Tag Archives: mine electrification

TCO equation stacks up for 150-t payload battery-electric trucks, SRK report shows

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New analysis by SRK indicates that a 150-t payload battery-electric haul truck could end up being $3 million cheaper on a total cost of ownership (TCO) basis than the equivalent diesel model.

The report, titled, ‘Decarbonizing Mining: Diesel vs Electric Haul Trucks on Cost and Efficiency: Assessing Economic and Operational Trade-offs’, compares the TCO and operational efficiency of 150 t diesel and electric haul trucks.

The authors, Satadru Ghosh – Mechanical Engineer (Research Intern), Somnath Gain, Principal Consultant – Mining, Sudipta De, Principal Consultant – Mining, stated: “Electric trucks, particularly those powered by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, offer substantial benefits. These batteries are cost-effective; compared to other battery types they have a longer cycle life and lower environmental impact, providing significant energy and maintenance cost savings, despite higher initial capital expenditure.

“Operationally, electric haul trucks can reduce the cost per tonne of material moved by 65%, enhance operational efficiency through better torque and regenerative braking systems (which recover energy during braking and store it for reuse), and demonstrate superior performance metrics, including increased tonnes hauled and speed. Environmentally, electric trucks contribute to cleaner and quieter mining operations with significant reductions in energy costs and CO2 emissions.”

Challenges such as battery technology, charging infrastructure and productivity remain; however, advances in battery technology, rapid charging systems and battery swapping are promising solutions to these issues, the authors added.

“As these technologies evolve, electric haul trucks are expected to become increasingly viable, offering substantial financial and environmental benefits and transforming mining operations toward greater sustainability.”

This analysis evaluates the TCO for 150 t haul trucks, comparing diesel models with those powered by LFP batteries. The decision to focus on LFP batteries was driven by several key factors that align well with the demands of heavy-duty mining equipment.

Desktop research conducted by the authors found the LFP battery, with a capacity of 2,200 kWh, supports operations for approximately 8 hours on a full charge. LFP batteries are also considered cost-effective and offer an extended cycle life. In addition, thermal stability is another significant LFP battery strength, while LFP batteries have a lower environmental and supply chain impact compared with other chemistries like nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) or nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC).

“While LFP batteries do have a lower energy density compared to other battery types, storing less energy per unit of weight, this limitation is less critical for haul trucks,” the authors said. “These vehicles are already designed to carry heavy loads, so the slightly reduced energy density of LFP batteries does not pose a significant disadvantage. Instead, the trade-off is justified by the battery’s cost-effectiveness, safety and environmental benefits, making LFP an optimal choice for powering 150 t haul trucks in mining operations.”

Both truck types are assessed under identical operational conditions. Although electric haul trucks come with a higher initial capital expenditure, they present significant financial advantages over a 10-year horizon, according to the authors, with their analysis showing potential savings of around $3 million, even after accounting for multiple battery replacements.

These savings primarily stem from reduced energy and maintenance costs, with, in its simplest explanaton, electricity being cheaper than diesel fuel. Furthermore, electric trucks require less maintenance due to their simpler mechanical design and lack of complex exhaust systems.

“One notable advantage of electric haul trucks is the absence of idling fuel consumption,” the authors said. “While diesel trucks use fuel continuously, electric trucks do not draw energy when stationary, making 1 diesel truck hour roughly equivalent to 0.8 battery truck hours.”

Additionally, regenerative braking technology allows electric haul trucks to recover and store energy during downhill operations, further enhancing efficiency.

With rapid advancements in battery technology, charging times have improved significantly, with a full recharge from 0 to 100% now achievable within 1 to 1.5 hours, according to projections from Fortescue Zero.

The authors added: “While the upfront investment in electric haul trucks is higher, the substantial long-term financial benefits, including major reductions in energy and maintenance costs, as well as efficiencies from regenerative braking and faster charging times, make them a compelling alternative to diesel trucks under identical operational conditions.

“Crucially, the capital expenditure for electric haul trucks is recovered by the third year of operation, underscoring the swift return on investment through reduced operational and maintenance costs.”

