Recently, the first batch of three 360 ton (327 t) class NTE360A electric drive mining trucks from Baotou-based Chinese mining truck market leader Inner Mongolia North Hauler (NHL) set sail from Tianjin Port to Australia. The new trucks are part of an order for 28 units going to Yancoal’s Mount Thorley Warkworth (MTW), an integrated operation of two open cut mines located adjacent to each other, 15 km south-west of Singleton in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.

This order is very significant globally as the NTE360A represents one of the largest mining trucks made in China to have been exported out of China. The trucks are equipped with Wabtec premium integrated AC electric drive systems. Bappa Banerjee, Wabtec’s General Manager of Mining Equipment told IM last year: “These integrated electric drive systems will improve the performance of their mining trucks by reducing fuel costs and increasing reliability, giving their customers a distinct sustainable cost advantage over the service lifetime of their trucks.”