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The EMC ready to hand over the baton in mining’s decarbonisation race

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

The Electric Mine Consortium is not Graeme Stanway’s first innovation rodeo. As the founder of State of Play, a global research platform in natural resources, energy and infrastructure, which also publishes the largest survey on strategy and innovation in mining, he has engaged with many individual and groups of companies looking to spur on mining innovation.

State of Play is the custodian of the EMC and is responsible for bringing almost 20 companies all focused on accelerating progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2 and zero particulates mine together.

Stanway, as Chair of the EMC, has had a front row seat for this journey over the last four years, and was aware the time would come to ‘wrap up’ the consortium’s proceedings – expected on September 30.

“We always knew it was a fixed term,” he told IM. “To be honest, I thought it would be sooner. When we first started, a three-year engagement period sounded about right if things worked well. There is only so long you can keep a core group of companies and people on such an intense innovation journey.”

Four years might sound short – according to Stanway and State of Play’s data it’s the average period that business’ plan their innovation journeys for – but the electrification landscape has changed substantially in that period.

“When we started there was no significant electrification simulation capability, not really any specialised consulting, limited engineering services,” he said. “Now, you can go out and get a study and people are already building mines that are 90% powered off renewables. We also have metrics being introduced that could have a noticeable impact on the way projects go through FIDs.

“The large production equipment is the one thing that is left, but people now know the pathways they need to follow. They would acquire this electric equipment tomorrow if the incentives were there. This would accelerate equipment supply and bring capital costs down, creating a virtuous cycle of adoption.”

He can reference a white paper released by EMC members Perenti and IGO, along with ABB, in May, as an example of how an all-electric mine is possible. It can also be argued that the Australian underground mining sector has caught up and, in some respects, overtaken its rivals in Canada when it comes to electrification. This includes its leading status as an off-grid renewable energy pioneer, as well as hosting the first trial of the world’s biggest underground battery-electric truck at Sunrise Dam in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.

The numbers also back this up, with the EMC starting with five mining companies and getting to 13 in the end. The EMC has also overseen more than 15 non-commercial engagement forums with OEMs and CEOs.

Graeme Stanway (left) moderating a panel session at The Electric Mine 2024, in Perth, in May

Yet, the EMC’s influence goes beyond this, according to Stanway.

Major and mid-tier Canadian gold miners – Agnico Eagle Mines and New Gold, for example – have generously provided valuable input to specific EMC teams, while a significant amount of suppliers engaged with and learnt from that core group of 13 mining companies.

“Many of the small suppliers used this experience as a product and business development opportunity,” Stanway says. “This also benefitted the mining companies that were able to realise new solutions or services in the marketplace.”

One area that Stanway reflects on as lagging his initial expectations was getting trials off the ground.

The EMC has seen over 70 equipment trials across all fleet types, supplemented by an industry first data sharing platform. This has led to accelerated equipment adoption, but Stanway still thinks there could have been more, particularly with larger production equipment.

“I underestimated how quickly trials would get off the ground,” he said. “Even after everyone’s aspirations were laid out and there was a broad understanding of the technology at hand and the opportunities to be had with these, the momentum slowed in terms of moving to trial and adoption stages.”

He also laments that the initial push to accelerate progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2 and zero particulates mine did not result in an overarching commitment to fully remove diesel particulate matter (DPM) from the underground mining sector.

At The Electric Mine 2024 in May, Chris Carr, Acting COO of IGO, said stricter standards for airborne DPM emissions in Australia and elsewhere would “push electrification a lot harder”.

MasterMined Innovation CEO, Tony Sprague, added to this, telling The Electric Mine 2024 that DPM, and specifically nano-DPM, was “the elephant in the room” and the “real driver of getting diesel out of the underground mine and to achieve the electric mine”. He explained: “There is a new [emission] target that is coming from Safe Work Australia that is not far away. When it’s going to land we’re not too sure, but if it does land it’s going to be very problematic for the industry.”

Stanway said some of this reticence could be tied to the “portfolio mentality” of some of the larger mining companies with legacy assets, and a lack of acknowledgement from leaders on the health and safety risks that come with going underground at existing operations.

“The one thing that hasn’t happened with electrification is the wholesale change in leadership intent to shift as fast as possible,” Stanway says. “A lot of these targets, particularly production equipment conversion, are set to beyond 2030 which is outside of the purview of what gets the attention of the current crop of CEOs.

