Tag Archives: copper

E and I Zambia helps power up process plant for copper miner

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining services, Power supply for mines, , , , , , , , , , ,

Electrical control and instrumentation specialist, E and I Zambia, says it has successfully completed a large project on a new process plant for one of Zambia’s leading copper miners.

The contract included the installation of six electrical substations, 20 transformers, five 1,250 kVA diesel generators for back-up power and a 950 m overland conveyor. Almost 250 km of cable was pulled and nearly 15 km of cable racking was constructed, according to the company.

Also completed were six earth mat rings, 12 mast lights and a range of general plant earthing and lighting installations around the plant, as well as the fitting and termination of instruments. E and I Zambia conducted the work between January 2019 and April 2020, in close collaboration with both a leading design house and the end-client, the company said.

According to Projects Manager, Dave Opperman, the company has a sound track record in the country, having been active on the copperbelt and beyond since 2002.

“The experience of our team on site, the quality of our artisans and the training of workers ensured that the quality of this job was world class,” Opperman says. “While prioritising safety and quality, we were still able to adapt to the inevitable fine-tuning of project parameters and schedules, and to deliver on the client’s timelines.”

The safety standards were reflected in the achievement of 395 Lost-Time Injury Free days. This was achieved despite a busy site – peak manpower grew to over 270 employees and subcontractors – in a project that consumed almost 590,000 manhours. Almost all the staffing on the project was local, the company said.

“Being so well established in Zambia, we have a solid database of skilled artisans that we can draw upon for large projects like this one,” Opperman says. “The country has a good foundation of these trades, and we can select the most suitable profile of skills to match the project.”

He noted that the company is also able to optimise its local procurement through its network of reliable suppliers, while maintaining a strong cross-border supply chain for large and specialised equipment and components from South Africa.

In line with quality standards, each phase of the project involved the sign-off of both in-house and external quality control officers. This ensured all work was carried out in accordance with engineering designs and industry standard specifications before being certified ready for use.

E and I Zambia is also able to draw on the extensive technical capacity of South Africa-based EnI Electrical, an operating entity within Zest WEG.

Aeris Resources adds battery-electric 20 t carrier/loader to Tritton fleet

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

Aeris Resources has confirmed the arrival of the battery-electric retrofit ‘TRITEV’ 20 t underground loader at its Tritton copper operations, with the company having added the Integrated Tool-Carrier/Loader to its fleet at the New South Wales, Australia, mine.

3ME Technology and Batt Mobile Equipment (BME) unveiled this industry-first machine last month, with 3ME saying the machine would head to Tritton later this year as part of an initiative developed under Project EVmine, with the help of METS Ignited.

The collaboration between 3ME and Aeris Resources started all the way back in 2017, Aeris Resources said in its arrival announcement on LinkedIn

Based on a second-hand Volvo diesel-powered L120E, the TRITEV required a “ground-up rebuild” from the 3ME and BME teams, 3ME Chief Business Development Officer, Steven Lawn, told IM last month.

This included removing all diesel internal combustion engine components, except the transmission and drivetrain; modelling the expected duty cycle at Tritton; developing a battery-electric system to suit the application at hand; writing the vehicle control unit software; integrating the system into the existing platform; and providing a mechanical overhaul of the machine.

The 3ME and BME teams planned to test the machine at the Newstan mine, in New South Wales (previously owned by Centennial Coal and now on care and maintenance), ahead of sending to Tritton.

Los Andes Copper commits to HPGR comminution route for Vizcachitas

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , ,

Los Andes Copper says additional comminution test work has confirmed the selection of high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) circuit technology for use in the processing circuit at its Vizcachitas copper project in Chile.

The use of HPGR, and the adoption of the previously announced dry-stack tailings, reinforces the company’s commitment to the environment and designing a sustainable operation with low energy and water consumption, it said.

At early stages of the Vizcachitas prefeasibility study (PFS), HPGR technology had been identified as the most attractive grinding alternative, given the data obtained from preliminary test work conducted in 2009, and in 2017-2018. As part of the PFS metallurgical test work, four representative samples from the mine plan were sent to a laboratory for pressure bed testing. The results of this test work confirmed the equipment sizing and its performance for a PFS-level study.

