Kirkland Lake Gold’s Fosterville looks forward to battery electric LH518B trial

Kirkland Lake Gold-owned Fosterville Gold Mine (FGM) in Victoria, Australia is partnering with Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions to trial Sandvik’s new LH518B battery electric 18 t LHD. In the most recent FGM Community News, the company said that the new battery electric loader will be the equivalent capacity and size of FGM’s existing diesel-powered machines, adding: “The new technology will eliminate underground emissions and significantly reduce both heat and noise from the underground work environment.”

The trial, beginning in early 2022, will be the second Sandvik LH518B battery electric loader to start operations in Australia after Gold Fields’ Hamlet North mine in WA and one of the first four operating in the world, with the other units at New Gold’s New Afton in Canada and another set for Kennecott Utah Copper’s underground development project at Bingham Canyon in Utah. A fifth LH518B is set to begin trials in 2022 at Gold Fields’ South Deep operation in South Africa. At the completion of a successful trial FGM says it intends to purchase the loader and begin a gradual transition to a fully battery electric loader fleet.

FGM added: “A unique feature of the Sandvik battery electric loader is its ability to quickly and simply swap out the battery cage. The battery swap involves lowering and disconnecting the main battery cage to the ground and using a dedicated smaller tramming (driving) battery to move the loader into position to pick up and automatically connect to a fully charged battery cage. This process requires no cranes or lifting infrastructure and can take as quick as six minutes. The battery is expected to last up to three hours and can charge in as little as 45 minutes. The battery alone weighs 10 tonnes and utilises the very safe very stable Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) chemistry.”