“I think it is the leadership intent that is needed as much as the technology development in this space. Once the leadership intent ‘flips’, the momentum will step up another gear.”

Progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2 and zero particulates mine has still been vast, he acknowledged, saying that the investment climate and mentality has shifted to help fund new technology adoption.

“People are now open to spending more money in areas that come with uncertain outcomes,” he says, referencing investments in artificial intelligence (AI). “In that regard, it’s not just the quantum of money that has increased, it’s also the willingness to spend money in areas that they wouldn’t have before.”

This shift will benefit other complementary areas of mine electrification and decarbonisation – such as automation, AI and energy sourcing.

Yet, there is no obvious next consortium opportunity on the horizon, according to Stanway.

“Electrification was that rare beast in that it was decarbonisation driven so wasn’t competitive at the time we started,” he said. “These types of opportunities only come around once in a while. In that regard, I’m glad we were able to make such an impact in a short space of time, and we’re able to hand the baton onto the consortium members and the broader industry to advance these areas further.”

ABB, IGO and Perenti on collaborating for full mine electrification

Base metals, Environmental, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An industry panel discussion on the potential of electrifying IGO’s Cosmos underground nickel project at IMARC 2023 today highlighted the opportunities, risks and complexities associated with ‘greening’ a brownfield mining project at the moment.

Back in June, Perenti and ABB, in collaboration, were awarded an inaugural contract by IGO to undertake a study for the full underground electrification of the project, in Western Australia.

This study was to see experts from Perenti and ABB work side by side with IGO to provide a pathway for the optimum design of mine electrification at Cosmos. All aspects of electrification were to be considered in the study, including:

  • Mine design optimisation for electric operations;
  • Production and operating philosophy;
  • Fleet selection;
  • Power distribution and electrical infrastructure design;
  • Electrification system and battery management;
  • ESG and safety impact analysis; and
  • Cost modelling of both capital and operating expenditure.

At IMARC today, on the ‘Going All-Electric: Collaborating to Fully Electrify IGO’s Underground Cosmos Nickel Project’ panel discussion, chaired by Emma Jones, Innovation Management Lead, Southern Hemisphere, GHD, all three companies had representatives on stage to flesh out some of these bullet points, with the result being a fascinating discussion on implementing what is still a revolutionary concept.

The Cosmos study is split into three distinct parts with the companies currently half way through the process.

Both Chris Carr, Head of Technical Services at IGO, and Darren Kwok, Head of Mining Electrification and Technology, Perenti, admitted that the task at hand was highly complex.

Carr said the process would be much easier in a greenfield mine, with the potential ventilation and refrigeration cost reductions that would come with introducing electric machines likely to “pay” for the new equipment required.

At the same time, he acknowledged that the networks and communication would need to be improved to effectively run an all-electric mine to allow operators to know what vehicles had what state of charge and deploying these machines in the optimal way.

“This could potentially see whole sites use Wi-Fi or 5G for better data transmission,” he said. “At the same time, we would know where every vehicle is and where every vehicle is going, providing the opportunity for ‘true’ collision avoidance.”

Kwok said there was likely to be a “flow-down effect” when electrifying equipment, which would have an impact on how mines plan, schedule and operate. “We need a holistic view of a mine,” he said, explaining that “just in time” mining would not work in an all-electric operation where energy management is a key concern.

Kwok added: “We also have to link the fleet together with the rest of the operations – that is the secret sauce here.”

Mehrzad Ashnagaran, Global Product Line Manager – Electrification and Composite Plant, ABB, said any mining company looking to fully electrify their mines needed to recognise that they were working with “immature technology” that cannot meet all of their requirements.

“The design of an all-electric mine is different to the vision we originally had,” he said. “This is why we need to break the process down into manageable projects for a phased approach that can allow customers to start decarbonising now.”

This is where the company’s eMine™ approach comes in, providing a roadmap of solutions on the way to longer-term electrification goals.

“In reality, the solution we are offering today may not be the same one we offer companies in five to 10 years’ time,” he added.

There was also an engaging exchange on the risk management associated with embarking on this exercise.

Ashnagaran said, for ABB, the Cosmos study and other all-electric projects the company is working on would see its vendor agnostic and interoperable approach tested and scrutinised.