Operational efficiency: diesel versus electric trucks

  • Cost efficiency: The 150 t diesel haul truck with a cycle time of 1 hour, consumes 100 litres of diesel per hour. With diesel priced at $1 per litre, the energy cost to move 150 t of material amounts to $100 per hour. In contrast, the electric truck consumes approximately 275 kWh of energy per hour, translating to an energy cost of around $35/hr, resulting in a 65% reduction in the cost to move 150 t of material;
  • Operational efficiency: Electric trucks offer significant improvements in operational efficiency due to higher torque at lower speeds and regenerative braking systems. For example:
    • Boliden reported a 15% reduction in cycle time with electric trucks;
    • New Afton gold mine experienced a 56% decrease in mucking cycle time compared with diesel equipment, using the Sandvik LH518B and Sandvik Z50 truck;
  • Performance: Pretivm’s Brucejack gold mine in British Columbia, Canada, using the Sandvik Z50 truck, reported:
    • More than 90% machine availability;
    • Speeds of 9.5 km/h on a 15% grade with a 42 t load;
    • Battery swap times of less than 10 minutes;
    • 42% increase in tonnes hauled compared to a diesel-equivalent machine and a 22% boost in speed;
  • Environmental Impact: The Huolinhe coal mine in Inner Mongolia using an all-electric truck converted by Xiangtan Electric Manufacturing Co Ltd reported:
    • Energy savings: Daily power consumption costs of $263-298, compared with $1,480-1,970 for a diesel truck.
    • Reduced emissions: Benefitting from zero emissions, it is estimated annual CO2 emissions reduced by 1,500 t, contributing to a cleaner and quieter mining operation.

Battery technology remains a key obstacle to increasing uptake of electric haul trucks – with a unified standard in battery designs and chemistries complicating the selection of the optimal solution for mining applications. The authors also label charging infrastructure as another challenge, as electric trucks require high charging rates of 1 to 3C (where C refers to the charging rate relative to the battery’s capacity) to maintain productivity which can impact battery life and necessitate frequent replacements. Productivity concerns also contribute to the slow adoption of electric haul trucks, with the current iteration of electric trucks unable to match the uptime of diesel trucks, according to the authors. “Despite this, electric trucks offer advantages such as higher torque and regenerative braking systems, which can lead to reduced cycle times and increased material handling capacity over time,” they added.

The authors concluded: “Overall, the commitment of OEMs and the mining industry’s eagerness to adopt electric haul trucks underscore their potential. With significant financial and environmental benefits on the horizon, ongoing advancements in battery technology, charging infrastructure, and operational efficiency are expected to address the current limitations. As these solutions continue to develop, electric haul trucks are poised to become a more viable and transformative option for the mining sector.”

Fortescue ready to disrupt the decarbonisation status quo

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It was hard to keep up with Fortescue at MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas, last week – IM did its best – with the mining company having on-booth presentations throughout the three days and four press events on four other stands during the show.

The company’s presence was felt far beyond this, with the headline $2.8 billion agreement to supply 475 new Liebherr machines featuring Fortescue’s innovative green technology to Fortescue’s operations in Western Australia being a major talking point.

This was swiftly followed by announcements that the company would work with MacLean on delivering a fleet of 30 GR8 electric graders to its sites, take delivery of Australia’s first Epiroc Pit Viper 271 E (PV271E) electric-driven blasthole drill rig at one of its mines, and work with Scania on developing and validating a fully integrated autonomous road train solution, leveraging Scania’s technology in truck automation and Fortescue’s own fleet management system (FMS).

The common theme among all these was the perception that Fortescue should be viewed as more than just a mining company.

“There is an opportunity here for Fortescue to be seen as a technology company, as opposed to solely an iron ore miner,” Dino Otranto, CEO of Fortescue Metals, told IM after another press event appearance.

The technology the company acquired and is now deploying via its purchase of Williams Advanced Engineering in early 2022 is a key part of this transition. This has led to the development of battery-electric solutions as well as charging solutions – Fortescue Zero now has a 6 MW charging solution to call on.

Otranto got into some of the specifics behind this offering – including mention of an in-house DC-DC converter that is significantly smaller than other ultraclass battery-electric trucks showcased at the show, as well as batteries that are both cheaper and offer higher power densities than others on the market – and said these elements would all come into the Liebherr and MacLean machines that appear on site in Western Australia.

The Fortescue MINExpo 2024 booth was a hive of activity, with many interested parties looking to find out more about the company’s battery-electric solutions

He went further than this though, outlining how the company’s “Fortex” solution – which combines autonomous haulage, FMS and Level 9 collision avoidance – would seamlessly integrate all the elements to create optimised autonomous and electric sites of the future.

“What we are developing with Fortex is akin to Android,” he said. “Where the traditional OEM models lock you into Apple and iOS, we want to offer an Android-style open source platform that allows you to share data and interface with other apps within the ecosystem.

“You will soon see us demonstrate that through the process of a traction power system at a mine site.”

With some of the energy requirement numbers for full battery-electric fleets being discussed today it is hard to see any company being able to commercialise zero-emission fleet haulage solutions without an overriding energy management platform. The operation will inevitably have to be optimised (read: automated) to ensure no kilowatt of energy is wasted and no machines run out of battery power. Add in automation, and the safety element around vehicle interaction also comes into play.

The AHS solution Fortescue and Liebherr have jointly developed as part of its latest rollout in Western Australia has a fleet management assignment engine at the core to monitor fleet energy levels. This should mean material movement and energy replenishment tasks can be assigned efficiently within zero emission fleets equipped with the system.

