Chinese construction and mining equipment giant XCMG has already made significant inroads in mining with its wide body trucks, including conventional diesel, hybrid and full battery versions in countries like Brazil, Indonesia, Guinea and elsewhere and with high profile Tier 1 miners like Vale. This includes a fleet of 30 units of its XGE105 electric wide body mining trucks recently shipped to Guinea for Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), which is developing Blocks 1 and 2 of the huge Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.

This was followed by a deal with Rio Tinto-led SimFer, developing Blocks 3 and 4 of Simandou, to provide a complete set of core mining equipment, including dozens of XDE240 230 t class large diesel-electric drive rigid mining trucks. This will be the most significant XCMG rigid mining truck order outside of China to date.

XCMG Chile’s Carlos San Martin and IM Editorial Director Paul Moore at Exponor 2024

But momentum is already building and a move to introduce its larger rigid trucks into global mining has already begun in other mining countries. In July, Serbia Zijin Copper began receiving a fleet of new XDE150 mining trucks, adding to larger XDE260 trucks that were delivered in 2022. In Ecuador, EcuaCorriente’s Mirador copper mine has had a fleet of XDE130 trucks for several years.

Now XCMG is getting more trucks in-country in the big hitter mining countries as well. Earlier this year, IM Editorial Director Paul Moore saw its XDE130 AC diesel-electric drive truck, the first in Chile, on show at the Exponor 2024 event in Antofagasta. XCMG Chile’s Carlos San Martin told IM that this unit would go into service initially with a mining contractor in Chile. He added: “We are a very big company in China but today in Chile we are small. Starting with our units in the mining contracting space, the big miners here can get to see the performance of our trucks as most of them use contractors in addition to having their owned fleets. Plus the 120 t class XDE130 is a very attractive size class for contractors and mid sized miners – as it hauls more tonnes than the typical 92 t class Caterpillar 777.”

Over in Australia, the first ever units there of the XDE130 AC trucks recently arrived. There, XCMG is also hoping to get a foothold in the contracting and earthmoving market with this model. These are not the first rigid XCMG trucks in Australia, as a fleet of XDE120 trucks has been operating since 2019, but it represents a new push with a slightly larger and much updated model. XCMG Australia stated: “These powerhouse machines are engineered to redefine efficiency and performance in the mining industry. With a payload capacity of 120 t, the XDE130 combines cutting-edge electric drive technology with robust construction to tackle even the toughest mining conditions.”

While Chinese mining truck OEMs have in the past been often dismissed in the market as lacking in service support or performance or both, big strides forward have been made and the mining industry is always looking for more options. Plus, crucially, the Chinese mining truck OEMs already have very close relationships with the big Chinese battery companies like CATL and others through the large wide body truck BEV fleets already operating, which is likely to increase their influence as the big miners look to meet net zero goals with battery rigid trucks.