Thiess and leading autonomous haulage solutions firm EACON Mining during MINExpo 2024 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deliver OEM-agnostic autonomous technology and advance decarbonisation in the mining industry.

The companies said that the MoU paves the way for us to offer more sustainable, efficient, and safer mining solutions to Thiess clients globally through EACON’s expertise in autonomous driving technology and electric and hybrid truck engineering, while EACON has the opportunity to conduct early production trials at Thiess’ Australian and international mining operations.

Thiess Group Executive Chair and CEO Michael Wright said: “Thiess has been involved with the delivery of autonomous mining services since 2013 and we are looking forward to exploring EACON’s OEM-agnostic autonomous solutions. These have the potential to reduce the significant capital expenditure barrier to autonomous haulage by enabling the cost-efficient conversion of conventional fleet to full autonomy.”

He added: “We’re also interested in EACON’s hybrid and electric truck technology, given our global 1,200-strong haul truck fleet and commitment to decarbonising our operations. We look forward to leveraging EACON’s innovative autonomy and electrification solutions to offer lower-emissions mining to our clients, many of whom are on the journey to net zero by 2050.”

EACON Mining Australia COO Elaine Jin stated: “Partnering with Thiess marks a significant advancement in our global expansion. Our autonomous and sustainable mining solutions are currently operating in more than 500 dump trucks across 13 mines. We’re confident that offering our cutting-edge autonomous haulage system will enhance Thiess’ efficiency and have an immediate impact on improving fleet safety and fuel efficiency.”

Thiess and EACON’s collaboration will kick off with identification of suitable Thiess mining operations to commence the trials of EACON technologies. In addition to Australia, Thiess has active surface mining contracts in Chile, the US, Indonesia, Canada and Mongolia.

The move follows a similar agreement with Thiess-owned mining services company MACA, signed during The Electric Mine 2024 conference in Perth – actively pursuing the development and importation of battery electric mining trucks and hybrid battery mining trucks into the Australian market. These trucks manufactured by different OEMs will be embedded with EACON new energy systems, drive by wire systems, autonomous capabilities and will conform to regional standards/regulations. That collaborative effort built upon the foundation laid with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at the end of 2023.

Elaine Jin told IM that the latest agreement with Thiess as a group is significant because it is international – so includes not only Australia but also other countries – she added that trials are set to start soon though no details have been given yet on the location or commodity type.

The move also means that Thiess from its side will be able to bring a very diversified offering to its worldwide clients. This includes OEM-driven AHS, which has been applied at the Pembroke Resources Olive Downs coal project where Thiess is using Caterpillar 794 trucks and Cat Command for hauling. Or in the case of EACON Mining, it brings an OEM-agnostic AHS offering, that can be applied on a range of truck classes and types and brands, which provides a lot of flexibility for clients who want that, including flexibility with the fleet management system (FMS) that the AHS is integrating with.

The use of smaller wide body truck classes up to around the 110-120 t payload, possibly in bigger numbers as an alternative to larger class rigid trucks, also offers an early entry for clients into battery electric or hybrid fleet operation, as EACON Mining is already well experienced with this at multiple operations, though its autonomy technology application is not limited to smaller trucks and it has development projects in place for larger rigid trucks as well. EACON Mining also has close relationships with a range of Chinese truck OEMs including Tonly, Yutong, LGMG and others.