In this regard, Fortescue has its ‘ducks in a row’ to compete with the traditional mining OEMs in the evolving decarbonisation space.

The company will have to take these OEMs on, with Otranto acknowledging there are a finite number of Liebherrs and MacLeans willing to provide the machines that the company’s batteries will power, as well as an even smaller pool of companies open to accepting the type of AHS and FMS integration Fortescue currently envisages.

“We’re aware that some OEMs will do everything they can to protect their supply chain, but what we are offering – especially on the software side – represents real disruption,” Otranto said.

“We are looking to take a decent market share in the mining sector when it comes to decarbonisation, but there are even bigger opportunities outside of mining – in construction, in shipping, with locomotives, etc.”

IM Editor, Dan Gleeson (left), with Dino Otranto, Fortescue Metals CEO (right), at MINExpo 2024

Such a move would bolster the company’s bottom line, as well as allow Fortescue to be rated by the investment community as something equivalent to a technology stock: a status that comes with premium trading multiples.

This business model adaptation already appears to be gaining traction.

IM has spoken to mining companies in touch with Fortescue about potentially deploying some of its solutions within a mine decarbonisation context.

Reuters also reported, last week, that Fortescue and Liebherr have secured orders for 100 autonomous battery-powered mining trucks for other mining and transport companies, quoting Fortescue Executive Chairman, Andrew Forrest.

Fortescue is evidently ready to disrupt the decarbonisation status quo. The question is: is the wider mining company community willing to accept this new market dynamic?

ABB set for eMine truck fast charging leap

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ABB is working on a new fast charging solution under its eMine™ ecosystem that will represent a 10-fold increase in capacity compared with its previous 600 kW solution, Nic Beutler, Global eMine Solutions Manager, told IM this week.

Speaking on the sidelines of a trip to Boliden’s Rävliden mine in northern Sweden, Beutler said ABB is extending the capability of eMine FastCharge, explaining the previous solution it showcased in 2021 with MEDATech Engineering and Staubli would be far surpassed by this.

This 600 kW eMine FastCharge charger requires no machine operators to charge up the vehicle. Drivers station their vehicles next to the charger, the FastCharge system senses its presence and then moves the connection pin into position, inserting it into the receptacle and charging the vehicle. The solution was demonstrated on a Western Star 4900XD-e machine that MEDATech’s ALTDRIVE division had retrofitted with a battery (see below).

“What we’re working on is a more than 10-fold increase in charging power from the 600 kW fast charge solution we have previously showcased whilst keeping interoperability and flexibility in mind,” Beutler said.

“The increase in power is representative of how fast the industry has moved in these three years. Where we were once looking at charging battery vehicles in the 100-t-class and below, we’re now looking at supplying charge to vehicles with payloads of 240-280 t with a 6C charge rate.”

The news also comes on the back of Staubli announcing that it would present a charging connection device built for 7.5 MW capacity chargers at MINExpo INTERNATIONAL 2024, in Las Vegas, next month.

While Beutler couldn’t provide further specifics on the exact charging capacity and charge time, he did acknowledge the new fast charger would retain the containerised and modular nature that ABB established for the original 600 kW pilot system.

“There will be more containerised components than what we previously highlighted,” he said.

“It will require a larger footprint and some further application engineering depending on the site conditions, but the modularity element remains to also allow the integration of various manual and automated connection interfaces.”

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

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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.”

Thiess puts all energy transition options on the table

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A much deeper mobile equipment supply and innovation pool is fast developing and is definitely needed by the global mining industry to help it meet unprecedented energy transition and other production challenges, Shane Clark, Thiess Group Manager, Energy Transition, said at The Electric Mine 2024 this week.

“The Thiess business has more than A$2 billion (US$1.3 billion) worth of mobile assets in the field [including] 3,000 what we call primary assets, which is large equipment over 100 tonnes,” Clark said.

“And it becomes a very big problem as to how we transition. The answer more and more is we just have to have options. We have to connect with early adopters to build out our capability to support that battery electric fleet of tomorrow.

“But more than anything, we just need to get started.”

Clark and other speakers at the major mine electrification event attended by more than 900 people emphasised the vast scale of the diesel fleet renewal hurdle in front of the industry at a time when falling ore grades and deeper mines are increasing energy usage.

Thiess, the world’s largest surface mining contractor, is targeting 25% lower diesel combustion emissions by 2035 and wants 85% of Thiess-operated light vehicles to be battery electric (BE) or hybrid by 2030.

Clark said the pursuit of lofty greenhouse gas emission reduction goals by an earthmoving contractor in the mining sector was “quite a difficult problem” where the service provider wasn’t in the driver’s seat on primary site power supply and distribution, and mine owners equivocated on carbon efficiency.

“The reality is that we can’t [meet our 2035 diesel emission target] without transitioning the entirety of our small fleet, which is 150 t trucks or less, to at least a hybrid solution; we need our current diesel electric fleet to all be converted to BEV by 2035 and we need a large portion of our excavator fleet to at least be hybrid.

