Tag Archives: LH518iB

Rio Tinto backs BEV use at Kennecott Underground with growing Sandvik fleet

21st March 2024Automation, Base metals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Power supply for mines, Sustainable miningArtisan, AutoConnect, AutoSwap, battery-electric vehicles, Boliden, Byrnecut, copper, Foran Mining, Kennecott Underground, LH518iB, LKAB, Rana Gruber, Rio Tinto, Salt Lake City, Sandvik, TH550B, Torex Gold, UtahDaniel Gleeson

Rio Tinto is progressing its mobile equipment electrification move at the Kennecott underground operation near Salt Lake City, Utah, having transitioned from using Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions battery-electric loaders and trucks in a proof of concept to commercially deploying Sandvik battery-electric TH550B trucks and a Sandvik LH518iB loader.

Just last year, Rio Tinto approved $498 million of funding to deliver underground development and infrastructure for an area known as the North Rim Skarn (NRS). Production from the NRS is due to commence this year and is expected to ramp up over two years, to deliver around 70,000 tonnes of additional mined copper over the next 10 years alongside open-pit operations at Kennecott.

This followed a September 2022 announcement where Rio Tinto approved development capital totalling $55 million to start underground mining in an area known as the Lower Commercial Skarn (LCS) at Kennecott. Underground mining within LCS started in February 2023 and is expected to deliver a total of around 30,000 tonnes of additional mined copper through the period to 2028.

These two investments will support Kennecott in building a world-class underground mine which will leverage battery-electric vehicle (BEV) technology, following a trial with Sandvik equipment in 2022 involving an LH518B loader and Z50 truck.

The first LH518iB loader in North America has just been delivered to site, with the automation-capable vehicle equipped with Sandvik’s patented self-swapping battery system, including the AutoSwap and AutoConnect functions, to minimise infrastructure needs and enable the loader to return to operation significantly sooner than ‘fast-charge’ mining BEVs, Sandvik claims.

Since launching the vehicle in March 2023, Sandvik has confirmed orders or made deliveries of the LH518iB to operations owned by LKAB, Boliden,Torex Gold, Foran Mining, Rana Gruber and Byrnecut.

Rio Tinto will complement these machines with a fleet of Sandvik TH550Bs, some of which are already operating on site. This 50-t payload truck combine Sandvik’s 50 years of experience in developing loaders and trucks with Artisan™’s innovative electric drivelines and battery packs. The electric drivetrain delivers 560 kW of power and 6,000 Nm of total torque output, allowing for higher ramp speeds for shorter cycle times and an efficient ore moving process, according to the OEM. All of this comes with zero emissions.

They also come with AutoSwap and AutoConnect functions that Sandvik has refined for battery swap processes that take only a few minutes.

Rio Tinto has previously stated on battery-electric vehicle use: “BEVs create a safer and healthier workplace for employees underground, increase the productivity of the mine and reduce emissions from operations.”

Sandvik to establish new production unit in Malaysia on underground LHD, truck demand

10th March 2023Automation, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for minesbattery-electric equipment, LH517i, LH518iB, LHDs, Malaysia, Mats Eriksson, Patricio Apablaza, Sandvik, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, Toro, trucksDaniel Gleeson

Sandvik is establishing a new production unit in Malaysia for manufacturing underground loaders and trucks in an effort to answer growing demand for its battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), the company says.

Equipment production is planned to begin in the December quarter of 2023 following factory upgrades and other site improvements.

While the new production unit within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solution’s primary focus will be BEVs, it will also manufacture conventional loaders and trucks as well as battery cages. Annual manufacturing capacity is planned to increase gradually to 300 loaders and trucks and 500 battery cages by 2030.

The new facility in the 445-ha Sendayan TechValley business park, 70 kilometers south of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and 15 km west of state capital Seremban. The factory is 90 km southeast of Port Klang, Malaysia’s largest seaport and one of the busiest container terminals in the world.

Mats Eriksson, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solution, said: “Malaysia is among the most technologically developed countries in Southeast Asia and has abundant skilled labour, strong local industrial suppliers and reliable infrastructure. Our mining customers in Asia Pacific will enjoy shorter lead times for equipment manufactured to the same Sandvik standards for quality and safety.”

