Mining Fleet Limitador de Velocidad: Chile and Peru

A mine is a place where speed has a different meaning on every stretch of road. On the pit ramp, 30 km/h may be too fast. On the long access road to the nearest highway it may be fine to go much quicker. Inside the camp, the plant area or the workshop apron it drops again. The limitador de velocidad on a mining vehicle has to cope with all of that, and the operator of the site decides the numbers.

This guide is for the people who run vehicles in and around mines in Chile and Peru: transport managers at the operator, fleet managers at contractors, and the companies that supply camiones, camionetas and buses to site. It covers what a limiter does on and around the site, which product fits which vehicle, and how to prove the speeds you set are the speeds you drive.

Who sets the speed on a mine site

On the public road, the law sets the ceiling. In Chile, art. 145 of the Ley de Tránsito caps buses and trucks of 3,860 kg GVW or more, and school transport, at 90 km/h, with interurban buses allowed 100 km/h. In Peru, the Reglamento Nacional de Tránsito sets 90 km/h for public passenger transport on highways, with urban limits of 30 km/h on streets and 50 km/h on avenues. Our truck speed limits by country page has the full comparison.

Inside the fence, the mine operator decides. Pit ramps, haul roads, ramps near the crusher, the plant, the camp, the parking areas and the workshop each get their own number, and contractors who bring vehicles onto site work to those numbers. A contractor that can show its trucks stay within them is easier to work with, easier to renew and easier to insure.

That is the real job of a speed limiter in mining: turning a site speed rule from a poster at the gate into something the vehicle itself holds.

The vehicles that need speed control

Mining fleets are not one type of vehicle.

• Camiones mineros and heavy trucks. Road-going trucks, tippers (volquetas), water trucks and fuel tankers working haul roads and access roads. Heavy, slow to stop, and often on grades.
• Contractor trucks. Trucks from outside companies delivering supplies, reagents and equipment, or carrying concentrate to port. They come from many fleets, with many different engines and ages.
• Camionetas and light vehicles. Pickups and 4x4s used by supervisors, geologists, maintenance crews and contractors. There are far more of them than trucks, and they tend to be the vehicles that go fastest on site roads.
• Buses and crew transport. Mini-buses and buses moving shifts between camp, plant and town. A full bus carries the most people in the operation.

Each needs the same thing from the limiter: a held speed that nobody on the vehicle can quietly change. What differs is the engine, and therefore the unit.

Which AutoKontrol unit fits which mine vehicle

Vehicle or need	Fits	Notes
Electronic throttle trucks, buses, pickups	DBW speed limiter	Electronic, works on the drive-by-wire throttle signal. Fit about 1.5 hours.
Older diesel with mechanical fuel control	System 80	Mechanical, works on the fuel line. Fit about 60 minutes, accurate to +/-1-2 km/h.
Different speeds in different parts of the site	GeoKontrol	GPS geofenced zone speed limits for mine sites, depots and school zones.
Proof of speed for the client, insurer or safety team	TrackSpeed	Limiter with ScorpionTrack GNSS tracking. Fit about 60 minutes.
Vehicles with SENT throttle sensors	SENT speed limiter	For the SENT sensor protocol.

Tell us the make, model, year and engine type of each vehicle class, including your trucks, and we will say which unit goes with which. Most mixed fleets end up with two or three of these across the fleet.

GeoKontrol: one vehicle, several speeds

A straight cap is blunt on a mine. Set the limit low enough for the camp and the truck crawls on the highway. Set it for the highway and the camp is unprotected.

GeoKontrol solves that with geofenced zones. The operator draws the zones on a map: pit, ramp, plant, camp, workshop, public road. Each zone has its own speed limit. As the vehicle crosses a boundary, the limit changes with it, and the vehicle cannot go faster than the zone allows regardless of what the driver does with the pedal.

The benefits show up quickly:

• Safe where it matters. Pedestrian areas, workshop aprons and camp roads get a low limit without slowing the haul to the highway.
• One rule, enforced by the vehicle. Nobody has to rely on a driver reading a sign at the end of a long shift.
• Easy to change. If the operator moves a crusher or opens a new bench, the zone map changes with it.

Our mining fleet case study walks through how zone limits work across pit, haul road, plant and camp on a large site, using a West African gold mine as the example. The same logic applies to a copper operation in the Atacama or a polymetallic mine in the Peruvian Andes.

TrackSpeed: evidence, not promises

Operators and insurers both value a proven speed record. A policy that says “our drivers keep to the limit” carries less weight than a record that proves it.

TrackSpeed combines the speed limiter with ScorpionTrack GNSS tracking. The vehicle holds its set speed, and the fleet manager can see where each vehicle goes and how it drives. For a contractor, that gives you:

• A way to answer a speed query from the operator with data.
• A fleet-wide view across pickups, trucks and buses in one place.
• A clear record for investigations after any incident.

For the mine operator running its own fleet, the same data shows which areas and which shifts see the most pressure on speed.

System 80 for older diesels

Mining fleets are rarely all new. Many contractors run older diesel trucks with mechanical fuel control. Those engines have no electronic throttle, so an electronic limiter has nothing to connect to.

System 80 is a mechanical limiter that works on the fuel line. It fits in about 60 minutes and holds speed to within +/-1-2 km/h. It is the right unit where the engine is mechanically governed, and it means older trucks can follow the same speed policy as the newer ones in the fleet. Read the electronic vs mechanical speed limiters guide for the full comparison.

Fuel, tyres and brakes

The safety case is the main reason, but it is not the only one. Haul roads put a lot of strain on tyres, brakes and drivetrains, and diésel is one of the largest operating costs. Holding a sensible speed lowers peak heat in the brakes, slows tyre wear and removes the highest-consumption running. Use the HGV fuel consumption calculator to put numbers on your own vehicles.

Fitting and support in remote locations

Mines are far from workshops, so supply matters. We ship direct to your fleet with fitting instructions. Your own maintenance team can fit the unit in the site workshop, or you can use a local auto-electrician of your choice in the nearest town. Fit times are about 1.5 hours for a DBW and about 60 minutes for System 80 and TrackSpeed. Our technical team supports you remotely at every step.

AutoKontrol is part of Scorpion Group, which has built vehicle electronics since 1973. Our units are designed and manufactured in the UK and are ECE R89 type-approved. More detail is on the Chile and Peru pages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a limitador de velocidad hold different speeds on different parts of a mine?

Yes. GeoKontrol applies GPS geofenced zone speed limits, so the same vehicle can run at one speed on the access road and a lower one in the plant, the camp or the workshop area.

Which unit suits an older camión with mechanical fuel control?

System 80. It is a mechanical limiter that works on the fuel line, fits in about 60 minutes and holds speed to within +/-1-2 km/h.

Can we fit limiters to our camionetas as well as our trucks?

Yes. Pickups with an electronic throttle take the DBW. Send us the make, model and year of each vehicle and we will say which unit fits.

How does a contractor show the operator its trucks stay within the site limit?

TrackSpeed pairs the limiter with ScorpionTrack GNSS tracking, so the contractor has a record of speed and location to show the operator, the insurer or its own safety team.

Who fits the units at a remote site?

Your own workshop team, or a local auto-electrician of your choice. We ship direct with fitting instructions and support you remotely.

Get a quote

Tell us the site, the number and type of vehicles, their make, model, year and engine type, and the speeds you want to hold in each zone. We will recommend the right units. Request a quote or email international@autokontrol.com.