“Most of the work has to be done by 2030.”

Clark said smaller, autonomous mobile equipment, advanced software and AI-based production and energy management optimisation, and shifts in traditional thinking about operating processes, all had crucial roles to play in current and future mine planning and execution.

“The best miners in the future are going to be the best optimisers. Who can perform the most holistic optimisations will be the best performers. [That starts with] pit optimisation.

“We need to get capital back from anywhere we can to fund the transition. That includes thinking about assets differently. If we use smaller assets, steeper ramp gradients, vehicle choreography, we can change the pit economics, pull back that budget to fund infrastructure.

“The major barrier to get to full BEV fleets in my mind is less about production requirements, because they can be worked around…Having worked on site for many years I can see how you can make battery electric assets work. It really comes down to the cost of energy and the amount of curtailment we can achieve. Some way, somehow, we need to get energy storage inside the mine gate cheaper.

“Our belief is that means we need to get batteries in applications that make sense now into the field, so they can serve out a second life on the grid.”

Clark said a two-track focus on hydrogen fuel-cell and full BE products from traditional sources was “getting in the way of real progress”.

“The [traditional mining] OEMs have a huge role to play and as a contractor, of course, we will purchase as much of that fleet as possible,” he said. “But as I say, we need to bring down the energy costs inside the mine gate now. I don’t think we can wait for the ramp-up of [new vehicle manufacturing]. There’s obviously other OEMs that are making great strides [and] so far the Eastern part of the world is showing us the way. If you go to most mines inside China you won’t find just diesel fleet. They’re already on the journey. You go to most factories and the majority of the fleet is at least hybrid.

“The full diesel electric fleet is becoming smaller and smaller. There’s obviously a lot of perceived threats with the change. [But] I think if you look at the automaker industry, which is a pretty good thematic for the majority of industry, it makes perfect sense that there are so many players entering the heavy mining machinery market now. We have as many green battery electric options to automakers in China today than we had all automakers in the world just 20 years ago.

“Why? Because obviously with new advances comes new opportunity and everyone wants a stake.If you’re a contractor or a [miner] trying to pick one winner out of hundreds of possible solutions going forward, you are thinking about the problem the wrong way. The energy cost inside the mine gate is the real problem. How do we enable a step change there?”

This story was written by Richard Roberts of InvestMETS, one of The Electric Mine 2024 Supporting Partners

Ampcontrol launches new MegaWatt Charger at The Electric Mine 2024

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Ampcontrol has launched the new Ampcontrol MegaWatt Charger, designed to support the electrification of the mining industry, showcasing the solution at The Electric Mine 2024, in Perth, Western Australia.

Ampcontrol says it is challenging the future by delivering innovative solutions that make electrifying mining operations a reality. The Ampcontrol MegaWatt Charger uses high-capacity charging technology to reduce charging time and operational impact.

The Ampcontrol MegaWatt Charger’s dual-mode charging feature enables multiple vehicle types to be charged via a single unit. It powers vehicles ranging from light passenger vehicles, such as Ampcontrol Battery Electric Vehicle DRIFTEX, to large machines, including electric haul dump trucks, trains and buses.

“With the mining industry pushing towards decarbonisation and net zero targets, we have developed cutting-edge charging technology that balances charge time and energy management,” Rod Henderson, Ampcontrol Managing Director & CEO, said.

Through radical thinking and innovative collaborations, Ampcontrol continues to develop award-winning solutions that help mining industry customers electrify operations and minimise carbon emissions.

Ampcontrol has been supplying the resources sector with electrical infrastructure and service for decades. A provider of power infrastructure, renewable solutions, electric vehicles, fleet charging solutions and cabling, all underpinned by extensive electrical engineering services.

Henderson added: “We listen to the needs of industry and develop products using our advanced technology and innovative solutions to support our customers. We are excited by the opportunity to showcase how Ampcontrol is challenging the future at The Electric Mine 2024 by launching the Ampcontrol MegaWatt Charger.”

The Ampcontrol MegaWatt Charger and other innovative power solutions will also be showcased at Ampcontrol Kewdale on May 24, 2024.

Electric mine study points to the future, says IGO’s Carr

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Planned electrification of the Cosmos underground nickel mine in Western Australia had no bearing on owner IGO’s decision earlier this year to shelve redevelopment due to low metal prices and project cost escalation, The Electric Mine 2024 heard this week.

Acting COO of the diversified Australian miner, Chris Carr, said at the conference in Perth a study on the economic feasibility of switching from diesel equipment to battery-electric that ‘presented a compelling case to us’ for electrification highlighted current challenges and opportunities in the industry’s push to transition to new generation mobile equipment.

