Tag Archives: MINExpo 2024

Ground Force Worldwide to ‘revolutionise electric cable handling’ with new solution

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, , ,

Ground Force Worldwide has unveiled its latest breakthrough – the Cable Reeler Attachment – as part of a plan to revolutionise electric cable handling with unmatched precision and safety.

The attachment, engineered specifically for loaders and dozers, is designed to integrate seamlessly with most loaders and dozers, ensuring the safest and most efficient electric cable placement in the industry today.

With intuitive in-cab controls, unobstructed visibility and an increased reach that surpasses industry standards, Ground Force’s Cable Reeler provides the most cost-effective solution for managing electric cable, the company claims.

Key features of the solution, include:

  • A heavy-duty, quick and secure pin-on design for versatility;
  • A “Clamp & Go” drive system to ensure efficient operation and easy handling;
  • Excavator-style layout boom featuring a 225° rotational drive system with a reach of 26 ft (7.92 m) at ground level;
  • Proportional control valve to provide precise movement and easy operation via intuitive joystick controls;
  • Microcontroller controls offering an advanced system for proportional valve functions and chassis hydraulics;
  • The ability to login remotely with a wireless connection for configuration changes, upgrades and diagnostic;
  • Approved OEM load capacity to ensure maximum safety and efficiency;
  • Configurable dimensions that are designed to fit within the height and width of loaders or dozers, reducing shipping costs; and
  • Enhanced visibility, sure grip joystick and maintenance processes leveraging standard Genuine Ground Force parts for improved operator use and safety.

This new addition to the Ground Force Electric Cable Product Line was unveiled at MINExpo 2024 in Las Vegas, with a positive reception from both customers across the globe and OEM product groups, Ground Force says.

Weir offers up a ‘revolution’ for GET rope shovel dippers

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

It is always hard to replace a tried and trusted brand, but the ESCO® NEXSYS® GET Lip System for rope shovel dippers looks to be making a strong business case for mine sites already used to working with the existing Whisler Plus™ system.

Weir says the system is designed to lower lip maintenance requirements, extend tooth and adapter life and, ultimately, provide miners with longer uninterrupted shovel operation.

The Weir – ESCO Division has achieved this using field data from hundreds of Whisler Plus system installations, laboratory simulation and analysis and customer input, it says.

“We’ve been serving Whisler Plus customers for 20 years. We are proud of the reputation it has within the marketplace for wear life and longevity,” Kevin Stangeland, Vice President of Global Products, ESCO, told IM at the recent MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas. “At the time of its release, Whisler Plus was seen as revolutionary; it has allowed us to capture a market share close to 50%.”

Considering the machines these systems are used on are viewed as the workhorses of the open-pit sector, rope shovels, ESCO knew it would need something equally revolutionary to move existing customers onto a new product.

Stangeland and the ESCO team believe they have achieved that.

The NEXSYS system comes with a new tooth design that requires fewer point changes, according to the company. This is thanks to a rear wear cap that extends service life and protects the rear stabiliser boss. Additionally, the system has dual lock slots to allow lock installation on the side of the dipper with less wear. A single sealed lock on the GET teeth reduces impacted fines for easier removal with an off-the-shelf hand tool.

Weir also stresses the benefits of an optimised nose position and geometry for an extension of adapter life with improved penetration and loading. An advanced point configuration maintains a sharp profile and increases life by over 15%, the company claims.

The addition of a leading edge lip insert – made from a very high hardness alloy – to increase adapter stability and better distribute loads, provides up to four times greater resistance to wear, reducing overall rebuild complexity and cost, according to Weir.

Add to this an up to 15% lighter adapter for overall system weight savings and Weir clearly has a product in contention for retaining – or building on – the market share the Whisler Plus has accrued.

At MINExpo, Stangeland confirmed the NEXSYS GET Lip System had been “in the dirt” with field trials for over 18 months at three trial sites – one of these in iron ore – with up to 40% total cost of ownership reductions calculated through fewer “downtime events” and fewer components used during the campaign.

He said the company was using the findings from these positive trials to “refine” and “optimise” the system ahead of going commercial with NEXSYS system.

Energy management to become ‘the’ mine electrification talking point

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

Running through the three halls at MINExpo 2024 in Las Vegas last month, the electrification theme was everywhere – numerous booths pulled in attendees with battery symbolism or, in some cases, actual electric machines; others presented new concepts, with variations of dynamic trolley being a particular talking point.

While it is clear there is a wider ‘electric’ offering coming to the market, it is also becoming apparent that the discussion must move on from individual electric machine capabilities to the wider infrastructure at hand and how to manage a site’s available energy constraints.

For IM this was crystallised during several meetings around the show, with the two notable examples coming from a discussion with Joachim Braun, Division President at ABB Process Industries, and a presentation from Brian Weller, Vice President of Electrification for Caterpillar.

Real eMine progress

“It is hard to imagine any company being able to sell an electric vehicle without an awareness of how this vehicle will affect a site’s energy balance,” Braun told IM on the final day of the three-day show in Las Vegas. “Part of the equation now is the power management system piece. No operation is going to tolerate a major drop in productivity with the introduction of these new vehicles and increased renewable energy generation.”

ABB has been aware of this for some time, using the backdrop of MINExpo 2021 to launch its eMine™ portfolio of fully integrated electrification and automation systems, covering mine to port.

IM Editor, Dan Gleeson (left), with Division President at ABB Process Industries, Joachim Braun (right)

The company is in the somewhat unique position of serving both OEMs and mine sites with this offering, with the most recent publicised agreements struck with the likes of Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery in the former category, and Codelco and Antofagasta in the latter.

