At more than 4,500 m above sea level, Chile’s Collahuasi is the third largest copper mine in the world, and as outlined in a video the miner shared this week from Canal 13C’s popular programme Megaproyectos, it is rapidly paving the way for a more sustainable future. It has set ambitious challenges such as Project 210, which will increase the plant’s processing capacity to 210,000 t/d, and Project C20+, which, through a desalination plant, will significantly reduce the use of fresh water in this context of evolution and growth.
The innovation aimed at greater sustainability also extends to its trolley assist pilot project, a collaboration with Liebherr Mining, which Collahuasi says seeks to set the standard for the national industry by making mining more sustainable and efficient. It is the first of its kind in South America, and involves four Liebherr T 284 400 ton class trucks on a 1 km pilot trolley line. The pilot is now up and running, and as such the learnings and results will be of high importance for the industry, both South American copper, and elsewhere in the world – especially to see how a trolley system performs at high altitude with this top end size class of trucks. Going forward these learnings will also be invaluable as related solutions come into view such as battery trolley and hybrid trolley.
Manuel Vera, Collahuasi Manager of Asset Management: “The idea of this project was to convert four trucks with state-of-the-art technology to generate the learnings that will allow us to look to the future and improve sustainability in projects and operations…in this electrified section, the trucks will go significantly faster and will greatly reduce their diesel consumption.”
He adds: “Here we are at 4,700 m where we have very extreme climatic conditions. We have two winters, one high plateau winter when we have intense atmospheric discharge or lightning, with a lot of rain, and we have another winter, the continental one we’re experiencing now, with very low temperatures, snow, and ice at times. Therefore, the pilot becomes more relevant because we will be able to test the technology in extreme conditions and effectively generate learnings and improvements.”
The potential benefits are significant: a drastic reduction in diesel consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and a significant increase in the trucks’ climbing speed. Carlos Nunez, Collahuasi Mine VP: “This pilot will allow us to verify all the benefits of all the studies we’ve done – in fuel savings, in reducing emissions, in making for a safer process, reducing damage and strain on the truck engines…we’re doing a project on a ramp going up loaded of 1 km. With the results of this pilot, we want to review other areas, mainly in the first stage, in the waste dumps, which represent the greatest haul distances and therefore the greatest demands on our trucks. Planning has been very important because there are engineering project activities, electrical issues, and other challenges to make it compatible with the operation. We’ve had to train our operators.”
On the 1 km ramp, the truck travels at almost double speed. So that has a major impact on the efficiency of the cycle. Collahuasi gave a quick estimate, of saving around two minutes or so per cycle, which is enormous when considering the number of truck cycles it has in a day. To the dump, the average cycle time for a dump is between 48 and 55 minutes.
The pilot project alone should reduce CO2 emissions by between 4,000 and 5,000 t per year. Today, Collahuasi is at about 560,000 to 570,000 t of Scope 1 CO2 emissions. The idea is that this pilot, hopefully, will work well and can be scalable in the short to medium term. The raising of the pantograph is automatic though the operator still needs to press a button to engage it and also lower it at the end of the trolley section.
Liebherr’s Executive Vice President R&D, Engineering and Manufacturing Oliver Weiss: “Our extensive experience with trolley solutions shows that trucks on trolleys can travel up to 1.8 times faster compared to diesel trucks, which can translate uphill into a 21% improvement in productivity. Liebherr’s experience with trolley solutions spans over 50 400 ton trucks and a fleet of 100 ton trucks on the largest trolley line in the world with a distance of 5 km. Liebherr Mining started discussions with Collahuasi back in 2022, and the site presented some challenges that needed to be considered in design and implementation of a trolley line, all of which was our responsibility, as we had been engaged to provide the full trolley solution including the infrastructure and the mining trucks to Collahuasi.”
He adds: “Now that the trucks are up and running and the system is live, Collahuasi will manage ongoing maintenance of the trolley line. Liebherr Mining has already provided training for truck operators and will continue to support them to ensure that trucks and the trolley line can be used to their full potential. This has been a truly collaborative project between Liebherr Mining and Collahuasi; it stands as a testament to strategic partnerships.”