In parallel with the electrification study by mining contractor Perenti and engineering major ABB, IGO completed a project review that cut Cosmos’ expected mine life and pushed up capital and operating costs. Lower nickel prices have negatively impacted most Western Australian sulphide nickel mines.

IGO put Cosmos into care and maintenance at the start of 2024. “Electrification was not a factor in that decision,” Carr said at the The Electric Mine 2024, hosted by International Mining Events. “But electrification will be considered in any future Cosmos operation.”

A whitepaper summarising the study results was posted this week by IGO. ‘Making electrified underground mining a reality: Lessons from the Cosmos Electrification Study’ concluded replacing diesel underground mining vehicles with a battery-electric fleet was now technically feasible and will increasingly be a key technological enabler for mining companies to achieve their decarbonisation goals.”

Perenti and ABB said a combination of actual and projected battery-electric vehicle cost and performance data indicated BEV fleet available to the Australian market could match the productivity of mature diesel equipment.

They also found estimated costs to electrify Cosmos’ modest underground fleet was not prohibitive over the planned mine life, ‘even based on conservative productivity and cost assumptions.’ IGO wasn’t going to obtain full benefits from optimised ventilation and other infrastructure design due to sunk investment in the mine prior to its acquisition of the asset in 2022, Carr said.

The study identified gaps in available BEV operating and maintenance direct and indirect cost data due to the formative stage of equipment, battery, charging and support system development relative to entrenched diesel models.

It also highlighted significantly longer delivery times for battery-electric equipment than diesel models. “We hope this is not prioritising diesel units to make more money Carr said. “This is slowing adoption.” However, Carr said at the conference none of this would stop the march of EVs into traditional diesel territory.

The improving cost profile of EVs and the market pull created by industry decarbonisation goals were not the only drivers.”In five-to-10 years we’ll all be electric and be wondering what all the fuss was about. The cost differential of an all-electric mine presented a compelling case to us. We also believe the decision to electrify should include the safety case and the harder to quantify but nevertheless real benefits of the ESG case. The decision to electrify should be made on the combined basis of safety, ESG and economics. The economics is the hardest one right now. But safety ought to be enough on its own.”

Stricter standards for airborne diesel particulate matter (DPM) emissions in Australia and elsewhere would ‘push electrification a lot harder,’ Carr said.

MasterMined Innovation CEO, Tony Sprague, told The Electric Mine 2024 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.’ Sprague, the former Group Manager of Directional Studies and Innovation with gold major Newcrest, said modern underground mine equipment diesel particulate filters regenerated carcinogenic nano-DPM in underground work environments.

“It can’t easily be measured…but we do know it’s more easily absorbed into the human body, through the skin, through the lungs, and it’s recirculated through the body, through the blood, and it impacts the body on a cellular level. Really we’re flying blind when it comes to the hazard of DPM and nano-DPM. 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.”

This story was written by Richard Roberts of InvestMETS, one of The Electric Mine 2024 Supporting Partners

Cavotec ready to drive mine electrification forward

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Cavotec’s rise in the mine electrification space was inevitable. Its origins as a designer and provider of connection and electrification solutions in ports and industrial applications provided an obvious analogue for a mining sector on the lookout for such technology.

On top of this, its electrification, power distribution and automation systems have previously been employed by the likes of BHP, Codelco, Pilbara Minerals, Rio Tinto and Vale, among others. It has also worked with OEMs such as Epiroc, Caterpillar, FAM, FLSmidth, Joy Global (Komatsu), TAKRAF, Sandvik, Aumund Group, Caterpillar, Normet and Metso, among others, on developing solutions.

Since securing an order in 2022 that signalled its entry into industrial battery charging for heavy-duty vehicles for a mining application in Australia, Cavotec has gone on to launch its ultra-fast Megawatt Charging System (MCS) to provide up to 3 MW of power from a single connector. This turnkey DC charging solution with grid-to-inlet functionality supports the decarbonisation of industry including mining, heavy vehicles and ships.

The MCS is also a modular solution, featuring either manual or automated connection to the vehicle inlet. It has three different power levels (350 kW, 1 MW, 3 MW) with an active connector and cable cooling system (included in 1 MW and 3 MW chargers) and a vehicle inlet included in the 3 MW charger.

A specified connector size and minimum weight is used depending on the power level while an advanced power management system incorporates user dashboards and controls the charging process.

We spoke with Cavotec’s Chief Technology Officer, Jim Andriotis, to find out more ahead of his appearance at The Electric Mine 2024, in Perth, Western Australia, taking place at the Crown Perth Complex, on May 21-23.

IM: Obviously Cavotec serves multiple industries looking to electrify their operations across the globe; how would you say the requirements from mining differ from the other verticals you regularly deal with?

JA: The key differences we see are the need for flexibility of installation and automation.

With the continually changing footprint of mines, it was critical that our equipment is easy to move in case the charging connection needs to be done in a different location. By containerising the power electronics and associated gear, the mine operator can move the equipment through fork-lift or with the shovel bucket when changing locations.

