Tag Archives: Coleman

Vale, Epiroc planning for automation shift with battery-electric loaders at Creighton

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The industry has been told continuously that there are plenty of synergies between automation and electrification when it comes to loading and haulage, yet the hard evidence of this complementary nature has not yet surfaced. That could be about to change if a trial at Vale’s Creighton mine in Sudbury, Ontario, proves successful.

Vale has been a key electrification partner for mining OEMs and service providers, testing out a whole host of battery-electric equipment from light utility vehicles to 42-t-payload trucks at its deep mines in Sudbury. This builds on its experience of running diesel-electric Kiruna trucks since the mid-1990s at the Coleman mine (also in Sudbury).

The miner has also commenced trials on surface with battery-electric trucks and is set to commence trolley assist operations at its massive Carajas iron ore mining complex in Minas Gerais, Brazil, later this year.

The variety of testing the company has carried out – in terms of the types of mining operations, vehicle setups, charging methods and electrical infrastructure – means it can be considered an electrification pioneer.

Now, it is looking to combine this experience with its knowledge of autonomous loading operations – again an area of the technology space it is considered a leader in.

In partnership with Epiroc, a battery-electric and automation project is in the planning stages at Vale’s Creighton underground mine.

The two companies commissioned four Epiroc ST14 Battery Scooptram and two MT42 Battery trucks at the operation in preparation for the deepening of the mine in the December quarter of 2022. Full-scale operation is ramping up with a first charging bay already commissioned and new ones coming in the next months, a Vale spokesperson told IM.

“The next steps will be to leverage the autonomous capability of those battery-electric scoops to enable operations between shifts depending on the application at the mine,” the spokesperson said.

Vale has previously said it will transition to an all-electric fleet at Creighton as part of its plans to develop the orebody down to circa-3km below surface.

Foraco’s drilling team extends stay at Vale Canada operations

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Foraco International, a provider of mineral and water drilling services, has announced a series of major contracts with Vale Canada for the provision of exploration, definition drilling and large diameter rotary drilling.

The exploration and evaluation drilling services – both surface and underground – are key services for Vale operations and include drilling at the Voisey Bay mine in Labrador, Copper Cliff and Coleman mines in Ontario, as well as at Thompson mine, Manitoba, the company said. All operations involve deep directional diamond requiring a total of 30 rigs, and have a total face value of $55 million.

Daniel Simoncini, CEO of Foraco, said: “We are partnering with Vale in Canada since 2007 and developed an excellent relationship with this prestigious client which was one of the very first to test us for our deep directional drilling technology. This is a great reward for all our staff, engineers, field crews and support teams.

“As already stated before, we believe long-term relationships with leading global mining companies like Vale are an efficient way to increase our business model resilience, ensure a stable and fair financial return while providing good quality professional life to our employees with who we can share a time horizon long enough to develop them, train them and make them safer and happier.”

Vale opens new operations centre for North Atlantic ops

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Vale welcomed a small, socially distanced, team into its North Atlantic hub to commemorate the completion of its North Atlantic Operations Centre in Copper Cliff, Ontario, this week.

The event was also broadcast live to Vale’s North Atlantic employees and featured a virtual tour video, giving participants a glimpse into the innovative new space that will serve as the physical and virtual hub of its North Atlantic operations, Vale said.

Vale’s North Atlantic operations includes the Creighton, Coleman, Copper Cliff, Garson and Thompson mines, in Sudbury.

Vale Canada Limited’s CEO, Mark Travers, addressed attendees noting that, by transforming an existing building, the company had found an innovative way to make better use of an important part of the company’s history.

“Its fresh and open design promotes creativity, collaboration and integration – and supports the need to think and work in a more sustainable way to advance our transformation journey,” Travers said to the in-person and virtual audience.

The local architecture firm behind the project was inspired by a city layout in developing the updated design, with “streets” connecting different work zones or “neighbourhoods” flanked by meeting rooms that act as sound barriers to the open concept workstations within, Vale said. These “streets” help to organise different departments but also serve as a way-finding tool, creating a grid that helps staff and visitors navigate their way through the space. So too does the meeting room identification system that borrows the names of trees and shrubs native to Vale’s North American and Brazilian operating regions.

Flexibility was built into the design from day one and provided an unanticipated benefit as the COVID-19 pandemic has required Vale to reimagine and reconfigure the space to address new safety protocols, it said.

Dino Otranto, Chief Operating Officer for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations, spoke to the group about the careful safety considerations the company is taking as it works towards the opening of the new building for eventual in-person collaboration.

“We are taking a staged approach so that effective pandemic processes and controls are implemented to ensure employee safety and wellbeing,” Otranto said.