The results provided specific energy consumption readings of 2.17 kWh/t in the case of a HPGR circuit, which results in a global specific energy consumption of the comminution circuit of approximately 14 kWh/t. As compared with the semi-autogenous grinding alternative, the HPGR showed a reduction of up to 20% in energy and up to 50% in grinding media consumption, Los Andes Copper said. These results confirm the advantages of adopting this technology at the project.

The comminution circuit at Vizcachitas, where the HPGR circuit will be incorporated, is a three-stage crushing circuit using a gyratory primary crusher, three cone crushers in open circuit and two HPGR as a tertiary stage arranged in a closed circuit followed by ball mills. Through this process, and in addition to the lower energy consumption, the use of HPGR will reduce dust emissions related to dry crushing due to the removal of coarse recirculation in the secondary crushing stage, the company said.

Fernando Porcile, Executive Chairman of Los Andes, said: “I am pleased that the results from the test work carried out to date have confirmed the advantages of using HPGR in terms of enhancing project economics, lowering energy consumption and increasing operational flexibility.

“The use of HPGR technology favours the stability of the dry stacked tailings operation, as well as reducing the environmental impact by minimising energy usage, water consumption and dust emissions.”

Nussir gets $8 million backing for development of zero-emission mine

Base metals, Environmental, Mineral project development, Mining finance, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , ,

The EGM of Nussir ASA has approved a private placement of more than $8 million from northern Norwegian industrial investors to go towards the development of an industrial area, the access tunnel to the copper deposit at the Nussir mine in Repparfjord, Finnmark, and to strengthen the organisation.

This is an historic milestone for Nussir, both in raising capital to start initial construction work and for having 100% local participation that will result in a large increase in northern Norwegian ownership in Nussir ASA, the company said.

The placement will also support ENOVA evaluation to grant up to $16 million for the full electrification of the mine, as the first zero-emission mine in the world.

ENOVA is owned by Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment and contributes to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, development of energy and climate technology and a strengthened security of supply.

“It is great news for Nussir that we have been able to attract industrial investors and community builders from Hammerfest, Alta, Kirkenes and Risøyhamn as new shareholders,” Nussir CEO, Øystein Rushfeldt (pictured right with Alexander Krogh, CFO, left), said.

“Local investors are now lining up to join in the realisation of the mining project by providing valuable knowledge and capital. Now we have achieved significantly greater capacity and look forward to the establishment of a new company in Hammerfest municipality creating material ripple employment effects in the region. We also hope that this is the right time to reach a positive agreement with the reindeer herders in the area.”

Nussir is a copper mining project located in Repparfjord in Hammerfest municipality. The company recently announced a significant Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a German smelter for the sale of future copper production, and a long-term MoU with LNS for underground mining operations.

The company aims to become the world’s first fully electrified mine with zero CO2 emissions. The project will employ 200-300 in the production phase.

Newcrest looks to new FMS, haul truck trays for Red Chris improvements

Base metals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , ,

With gold and copper production dropping and costs increasing, the Red Chris mine, in British Columbia, Canada, is set for a number of improvement initiatives, according to 70% owner Newcrest Mining.

In the company’s September quarter results, Newcrest said Red Chris gold and copper production came in at 12,636 oz and 7,050 t, respectively, during the three-month period. This was down from the 15,440 oz of gold and 8,401 t of copper registered in the June 2020 quarter.

Newcrest said the circa-3,000 oz drop in gold output reflected a higher proportion of lower-grade stockpile material being fed to the mill due to unseasonal rainfall hitting the availability of higher grade ex-pit material.

This lower-grade mill feed adversely impacted recovery rates, partially offset by a 13% increase in mill throughput following process control improvements and a higher proportion of stockpiled material with “characteristics that enabled increased processing rates”, it said.

Red Chris’ all-in sustaining cost of $2,621/oz in the September quarter were significantly up on the $1,536/oz seen in the previous quarter. This was driven by increased sustaining capital expenditure, higher operating costs due to “seasonal benefits allowing increased activities to be scheduled”, together with the impact of a strengthening Canadian dollar against the US dollar and lower copper sales volume, it said. These factors were only partially offset by the benefit of a higher realised copper price.

