Inverness Park is proud to announce the successful deployment of the Desktop Remote Operating Station (dROS) at the Toromocho Mine (Chinalco) in Peru.

Today marks the start of a three-month validation pilot program during which an electric drill will be operated remotely from Lima. This completes a major milestone for customer Peck Tech Solutions Ltd. (a Caterpillar company), which, in collaboration with Ferreyros (a Ferreycorp company), has deployed its first S-ADS + dROS (Electric Drill) system in South America.

The Power of dROS and Remote Operation

The dROS software allows an operator to interact with all onboard systems on Caterpillar’s MD6640 large blasthole drill (formerly the Bucyrus Erie 49R). dROS connects to Peck Tech’s onboard Drill Control Interface (DCI), an autonomous drilling platform that acts as a machine-specific layer between Caterpillar’s Autonomous Drilling System (ADS) and non-OEM drill platforms.

This dROS-DCI interaction allows an operator to remotely operate the drill in difficult terrain in the event that the ADS cannot complete its autonomous missions.

"Ideally, the operator should only ever need to set up ADS missions and then just sit back and monitor progress. But difficult terrain will often stop ADS and require direct intervention by the operator."

— Stephan Marcotte, Founder of Inverness Park

From UI Mockups to Field Success

In 2020, Inverness Park was hired by Peck Tech to design and develop the dROS office-side software, starting from nothing more than user interface mockups. True to its reputation for rapid development and field deployment excellence, Inverness Park produced the first prototype in just three to four months.

"The COVID crisis imposed delays on the project, and the price of iron ore at the time forced the temporary closure of the Bloom Lake mine. Fortunately, we got the go-ahead to deploy in the summer of 2023. And by November, we had a drill remotely drilling inside the 300m-1000m zone of a blast for the first time in the mine's history."

— Stephan Marcotte

Setting the New Standard

The deployment of dROS at Toromocho, culminating in the bold step of moving the Remote Operating Station 200 kilometers away to Lima, is more than just a successful contract — it’s a powerful validation of next-generation remote operation.

This implementation proves that the future of blasthole drilling can be safer, more efficient, and independent of geographical constraints, minimizing exposure to hazardous mine environments while maximizing productivity. Inverness Park and Peck Tech Solutions are setting the new standard for truly decentralized, reliable mining operations across the Americas.