Liebherr Chile has offered and commissioned two PR 776 G8 mining dozers geared up with the LiReCon teleoperation system for SQM on the Nueva Victoria iodine mine in northern Chile.
Since their supply to SQM, the PR 776 G8 dozers have delivered optimistic outcomes for the world’s largest iodine producer. The pushing energy and gasoline effectivity of the PR 776 G8 – the biggest hydrostatic dozer available on the market – has been a welcome addition to the Nueva Victoria fleet, the corporate says.
“Throughout its first months of operation, we witnessed the PR 776 G8’s robust pushing energy, easy operation, good stability and low diesel consumption,” Nelson Torres, Operation Vice President of SQM.
Liebherr Chile has labored alongside SQM since two R 9200 excavators had been delivered to the Nueva Victoria iodine mine in 2019. SQM additionally obtained the primary R 9300 excavator in South America in late 2024, with a second unit delivered in October 2025. The addition of those PR 776 G8s and the L 586 XPower wheel loaders brings the variety of Liebherr machines in SQM’s fleet to eight.
SQM made the choice to include LiReCon into its Nueva Victoria web site for 2 foremost causes: to be forward of the curve when it comes to innovation and technological developments that contribute to the corporate’s day-to-day operations and to enhance operator consolation and security, permitting work from outdoors the mine, Liebherr says.
Torres added: “We’re pioneers. We’ll perform a robust coaching program to supply this expertise to our operators to allow them to command the dozers from the consolation of the LiReCon teleoperation stand – making their expertise on shift quieter and extra nice whereas additionally lowering their danger publicity. All whereas utilizing a brand new expertise that improves productiveness and continues with the imaginative and prescient of constructing Nueva Victoria mine a greater place to work.”
LiReCon, brief for Liebherr Distant Management, consists of a teleoperation management stand and machine-side installations together with a number of cameras, microphones and sensors. These present operators with multi-angle visible protection and real-time audio suggestions, giving a degree of situational consciousness past typical cab operation.
Markus Wittwer, Head of Gross sales for the PR 776 and mining at Liebherr-Werk Telfs GmbH, says: “Developed at Liebherr-Werk Telfs, the LiReCon teleoperation system represents the subsequent technology of secure and environment friendly mining operations. By combining this modern expertise with the PR 776 G8 crawler dozers, operators can management the machines remotely from a safe surroundings, sustaining full precision and efficiency even in high-risk areas.”
As that is the primary time that PR 776 G8s have been deployed at Nueva Victoria, the dozers will initially go to work with operators within the cab to provide the on-site group an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the machine up shut. The dozers’ LiReCon capabilities will probably be activated within the coming months, enabling secure operation in difficult areas inside the mine, which embody zones with geotechnical instability, proximity to highwalls or dumps and environments with elevated mud or warmth. As soon as ‘turned on’, the teleoperators system can even assist speedy operator shift modifications on the teleoperation stand, serving to scale back idle time and enhance machine utilisation.
Whereas SQM will primarily be utilizing LiReCon with its new PR 776 G8 dozers, the system’s design permits for future integration with different machines, together with excavators and cranes.
Liebherr Chile, Liebherr-Mining Tools Colmar SAS and Liebherr-Werk Telfs GmbH are working collectively to fee LiReCon at Nueva Victoria. The shut collaboration between the Liebherr corporations will present SQM with the manufacturing unit assist, technical experience and specialist coaching wanted to make sure seamless integration of the teleoperation system into web site operations, in line with the corporate.
Liebherr says it should be sure that the dozers and – as soon as activated – the LiReCon teleoperation system assist secure, environment friendly mining operations by offering ongoing service, coaching and technical assist to SQM over the course of machines’ service life.