With one quarter of Newcrest’s 2021 financial year down, the company said it is planning to put in place a number of additional improvements across the site. Included in this is a new fleet management system, the replacement of the conventional Cat 793 truck trays with “high-performance trays” to realise payload benefits, and several throughput and recovery-related projects.

The company has 45,000-55,000 oz of gold and 25,000-30,000 t of copper production slated for Red Chris in its 2021 financial year.

Upon announcing the acquisition of a majority stake in the asset in 2019, Newcrest Managing Director and CEO, Sandeep Biswas, said there was potential to turn the Red Chris orebody into a Tier 1 operation.

It also outlined a two-stage plan to deliver value from the $806.5 million acquisition. This included applying its “Edge transformation approach” to the existing Red Chris open-pit mine and processing plant, and potentially leveraging industry leading mining methods and technology such as block caving, coarse ore flotation and ore sorting.

Atalaya Mining evaluating Lain Tech’s E-LIX System for copper cathode production

Base metals, Environmental, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Atalaya Mining has commenced the execution of a feasibility study to evaluate the economic viability of producing cathodes from complex sulphide ores prevalent in the Iberian Pyrite Belt through the application of a new extraction process called the E-LIX System.

The production of cathodes has the potential to generate cost savings by reducing charges associated with concentrate transportation, treatment and refining, and penalty elements, while also reducing carbon emissions, the company said.

E-LIX System is a newly developed electrochemical extraction process developed and owned by Lain Technologies Ltd, led by Dr Eva Lain, who holds a PhD in Electrochemistry research from the University of Cambridge.

Through the application of singular catalysts and physico-chemical conditions, E-LIX System is able to achieve high metal recoveries under low residence times, by accomplishing rapid reaction rates while overcoming classic surface passivation issues that have typically impaired metal recovery from complex sulphide ores, Atalaya said. E-LIX System is considered to be a more environmentally-friendly process than existing technologies; it generates zero emissions and does not consume water or acid, and runs under mild operating conditions (atmospheric pressure and room temperature).

Patented in 2014 by Lain Tech, the E-LIX System has been developed in collaboration with Atalaya from an initial concept in the laboratory to a fully operational pilot plant located at Proyecto Riotinto, in Spain.

The pilot plant with a capacity of 5 t/d has been running for the past nine months, with only mandatory stoppage owing to COVID-19 restrictions. Leach rates of up to 250 kg/h have been achieved processing copper concentrates, zinc concentrates and blends of different types of sulphides, according to the company. The pilot plant also contains a solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) section and has successfully produced high purity copper cathodes as a proof of concept.

Excellent leach results with recovery rates well over 90% have been attained, the company said. Fast kinetics for copper and zinc have also been successfully achieved overcoming the well-known passivation problem of leaching primary sulphides.

The pilot plant has demonstrated that the E-LIX System effectively treats the impurity levels typically associated with the complex sulphides present in the pyrite belt that runs through the south of Portugal and Spain and prevalent at Proyecto Riotinto.

During the past five years, Atalaya has provided financial assistance to Lain Tech to develop the E-LIX System and has now reached an agreement with Lain Tech to use its patents, on an exclusive licence basis within the Iberian pyrite belt in Spain and Portugal.

Under the terms of the licence agreement and based on the encouraging operating results at the pilot plant, the company has commissioned a feasibility study to evaluate the construction of an industrial scale plant for the production of a minimum of 10,000 t/y of copper cathode metal. The study at a cost of around €1 million ($1.2 million) will be funded by Atalaya and is expected to be finalised in 2021. The agreement also provides for a profit sharing arrangement between Atalaya and Lain Tech.

“The feasibility study will be based on the results obtained from the pilot plant and aims to confirm the scalability of the E-LIX System and the capital and operating costs of the industrial plant,” Atalaya said. “Should the industrial plant be built, it will be funded and constructed by Atalaya with Lain Tech designing, operating and managing the E-LIX System.”

Atalaya believes that the use of the E-LIX System could potentially be applicable to the large amount of complex sulphide ore inventory present throughout the Iberian pyrite belt, including Atalaya’s mining properties such as Proyecto Riotinto and Proyecto Masa Valverde, it said.