Cavotec’s origins are as a designer and provider of connection and electrification solutions in ports and industrial applications

Automation is key in the mining market, especially in the applications where high-powered charging is required. There is a strong trend in mining towards autonomous operation. It is critical that charging remains as part of this trend and enables mines to remove personnel from high-risk areas while maintaining operational efficiency.

IM: How have you confronted these requirements? Has the involvement of organisations like CharIN on global standards for charging batteries in applications like mining helped deal with these?

JA: Cavotec has now been a part of CharIN for four years and we are proud to have supported the move to standardisations such as MCS. The mining industry had been looking for a standard connector for charging already. The MCS solution and standards, with their accompanying power levels, were the right fit. The beauty of the MCS standard is that it creates a common interface and communication protocol while still allowing Cavotec to specify materials and construction to meet the robustness needed in the industrial environment we play in.

With a standard interface, Cavotec was able to focus on making sure the rest of the charging package met the needs of the mining industry knowing that the equipment that we develop can be used across multiple applications and manufacturers. That is the greatest advantage that MCS brings to the industry; the ability to develop an industry-driven solution but give the space to make it scalable.

IM: From your experience dealing with the mining sector to date, do you see many open-pit mining applications where static charging and the use of solutions such as your MCS could be suited? Conversely, where is dynamic charging of batteries needed in surface mining?

Cavotec Chief Technology Officer, Jim Andriotis

JA: Most open-pit applications will have equipment that has to move between pits, or pits to base. The large haul trucks are the prime example where they have a repetitive cycle and a waiting time where they can quickly take on energy. This is perfectly suited to the high-power charging system.

When we look at shovels, excavators and surface drill rigs, there may be a small percentage which will move to battery electric but the majority will remain tethered by cable reel as they are staying primarily in the pit and only moving larger distances during major layout changes.

In the end, electrification of these large haul trucks and pit equipment will need a variety of solutions. The dynamic charging systems in place work very well but are suited to larger, more mature mines where these throughways are fixed permanently (or almost permanently). In the end, both solutions have a place in mining, including together in some applications.

IM: The presentation you are due to give at The Electric Mine 2024 references a “collaborative journey” with the MCS. How have you found the mining sector when it comes to collaborating on solutions to overcome the challenges associated with electrifying mining fleets?

JA: Throughout this journey, we have worked closely with OEMs and end users to ensure that the needs of the mining industry are heard and addressed. From the beginning, inputs such as power requirements, robustness needs, automation needs and communication protocols have been discussed and shared with the larger CharIN group and the industry has been happy to provide this.

There are also groups under CharIN that have been created specifically to meet the needs of mining and this has been directly driven by the major industry players. So, the industry is in full support of this move to standardisation and accelerating the evolution of electrification.

IM: In addition to what you have already discussed, what can attendees look forward to hearing about?

JA: The industry needs to know that the technology and capabilities are there to drive future electrification forward. We have had fantastic support and collaboration from the industry in creating these new standards and initiatives. I would like to thank them for that. In combination with cable reels and dynamic charging, the addition of high-power charging is the last piece of the puzzle in bringing full electrification to a mine site.

Cavotec is a Gold Sponsor of The Electric Mine 2024, with the company having a major indoor display in the exhibition hall. Jim Andriotis will also be presenting, ‘Transforming mining fleets: The collaborative journey with the Megawatt Charging System’ during Day 2 of the event. Find out more about The Electric Mine 2024 by going to www.theelectricmine.com

Sandvik retaining the platform approach for load & haul electrification

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

Sandvik’s aim to electrify the underground mining space have been gaining traction over recent years, with single machine trials and deployments that typified the early stages of its mission now replaced by fleet-wide agreements that, if not already in operation, will be starting up underground in the years to come.

As with all transitions, the electric one has not been easy. There have been teething issues along the way; whether that is equipping batteries for the harsh nature of an underground mines, educating employees about best practice maintenance and operations of this equipment, or facing an onslaught of questions about potential battery fires witnessed in passenger vehicles via YouTube.

Just how much traction the company has been gaining was made clear late last year during its Capital Markets Day event.

Here, the company outlined that battery-electric vehicles accounted for 15% of all load and haul orders in the year to the end of October. On top of that, it displayed an impressive pie chart showing that, from January-October 2023, Sandvik had won more than 75% of orders for battery-electric equipment.

These numbers do not factor in the cable-electric loaders the company has been selling for decades, plus the underground battery-electric drilling equipment that trams on battery power at mining operations across the globe.

For all this positive momentum, battery-electric does not make sense for everyone…yet.

IM has documented a series of both diesel-electric and hybrid diesel-electric LHD sales in Australia recently, with at least one of these sales following the trial of battery-electric equipment.