The new factory will span more than 8,000 m and include 15 versatile assembly bays. It will support the manufacture of all Sandvik load and haul equipment models and is independent of existing supplier chains, the company explained. Production ramp-up will begin later this year with Toro™ LH517i loaders followed by Toro™ LH518iB, Sandvik’s newly-announced automation-ready battery-electric loader, in the June quarter of 2024.

Patricio Apablaza, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions’ Load and Haul division, added: “Demand for our loaders and trucks is exceeding our current production capacity at our existing factories. The establishment of our new production unit in Malaysia will enable flexible manufacturing of both conventional diesel and battery-electric mining equipment.”

Sandvik to take next mining productivity leap with automated battery-electric loaders

2nd March 2023Automation, Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Sustainable miningArtisan, automation, Automine, AutoMine Fleet, AutoMine Lite, battery-electric, Byrnecut, David Hallett, Electrification, LH518B, LH518iB, Oz Minerals, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, Toro, Ty OsborneDaniel Gleeson

Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions has been one of the key facilitators of mining’s electrification and automation transition underground, establishing a core offering of battery-electric equipment that leverages Artisan™ battery packs and electric drivelines, plus a wide offering of cable tethered machines, for the former; and the continued rollout of the renowned AutoMine® automation platform for the latter.

The company is now embarking on its next evolution with the integration of the two, which will soon culminate in the launch of the LH518iB – the AutoMine-ready version of the 18-t-payload LH518B.

Integrating electrification and automation is nothing new for Sandvik; the company has been providing AutoMine functionality on cable tethered loaders for over 10 years.

Automating a machine that operates off battery power only is a different proposition.

Although the battery swap process on the LH518iB can’t yet be fully automated, one operator can run the entire cycle from a surface chair, including tele-remote battery swapping. Human involvement underground is only required for connecting and disconnecting batteries from chargers.

“The LH518iB will be the first battery machine that will be automated, compatible with our AutoMine Lite and AutoMine Fleet offering solution as well as our Manual Production Monitoring system,” Ty Osborne, Product Line Manager Underground Automation at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, told IM.

AutoMine Lite is an automation system for a single Sandvik loader or truck and a more advanced alternative for AutoMine Tele-Remote, while AutoMine Fleet – as the name would suggest – is an advanced automation system for a fleet of Sandvik underground loaders and trucks sharing the same automated production area.

Having delivered AutoMine automation systems since 2004 and accumulated a footprint of about 800 automated and connected units, the automation of Sandvik’s growing battery-electric fleet was always on the cards, according to Osborne, predating the launches of the AutoMine Concept Underground Drill – in 2022 – and the AutoMine Concept Loader – in 2020 – both of which are fully autonomous and battery-electric.

The changes involved with automating the battery-electric LH518iB mainly relate to “industrialising” the machine for autonomous capabilities and switching over to the iSeries platform for the added intelligence, Osborne said.

Sandvik already has mine sites lined up for field trials of this machine in North America and northern Europe. This is on top of a planned deployment of six LH518iBs over 2023-2024 in South Australia.

Operators of these machines will benefit from either being able to carry out the battery swap from within the cab or from a remote operating station, Osborne confirmed.

“However, at this stage, there still is a requirement for a person to connect the charging cable and cooling cables,” he said.

“In the future, this will be automated as we are constantly pushing the boundaries further and pioneering new technologies in the mining industry.”

Alongside this, Sandvik is working on battery management systems to enable operators and supervisors to see what level of charge the on-board battery has and the expected time to full charge of spare batteries to enable critical decision-making around when to swap the on-board battery.

The benefits that come with these types of datasets will enable these newly automated battery-electric machines to become potentially the most productive loaders on the market, according to David Hallett, Vice President, Automation at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.

“Automation and electrification go hand-in-hand,” he said. “The experience we are getting with the battery-electric equipment in the field shows that the performance of those automated machines versus those powered by diesel is already at a higher level.

“Going from drive lines to direct drive onto the wheel ends with battery-electric machines gives us a greater capability to control the equipment compared with what we had in the past. This should allow us to improve the automation of the equipment going forward.”

Bucket filling, as an example, should benefit from the integration of electrification and automation, with the two technologies allowing greater accuracy and consistency of bucket fill times and levels over the diesel-automated equivalent. The improved motion control of the machine from a hydraulics perspective is also another area Hallett highlighted.

He concluded: “These types of improvements are important and tangible benefits to highlight to customers from both an equipment performance perspective and the ability to carry out more remote operations.”