Atalaya CEO, Alberto Lavandeira, said: “We are fortunate to have been given this unique opportunity to work with Dr Eva Lain in the development of the E-LIX System. I believe this system has the potential to play an important role in the economic treatment of many complex orebodies worldwide. We look forward to updating the market on the results of the feasibility study.”

Heritage eyes up Mount Morgan riches, rehabilitation

Base metals, Environmental, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, Precious metals, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A partnership between GreenGold Engineering and Heritage Minerals Pty Ltd has plans to return the Mount Morgan gold mine in Queensland, Australia, to some of its former glory by creating a mean and green way to extract gold from its ample tailings deposits.

The cooperation allows Heritage Minerals to develop the project in a proactive program to maximise the best chance of project success, the company says. Heritage admits it has a big task on its hands, facing doubters that have witnessed a string of false starts at Mount Morgan.

The story behind Mount Morgan dates to 1882 when a syndicate was created to open a gold mine at Ironstone Mountain, 39 km south of Rockhampton.

Ironstone Mountain, later renamed Mount Morgan, was originally operated as an open-pit gold mine at the top of the mountain, before being converted to an underground copper and gold mine.

In 1935, it transitioned back to an open-pit operation and continued until the mine closed in 1980. After this, Peko Wallsend Ltd ran a tailings treatment operation from 1982 until 1991, recovering gold from 27 Mt of tailings.

Mount Morgan pioneered many metallurgical processes to cope with the unique properties of the ore over this time. From chlorine leaching in the early days to various flotation and smelting furnace techniques for the copper/gold ore, the Mount Morgan tailings stockpiles have a rich and varied history.

At different stages over the life of the mine, copper was either a bonus or a nuisance. When copper grades were high, copper was a financial benefit; when the copper grade was low, the metal increased the operating cost associated with gold recovery.

This more than century of mining and processing came with consequences.

The pyrite remaining in the mine and tailings dumps is acid-forming and has generated a significant environmental legacy which remains today. This legacy has become the responsibility of the State of Queensland (1993) and is managed by the Department of Natural Resources and Mining’s (DNRM) Abandoned Mines Division.

Despite these environmental liabilities, five companies have come back to Mount Morgan since Peko Wallsend stopped operations in the early-1990s, encouraged by higher yellow metal prices and improved processing options for the refractory ore.

“We’re the sixth company to have a shot at reprocessing the tailings, with none of the companies before us getting past the feasibility study stage into financing,” Peter Mellor, Corporate Secretary at Heritage Minerals, told IM.

All of them were unsuccessful primarily because of the presence of nuisance copper and the high cyanide consumption that comes with removing this, according to Mellor.

The most recent company to try its luck at Mount Morgan is a case in point.

ASX-listed Carbine Resources developed a process flowsheet to remove part of the troublesome copper by acid leaching the tailings and producing copper sulphate. Additional revenue from the production of pyrite concentrate supplemented gold sales.

It was the production of premium quality (50% sulphur) unroasted iron pyrite concentrate that enabled the commencement of the reduction of acid-forming material at Mount Morgan, Carbine said.

Despite coming up with a 1.1 Mt/y blueprint that, in the expanded case, could operate for 20 years and produce 23,000 oz/y of gold, 2,700 t/y of copper sulphate and 200,000 t/y of pyrite concentrate, the plan ultimately fell down on the projected economic returns, negatively impacted by excessive royalty liabilities.

A February 2018 update came with a revised operating model at Mount Morgan showing all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of A$862/oz ($621/oz), A$313/oz higher than the company’s December 2016 feasibility study.

“The increase is due primarily to higher cyanide consumption and lower by-products credits due to a lower pyrite price and the loss of copper sulphate premium associated with a change in the copper products produced,” Carbine explained.

Fresh approach

To be fair to Mellor and the Heritage team, they are not looking to repackage the same project blueprint in a markedly better gold price environment as other companies have been known to attempt. Instead, they are setting up the project and the town of Mount Morgan for a brighter and sustainable future.

After gaining rights to the project from Norton Gold Fields following Carbine’s exit, one of the first things Heritage did was appoint GreenGold to carry out the definitive feasibility study.

Equipped with its ReCYN resin-based technology that has been shown on other projects to reduce cyanide consumption by up to 50% through capturing free cyanide from plant tailings and recycling it back into the leach circuit, the selection was an obvious choice.

