Tag Archives: battery-powered

Artisan battery-powered Z50 truck on its way to Kirkland Lake’s Macassa gold mine

Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

Kirkland Lake Gold says it is expecting to receive a 50 t battery-powered Z50 underground haul truck at its Macassa gold mine, in Ontario, Canada, this quarter, following a purchase agreement signed last year.

The gold miner’s Macassa operation has been a leading adopter of new electric equipment and already has four 40 t battery-powered machines at the underground mine. These are matched by many battery-powered LHDs made by likes of Artisan Vehicle Systems and Epiroc.

The latest 50 t vehicle will come from Artisan, a Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions business unit.

The Z50 haul truck is a ground-up design that seamlessly integrates the most capable and proven battery-electric powertrain available in the mining industry with the latest and most coveted features of any haul truck on the market today, according to Sandvik. The 50 t machine is based off the existing design for the Z40 truck, which Artisan released back in 2018, but features a stretched rear frame (close to 19 in).

It is equipped with AutoSwap, a patented self-swapping system for the Artisan battery pack. This makes battery swapping faster and easier with a minimum amount of manual handling: changing the battery only takes about six minutes, and it can be done in a passing bay or old re-muck bay with no overhead cranes or external infrastructure needed, Sandvik says.

The news of the pending arrival of this electric vehicle came at the same time as Kirkland Lake released its 2020 production results. The company produced 369,434 oz of gold in the December quarter to make a total of 1.37 Moz of gold in 2020, 41% higher than the total in 2019, which was in line with its full-year 2020 guidance of 1.35-1.4 Moz.

Kovatera looks to outperform competition with battery-powered KT200e utility vehicle

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Building on its highly successful line of underground utility vehicles, Kovatera™ has released its new battery-powered KT200e.

This addition to the Kovatera line continues the rough, tough and purpose-built lineage of its diesel versions. The KT200e is not an adapted, converted or modified vehicle, however. “It is purpose-built from the ground up using advanced technology and proven components resulting in a utility vehicle that outperforms the competition in all categories,” Kovatera says.

As part of a strategy to grow domestic and international sales, Industrial Fabrication Inc (IFI) of Lively, Ontario, Canada, launched the Kovatera brand for its line of underground mine utility vehicles in late 2019.

On the latest battery-powered release, Will Gove, General Manager of Kovatera, said: “We have recognised for some time that the demand for electric underground vehicles in the marketplace will continue to increase. But we did not want to stray from the philosophy that has been at the core of our success…building equipment from the ground-up that meets the demands of the challenging underground working environment.

“And, as with previous models, these utility vehicles offer three times the economic life and twice the payload capacity of other marketplace offerings.”

The KT200e, in keeping with previous models, offers a wide range of configurations to meet customer specifications ranging from personnel carriers to specific job applications such as scissor lifts, aerial booms and wide range of options that can be bolted to the chassis, Kovatera said.

“A major consideration was to ensure that this electric vehicle’s capability matches the requirements of the customer’s needs,” Gove said. “A major feature of our battery options is to fit vehicle with a standard 44 kWh battery. With this configuration, we can offer customers a battery size and range that fits their needs without additional capital spend. If a longer range is required, we also offer a battery upgrade that doubles that range – giving the customer a range of 50-90 km between charges.”

Battery life matches or exceeds the known economic life of the unit at seven to nine years, according to the company, while charge time from dead flat is around 1.5 hours with additional optional 25 kW 600 v on-board charger.

“For customers who now use our popular UT99 diesel models, we offer a retrofit kit to economically convert them to electric,” Gove said. “Either way, the customer benefits from our tested and proven chassis, components, configuration flexibility and service longevity that have made these utility vehicles an industry standard.”