At this week’s Electra Mining Africa exhibition in Johannesburg, the heavy-equipment world got a glimpse into the future of open-pit haulage—and it looks remarkably smart. Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group showcased an ecosystem of AI-driven tools and field-tested hardware designed to lower mine site downtime by up to 20% while drastically improving safety and environmental performance.
On massive haul trucks like the Caterpillar 797, a single 63-inch tire holds roughly 4,000 liters of air inflated to 8.5 bar. It is a massive kinetic reservoir that demands respect and constant vigilance.
“The stored energy in there is the same as two kilograms of TNT. So, it’s really a dangerous pressure vessel, and often tyre damage sits underneath in the structure of the tyre. When we humans are walking around the truck, we don’t see that the tyre is broken. With this technology, we can find those images and the tyre hot spots can be identified.” — Christian Erdelyi, Technical Services Director, Kal Tire Mining Tire
An AI-Powered Early Warning System
To spot issues before they turn catastrophic, Kal Tire relies on a suite of integrated technologies. Its TireSight system (powered by Pitcrew AI) identifies external damage and rising surface temperatures, while HaulSight uses Decoda LiDAR and camera sensors mounted on haul trucks to detect road hazards like spillage, undulations, and non-compliant berms. Both feed into Kal Tire’s proprietary TOMS (Tire Operations Management System) planning platform.
“Our goal is to help customers solve some of their most pressing challenges and make tyre work as safe as possible for technicians. That commitment continues to drive innovation across an ecosystem of offerings, driving operational improvements across tyre performance, fleet availability, safety, environmental impact and more.” — John Martin, Vice President Southern Africa, Kal Tire
“What makes TOMS distinctive is that it’s a platform that we use across all mines that we operate on, and so it has a common language. It allows us to collect an enormous amount of data to understand trends, and now it has AI embedded in it.” — Tracy Cobb, Communications Director, Kal Tire
Human Expertise Behind the Algorithms
While algorithms automate scans, the system relies heavily on human oversight to prevent false alarms and react instantly to high-risk hazards. A dedicated 24/7 condition monitoring team reviews and validates scans from across 25 active systems in Canada, Australia, Chile, and Colombia—with Zambia slated as the next major deployment location.
“AI is only as good as the people you have analysing it, so we don’t just have AI for the sake of having AI. We have a 24/7 condition monitoring team who are reviewing every scan that is being taken. They’re validating it, prioritising it, and if they see a hot spot that they think is on the verge of fire, there’s a call to the mine site to stand down the truck.” — Tracy Cobb, Communications Director, Kal Tire
Portable Tools for Critical Maintenance
Beyond software, physical maintenance tools are undergoing their own high-tech overhaul to protect field technicians. The Argus portable wheel inspection unit uses electromagnetic non-destructive testing to scan wheel contours and welds for micro-cracks directly on site, eliminating the time and expense of shipping giant rims to offsite facilities.
For high-risk servicing, the new Goliath-25 tire restraint system allows a single technician to safely lock down a giant assembly during inflation without needing heavy equipment like forklifts or tire manipulators.
“The task of inflating a tire has some really critical risks. If there were a rapid deflation it could cause serious injury or fatality… Now we have the ability to contain that tyre with the Goliath, and we don’t need any equipment to do it. It’s installed in minutes by one single technician and tested to OSHA standards to contain pressure up to 150% of the inflation.” — Kyle Madill, Manager of Innovation, Kal Tire Mining Tire