The company could potentially detoxify the tailings stream and clean up the water discharge at Mount Morgan. This would be a boon for the DNRM, which currently treats the water from the open pit and tailings deposits before being released into the local creek due to the low pH levels caused by the acid-forming pyrite.

“Our process plant will use this water, treat it and send it out as clean water down the creek,” Mellor explained.

This is one of several changes the company is implementing to make the project viable.

“For example, Carbine were previously looking to float off the nuisance copper at the start, which came with the associated capital costs of building a flotation plant,” Mellor said. “Yet, the copper really represented a low amount of revenue (2,700 t of copper sulphate in the studies) overall.”

The ReCYN resin plant can deal with the higher cyanide consumption needed to treat the copper at the back end of the flowsheet. This will allow the company to focus on the gold – which represents 90% of revenue – that can be processed by a technically-simple carbon in leach plant.

Malcolm Patterson, MD of Heritage Minerals, and Peter Papa, Technical Director of Heritage Minerals, observe the task ahead at Mount Morgan

The open pit is partially filled with previously processed tailings, with Mellor saying the reprocessing of 10 Mt of tailings (averaging 1.1 g/ Au) can help complete the rehabilitation process.

“We have come up with a really neat environmental rehabilitation scenario where we fill the existing open pit up, and cap it all off nicely so the surface water cannot penetrate,” he said.

Set to build a 2 Mt/y plant to re-process this material, Heritage is only looking five years out from first production, although there is potential for this processing quantity to be doubled.

Even with this near-term gaze, the definitive feasibility study (DFS) anticipates a one-year payback and an upfront capital expenditure bill of A$74 million (compared with Carbine’s last A$96 million estimate).

“There is more potential than this,” Mellor says of the feasibility study, highlighting several areas of interest within proximity of the existing open pit. “Yet, we wanted to get the economic, environmental and social aspects ticked off first before laying out any longer-term plans.”

The company has been very thorough in coming up with this five-year plan.

Already blessed with an extensive JORC resource database from previous Mount Morgan tailings reprocessing protagonists, the company continued to drill for tonnage and bulk density definition of the tailings resource; the latter with a Dando percussion drill rig capable of punching 1 m cores down to 30 m depth.

With a board decision on the DFS expected before the end of the year, Heritage could soon enter the financing stage, followed (hopefully) by construction.

If all goes to plan, operations – a simplified earthmoving and processing method – could begin in 2022.

“Mount Morgan is definitely not the easiest site, but it is the most prestigious in terms of history and challenges,” Mellor says.

Heritage and GreenGold will soon be judged by the financing community on whether they are up to such a challenge.

RUC Mining, Barminco keep Panoramic’s Savannah nickel restart plan on track

Base metals, Mine shafts and equipment, Mine ventilation, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Panoramic Resources says underground development at the Savannah nickel project in Western Australia is moving ahead as planned, with both its raisebore contractor and contract miner striving towards the ASX-listed company’s first half 2021 restart goal.

In a progress update, the company said mining contractor, Barminco, had completed the 468 m horizontal underground development drive, connecting with the vertical ventilation shaft to complete Fresh Air Raise (FAR #3) development at Savannah North, in late September.

Since then, specialist raiseboring contractor, RUC Mining, has been setting up the raisebore rig on the surface and installing the reamer head at the 1675 RL, which was developed to intersect into the existing FAR #3 raise.

“This complicated and critical task was completed safely and efficiently as planned,” Panoramic said on October 19. “RUC is tasked with the FAR #3 back-reaming, which commenced over the weekend and expected to be completed in the March 2021 quarter.”

A total of 354 m will be back reamed at a diameter of 3.85 m, according to the company. This is planned to provide sufficient ventilation to support future full-scale mining operations from Savannah North in line with the Mine Plan released in late July.

Managing Director and CEO, Victor Rajasooriar, said: “We now have a firm foundation to recommence underground pre-production development next month, to complete ventilation works for Savannah North and complete areas of capital development to lay further groundwork for a potential restart of operations. This work will be concluded towards the end of the March quarter 2021 and we expect to be in a position where the project is capable of being restarted in the first half of 2021.”