“The whole eMine philosophy, however, is that no-one can go on such a journey alone; we need to collaborate with partners,” he said.

Kwok said the study allowed the service provider to learn and understand the terms of how electrified mining can practically work.

“We, at Perenti, already understand what ‘good’ looks like [from an operating perspective]…and we also understand what change looks like at a mine site,” he said, adding that the company already has electric machine data to pull into such studies.

Carr said building ‘the electric mine’ is both a risk and an opportunity, with the mining company prepared to financially back most of the expense associated with this as it had, potentially, the most to gain from a successful outcome.

He also added a bit of wider IGO context to reinforce the point.

“At IGO, we invest A$70 million ($44.5 million) a year on exploration, putting drills into the ground,” he said. “Not all of those holes are deemed a success, but they allow us to keep building our knowledge,”

The same is true for this all-electric Cosmos study.

“Regardless of the outcome, we will learn a lot,” he said. “We are driven to be the ‘first to be first’ here; first to be second simply does not work for us.”

Australia’s first fully-automated, battery-electric Sandvik DL422iE drill goes to work at IGO Nova

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

IGO and Barminco have put Sandvik’s DL422iE longhole drill to work at the Nova operation in Western Australia, becoming the first mine in Australia to roll out the fully-automated, battery-electric rig.

The nickel-copper-cobalt mine, in the Fraser Range, is owned by IGO and operated by Barminco. Both companies have been trailblazers in terms of trialling electrified mining technologies and, like Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, they are a part of the Electric Mine Consortium.

Barminco purchased the Sandvik DL422iE, which was commissioned and put to work in July.

Darren Kwok, Head of Mining Electrification and Technology at Barminco, said: “Accelerating decarbonisation is one of our sustainability priorities and there are clear benefits to using battery-electric vehicles in the underground environment. Reducing or eliminating diesel emissions improves working conditions for our people and also has the potential to improve efficiency and profitability. We’re very excited to see the benefits that this new Sandvik rig can provide.”

Chris Carr, Head of Technical Services and Acting General Manager Nova at IGO, added: “At IGO, we believe in a clean energy future, and that extends to our underground mining operations where the electrification of our fleets will create a safer, greener and more productive operation. The arrival of the new Sandvik drill is an important step towards our commitment to be net zero across our direct operations and projects by 2035, if not sooner.”

The Sandvik DL422iE is a fully-automated, battery-powered top hammer longhole drill designed for underground mass mining in 4 x 4 m or larger production drifts, Sandvik says. It can drill vertical and inclined fans and single or parallel Ø89-127 mm longholes up to 54 m in depth using ST58 and ST68 tube rods.

The drill’s electric driveline includes a battery package and electric motor to allow for zero emissions while tramming and also reduced thermal load. The DL422iE also features Sandvik’s patented Charging While Drilling technology; an innovation for reduced battery charging time without the need for additional infrastructure.

Nathan Cunningham, Business Line Manager at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said: “We’re seeing considerable customer interest in Sandvik battery-electric vehicle solutions that help remove diesel from underground mines. If a miner is able to achieve a fully-electric underground operation there can a be a flow-on effect for the ventilation capacity calculations. For new mines, in particular, this can reduce bring a double benefit – better worker health and a reduction in the work required to meet ventilation requirements.”

The DL422iE is part of the Sandvik 400iE series of drill rigs that, together, provide a battery-electric solution to just about every underground challenge.

“Other members of the family include the Sandvik DD422iE mining and tunnelling jumbo and the Sandvik DS412iE rock bolter,” Cunningham says. “The DD422iE was launched in 2016 and has since logged more than 4 million metres of drilled holes and over 18,000 kilometres of tramming with zero emissions. Meanwhile, the DS412iE rock bolter was launched in 2021 and is rapidly transforming mines across the world.”

Kwok added: “Electrification/decarbonisation is a key priority for Barminco and one of the most important trends in the sector at the moment, alongside automation. For this reason, we’re delighted to have Sandvik as a technology partner who is providing industry-leading solutions to the challenges we face.”

Fully owned by IGO, the Nova Operation uses long hole and sub-level open stoping with paste backfill. In thr 2022 financial year, it achieved total production of 26,675 t of nickel, 11,483 t of copper, and 982 t of cobalt.