Sandvik has made clear that it will have something in store for miners in transition between diesel and fully-electric operation, stating last year that it was developing diesel-electric trucks and loaders for the industry.

Unlike some of its peers, Sandvik is deliberately building this offering with fully-electric operations in mind.

“Currently we are developing diesel-electric solutions both for trucks and loaders,” Juha Virta, VP Sales and Marketing for the Load and Haul Division within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, told IM. “We aim to maximise the customer value by utilising modular design in our equipment: battery and diesel-electric equipment will have commonalities eg in drivelines, hydraulics, electrics and spare parts.”

This approach will make it easier for customers to transfer from diesel-electric equipment to battery-electric equipment, Virta says. The “commonalities” could also prove beneficial in developing the skill sets required from service personnel.

“Energy storage elements are also included in our development portfolio, enabling, for example, hybrid solutions, delivering positive results in the area of fuel consumption and the equipment performance,” he added.

This is all part of an increasingly diverse offering from the OEM that Brian Huff, Vice President of New Technologies for the Load and Haul Division within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, mentioned during the Capital Markets Day.

He said: “We’re taking the technology of our battery-operated drills, loaders and trucks, and expanding that with diesel-electric using the same motors, inverters and componentry in a modular approach that allows us to offer diesel solutions with the same electrified driveline from our battery-operated equipment.”

The developments the company is making as part of this project are being displayed on the TH66X diesel-electric demonstrator – a Toro diesel-powered truck that has been retrofitted with an electric driveline – that customers first saw in Turku, Finland, in 2022. This machine is currently in factory tests, according to Virta, saying that component validation and a variety of simulations were also being run.

“The program also includes a significant amount of testing in a real underground mine environment,” he added. “Developing new technology and ensuring its performance takes some time, and sufficient and careful tests are extremely important – we are in a very good progress with that currently.”

For this, Sandvik is using not only its Test Mine in Tampere, Finland, but also the Pyhäsalmi mine. Sandvik is using the latter operation – owned by First Quantum Minerals – as part of its involvement in the Callio consortium: a group of companies focused on developing ‘FutureMINE – the future digital test mine project’.

One of the other participants in this consortium is Byrnecut, who has been partnering with Sandvik based on a recent LinkedIn post by Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.

“We have long traditions with working in close collaboration with different customers, and that will continue to be Sandvik approach also going forward,” Virta said when asked about this partnership. “Byrnecut is one of our customers and a very important partner for us, and, along with Barminco, will be one of the first companies to test the TH66X in the field.”

Considering the majority of the team focused on this diesel-electric demonstrator are based in Turku, one would expect this facility to have significant influence on the commercial offering that follows.

The facility is undergoing an expansion focused on incorporating an additional 7,000 sq.m of production and storage space previously occupied by Tunturi, a manufacturer of bicycles and fitness equipment. The whole of the plant for load and haul equipment is also set to be enhanced and modernised.

Petri Liljaranta, Supply Director for the Load and Haul Division within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, says the expansion is progressing as planned with all but a few of the company’s finishing functions relocated according to its plans. “This final part of the project is expected to be finished in the June quarter,” he added.

One of the expansion project’s targets was to increase the manufacturing space at its facilities, and this target has already been achieved, with the company well equipped to respond to growing volume needs in the coming years, according to Liljaranta.

“Based on current views, the battery-electric vehicle manufacturing capacity is expected to meet expected market demand during 2024,” he said.

Sandvik looks to shape the surface drilling electrification conversation

Automation, Explosives and blasting, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“We are showing what technology can do today.”

These were the words Mats Eriksson, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, during the Capital Markets Day in Tampere, Finland, last week when describing the launch of Sandvik’s latest battery-electric concept surface drill rig.

This rig is representative of more than just technological advances in the mining industry, also acting as a tangible example of Sandvik’s efforts to become a leader in the surface drilling space.

It has been four years since Sandvik announced this ambition, with the company having made significant headway on achieving this goal.

Sandvik doubled its order intake for rotary drills from 2019 to 2022. Over this three-year period, the company launched the Leopard™ DI650i down-the-hole (DTH) drill rig to support fully autonomous drilling operations and went on to capture major autonomous drilling contracts in Latin America, Australia and Finland.

The OEM is looking to at least double its surface mining revenue from 2022 to 2028. Key contracts in 2023 from Boliden and MACA have already provided early positive momentum towards such a goal.

There is potential for Sandvik to steal a march on its competitors in this space – companies who have already been able to automate the largest blasthole drills in key markets in the Americas and Australia – by leveraging the electrification expertise it has built up underground.

This was highlighted by Eriksson last week and was reiterated further when IM spoke to the company’s experts in Tampere in front of the second battery-electric surface concept rig.

The concept vehicle is the first in its size class, capable of drilling DTH holes up to 229 mm in diameter and blending the autonomy of battery with the continuous endurance of power cable, Sandvik says.