The Savannah Mine Plan outlined a mine life of around 13 years, with the majority of ore sourced from the Savannah North orebody. Average annual production for years 1-12 would be 8,810 t of nickel, 4, 579 t of copper and 659 t of cobalt in concentrate, with all-in costs for these years of $5.27/lb of payable nickel, net of copper and cobalt by-product credits.

Oyu Tolgoi hits the Copper Mark

Base metals, Environmental, Mining industry recognition, Mining safety, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , ,

Turquoise Hill Resources says the operator of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia has been awarded the Copper Mark, the copper industry’s new independently assessed responsible production program.

The Copper Mark is the first and only program for responsible production in the copper industry. Originally developed by the International Copper Association with inputs from a broad range of stakeholders including customers, NGOs and producers, the Copper Mark is now an independent entity with a multi-stakeholder council.

In August, Rio Tinto’s Kennecott site in the US became the first producer to be awarded the Copper Mark.

Oyu Tolgoi LLC met over 30 criteria for responsible environmental, social and governance (ESG) operating practices to hit the copper mark, Turquoise Hill said.

“At Turquoise Hill, we are fully committed to responsible production and transparency at Oyu Tolgoi,” Ulf Quellmann, Chief Executive Officer of Turquoise Hill Resources, the 66% owner of Oyu Tolgoi, said. “We congratulate Oyu Tulgoi on this prestigious award, which demonstrates our dedication to protecting the environment and safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of all workers and the local community. We are proud to be part of an operation that is leading the industry in ESG standards and contributing to the sustainable, long-term socio-economic development of Mongolia.”

Since 2010, Oyu Tolgoi has been developing a health, safety and environmental management system in compliance with IOS 14001 Environmental and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety management standards. In 2013, Oyu Tolgoi was independently audited and received certification on these standards, Turquoise Hill said. As part of this program, Oyu Tolgoi has made a series of commitments about the way it operates, how it contributes to Mongolia’s society and economy, and how it manages environmental impacts, supporting the long-term development of Mongolia and sustainable supply chains.

3ME, Batt Mobile Equipment gear up for TRITEV deployment at Aeris’ Tritton mine

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

With the launch of the ‘TRITEV’ in Australia earlier this month, 3ME Technology and Batt Mobile Equipment unveiled what is believed to be the first fully battery-electric retrofit 20 t loader suitable for deployment in underground hard-rock mines.

The Integrated Tool-Carrier/Loader is scheduled to arrive at Aeris Resources’ Tritton underground copper mine in New South Wales later this year as part of an initiative developed under Project EVmine, with the help of METS Ignited.

It follows on the heels of Safescape’s Bortana EV, launched in 2019, also as part of Project EVmine.

Steven Lawn, Chief Business Development Officer at 3ME, told IM that the machine’s development represented more than just a “diesel refit”.

“The machine we used was a second-hand Volvo L120E that required a ground-up rebuild,” he said. “The guys removed all diesel internal combustion engine components except the transmission and drivetrain. They then modelled the expected duty cycle.”

After this modelling, the designers developed a battery-electric system (battery, motor, motor control unit and ancillary items) that would suit the application at hand.

The software team then entered the process, writing the vehicle control unit software (ie the software that makes everything work), with a focus on ensuring the human machine interface remained the same so there was no difference for an operator controlling the legacy diesel variant and the battery-electric retrofit version, Lawn explained.

They then integrated the system into the existing platform before the team at Batt Mobile Equipment provided a mechanical overhaul of the machine.

Ahead of deployment at Tritton, the company plans to test the machine at the Newstan mine, in New South Wales, Lawn said. This underground mine, previously owned by Centennial Coal, was put on care and maintenance back in 2014.

The partnership that delivered this industry first already has eyes on another EV retrofit, Lawn said, explaining that a Minecruiser platform for use in underground hazardous area mines is next on the agenda.

3ME Technology is understood to have an upcoming release in the pipeline in regards to its state-of-the-art battery system for mining applications, now also under demand from the defence market as indicated by recent public announcements about 3ME Technology’s participation in Australia’s C4 EDGE Program.

“The increased levels of safety and compliance achievable with the 3ME Technology battery system means that 3ME Technology is spearheading the supply of high-performance lithium-ion batteries into underground mining,” the company said.