraction of products for our customers – safely, productively and sustainably.
When our Supply teams buy these good and services they create partnerships with global suppliers and local businesses in our communities.

And these partnerships extend way beyond the standard buyer/seller relationship.

One of the greatest contributions we bring to the places where we operate is to engage our suppliers in helping solve our challenges, stimulating innovation and growing businesses to create shared value for local economies.

Take for example changing screens in our trommels. Trommels are used in the processing of the minerals we mine to sort them into different sizes. It is an important part of the process of grading the minerals. Trommel screens have to be heavy and robust to sort tonnes and tonnes of this raw mineral. Replacing them at the end of their life was difficult, sometimes dangerous and time consuming work – until now.