MacLean Engineering was recently chosen to supply a fleet of battery powered mobile underground mining equipment to begin development and eventual production at Goldcorp’s Borden Project. The Borden Gold Project, near Chapleau, Ontario, is expected to be the world’s first 100% diesel-free hard rock mine to proceed to development, with portal and ramp construction expected to begin in early 2017.
MacLean has been innovating for mobile equipment safety and productivity in the underground hard rock environment since 1973 and battery power, engineered for life underground, is the latest chapter in the company’s mining R&D focus. The MacLean EV Series (electric vehicle) battery propulsion system leverages high power, high efficiency, and long cycle life battery chemistry, sophisticated battery management and vehicle monitoring capabilities, as well as onboard charging that ensures compatibility with existing mine infrastructure.
MacLean’s Fleet Electrification program was initiated in 2015 and by 2017 will be able to offer customers a battery tramming/battery operating option on all units across the company’s Ground Support product line (bolters, shotcrete sprayers, and transmixers), Ore Flow product line (water cannons, secondary reduction drills, and mobile rockbreakers), and Utility Vehicle product line (boom trucks, scissor lifts, ANFO/emulsion loaders, cassette carriers, personnel carriers, water sprayers, and fuel/lube trucks). Of note, the engineered integration of the various battery power and drive train components that make up the MacLean EV Series propulsion system was supported by a research and development collaboration with the Collingwood-based specialised engineering firm MEDATech.
“Goldcorp is a longstanding customer and so a fitting inaugural home for our battery power fleet. What’s more, this is a world-class project that is setting the bar in the mining industry: improving the working conditions of miners, making the extraction of certain ore bodies economically viable, and driving technology investment by OEMs like MacLean,” noted President Kevin MacLean. “It’s a win/win for everyone involved, so on behalf of the team at MacLean Engineering I want to salute Goldcorp for their initiative, and thank them for their continued faith in the innovation, safety, and underground performance focus at the heart of our engineering and manufacturing efforts.”
“I came up from working underground in Sudbury, Ontario in the early 1960s just as battery powered units on rail were being replaced by diesel engine, rubber tire mobile fleets, so the arc of my mining career over the past 50+ years has come full circle,” added Founder and Chairman Don MacLean. “The next generation of battery propulsion technology, provided it is engineered to perform in the hard rock mining environment, opens up a whole new range of possibilities for mining companies looking for diesel-free options to reduce ventilation and surface infrastructure costs, and protect workers’ health.”
The MacLean booth at the recent MINExpo 2016 event marked the formal unveiling of the battery powered version of the next generation of the company’s signature ground support offering, the 975 Omnia Scaler-Bolter. In addition, the MacLean booth featured a stand-alone display of the EV propulsion system components at the heart of the company’s battery power value proposition.