Dan Gleeson, IM Editor (centre), with Petri Virrankoski, President of the Surface Drilling Division (left), and Lauri Laihanen, Vice President, R&D of the Surface Drilling Division (right)

Flexibility and optionality are the name of the game, with the rig equipped with a battery able to carry out seven hours of tramming or one hour of drilling based on Sandvik research, plus plug into electrical infrastructure with a  37-mm diameter, 180-m-long tethered cable.

Lauri Laihanen, Vice President, R&D, Surface Drilling Division, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, told IM at the Sandvik Capital Markets Day event last week: “The main benefit of this battery-electric solution is the ability to tram independently for up to seven hours.

“When you need to move the rig after drilling a certain portion of the pit ahead of blasting, you can disconnect the cable and tram the rig away from the pit independently without worrying about managing the cable logistics. Then, when you have carried out the blasting and explosives loading process and are ready for the next drilling sequence, you can tram back without recharging in between.”

Petri Virrankoski, President of the Surface Drilling Division, added: “The application where these drills are used is somewhat different to rotary drills. To a degree, they are used in production drilling, but in a very dynamic way – carrying out pre-splits or blasthole patterns on smaller benches, for example.

“They need to manoeuvre around more, so there are more demands placed on them from a flexibility and cable management perspective.”

There are other potential benefits Laihanen talks up – the ability to carry on drilling or tramming during “black outs” and, on mine sites where cable-electric equipment is already used, connect the rig to the grid after diesel-electric blasthole drills and cable shovels have started up (to avoid power surges).

“For some of our frontrunner customers that have already adopted electrification on surface and have the infrastructure in place, they would only need to add one transformer to lower the voltage level from what their larger pieces of equipment are working off to start using this rig for drilling and tramming,” he added.

This type of talk – more practical than conceptual – is representative of Sandvik ‘making the shift’ when it comes to electrification in surface mining.

It has only been just over a year since the company unveiled its first electric concept rig, based off a much smaller top hammer drill rig meant for urban construction, but the understanding of what it may take to electrify these large rigs has grown tremendously.

“From a technology development and demonstration point of view, it is crucial to understand the framework that you have from the lower and upper end of the drilling portfolio,” Laihanen said. “This helps you track it with the customer base and finalise your productisation plan to hit that 2030 goal of having an electrified offering for the whole range.”

Eriksson says the company is confident in being able to offer electric surface drilling products across its range by 2030, with Sandvik’s continued advances in underground mine electrification spurring this on.

It is worth, therefore, noting some of the numbers that came out of the Capital Markets Day from the underground load and haul division.

Brian Huff, Vice President of New Technologies for the Load and Haul Division within Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said the company had won more than 75% of the tenders it had been involved in from January-October this year, with more than 15% of the company’s load and haul order intake over this period representing battery-electric equipment.

One can also add sales of the company’s underground battery-electric drills, which started to be offered to the market from 2016, to these numbers.

The company’s Test Mine in Tampere, which IM visited last week, has played a key role in this growing Sandvik underground battery-electric population, and the recent announcement that Sandvik will look to replicate this on surface with the Sandvik Test Pit – some 40 km away – is another indicator of how serious the company is about becoming an open-pit drilling major.

Virrankoski explained: “If you look at the peak capabilities that have enabled us the successes underground, one of these is the Test Mine. This has been helpful for testing and developing not only the drill rigs, but also tooling, digital tools, automation, rock drills, etc.

“It became pretty clear about four years ago that we needed a similar capability for surface.”

This location just outside of Tampere was chosen due to the “good rock” availability, the ability to offer significant scale where the company could test out all boom and rotary drill rigs up to the DR413 class at the same time as providing customer showcases both on electrification and automation, the ability to cross-fertilise underground learnings from the existing Test Mine with surface drilling developments, and the continued development of existing and new Sandvik surface mining engineers.

The Sandvik Test Pit, which has previously served as a quarry, will be developed by its own drilling plan

The company already has multiple rigs, both boom and rotary, at the site – which is still being setup for testing – with the new electric concept rig expected to soon join it.

“The next action after that is to begin customer trials next year,” Laihanen said. “We have had preliminary discussions with several customers, but we need to finalise our own internal development testing before locking in these trials.”

This is indicative of the emphasis the company is placing on surface mining and the opportunity it has to shape the battery-electric conversation in the surface drilling space.

“For us, it is important to have a physical specimen to have these conversations with customers,” Laihanen said. “When you have something available, it makes the conversation around capabilities and limitations a lot easier, taking these discussions to a whole new level.”

Virrankoski added: “This will lead to a conversation around maintenance processes, the skills requirements, the service models, etc.

“Having a machine that can play in a real-life sandbox is very different to showing a model on a screen.”

Sandvik has laid its surface drilling marker down. The market will now decide if this is the direction it wants to move in.