On the availability of renewable energy generation, Braun acknowledged the potential to carry out “power-hungry activities” during the day when solar irradiation might be highest in, say, Australia or Latin America, as one option to consider.

He also expected the introduction of new levels of autonomy and artificial intelligence to play key roles in making decisions on site based on planned activities and the energy required to carry those activities out.

“Whatever happens, there has to be an interaction with the fleet management side of things,” he added.

Stitching it together

Caterpillar is one of those companies looking to sell electric machines, as well as chargers, energy storage systems and other supporting electrical infrastructure, to the mining sector. As Weller made clear during a pre-MINExpo 2024 tour of the company’s Tucson Proving Ground and Tinaja Hills Demonstration and Learning Centre in Arizona, the OEM is working closely with key customers to explore the complexities of managing the power needed to keep electric sites running optimally.

“When we think about the energy balance here, it is not just about consuming energy; it is about where am I getting the energy, and how much and when I am getting this energy,” Weller said during a demonstration of the company’s electric site simulation and modelling capabilities.

This Caterpillar demonstration included a simulated customer site that had 26 battery-electric trucks being charged by six 4-MW stationary charging systems and eight 8-MW Dynamic Energy Transfer (DET) points.

Caterpillar wasn’t the only one showcasing such solutions at MINExpo, with Fortescue highlighting a 6 MW charger and Liebherr Power Rail also being featured. During IM’s conversation with Braun, a high power eMine FastCharge under development was mentioned, as was “more flexible solutions on trolley systems”.

All these new solutions – in addition to some of the existing ones on offer – are high consumers of power.

This was displayed in the simulation Weller played on screen in Arizona, where the site energy transfer capacity related to just the haulage fleet came in at 88 MW.

The energy transfer shown over a 4.5-hour period in this simulation swung from 70 MW capacity at the top end and 5 MW at the low end.

“That 65 MW swing is the equivalent of having a city of 40,000 people turn their light switches on and off,” Weller said for context. “That is the magnitude of the variation the site has to absorb.”

This is where the integration of electrification and autonomy are going to prove vitally important, according to Weller, and is where the “assignment engine” the company is developing, in tandem with its advanced simulation capabilities, is expected to come into the Cat® MineStar™ Fleet management system fold.

“When we look into the mine site of the future, and the idea of electrification and autonomy, it has to all be stitched together,” Weller said.

“We can’t have trucks stop because of a dead battery; we can’t have trucks back up on a haul route waiting for a charger. In some instances, you might be better off coming in for a charge right now – regardless of your state of charge – as in 10 minutes you might have 10 trucks lining up waiting to be charged. How do you know that? You have to tie it to the fleet management system. This enables you to know how much energy you need and how much energy you have to complete your next assignment.”

These tradeoffs will likely impact production, but having a system like the assignment engine Weller highlighted allows the site “to make that decision very dynamically”, he added.

Industry consensus

There were others talking up such integration around MINExpo 2024.

Oliver Weiss, Liebherr Mining Equipment SAS’ Executive Vice President, R&D, Engineering and Production, says control and command of zero emission mining technologies are included in the autonomous haulage system (AHS) the company has been working on with Fortescue.

“The fleet management assignment engine at the core of the AHS monitors fleet energy levels so that jobs and energy replenishment tasks can be assigned efficiently within zero emission fleets equipped with this system,” he said.

Komatsu’s new Modular ecosystem, which builds on the DISPATCH fleet management system, also has an expanding set of interconnected platforms and products built in. Included within this is a new app called “Replenish” to refuel and recharge mining equipment while minimising impacts to production.

Considering ABB and Komatsu recently signed a strategic collaboration agreement to, they said, “jointly develop and bring to market integrated solutions that will help move net-zero emissions for heavy industrial machinery a step closer to reality,” one would expect ABB’s expertise and technologies for automation and electrification to integrate into this new open platform from Komatsu.

It is becoming clear that the energy management paradigm will require mine sites of the future to have even more integrated workflows underlined by higher levels of autonomy.

And it is this understanding that will lead to an accelerated uptake of electric solutions from where the industry is today.

‘Circularity in action’: the Metso mill liner recycling offering

Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , ,

The idea of mill liner recycling is nothing new for Metso, with the first feasibility studies examining its potential conducted 15 years ago. Just ahead of MINExpo 2024, Metso announced that it is now expanding the offering to the North American market, with the company continuing to view the offering as a key contributor to making mining more sustainable, IM learned.

“The recycling program was initiated in 2015, achieving an important milestone of 1,000 recycled Megaliner™ liners in 2016,” Lars Furtenbach, Director, Research & Technology Development, Mill Lining, told IM last month in Las Vegas. “Back then, the machine we initially designed was not as flexible as the one we use now. This meant our global expansion had to be very deliberate to ensure we could offer the best services possible to as many customers as possible.”

Following studies and customer pilots, Metso launched a new liner separation unit in 2022 for its customers in Europe. In May 2024, the services were expanded to customers in South America – where the company now has two separation machines. Additionally, as mentioned, North America has just been added to this global roster.

The recycling service is facilitated by an innovative technology that enables safe and efficient separation of different rubber and metal liner components, like cast inserts, wear plates and backing plates. Composite liners, like Megaliner™ and Poly-Met™ liners, as well as rubber liners, can be processed using this solution. Metso also has an existing recycling process for metallic mill liners.

“One good example is the Megaliner where this service offering means that recovered backing plates, which are certified for reuse, can be returned to the same customer as part of new Megaliner liners,” he says.

“This is real circularity in action.”

Indeed, Metso says the recycling service is a concrete example of how it can drive the mining industry towards more sustainable practices and a circular economy. “With less unprocessed waste material sent to landfills, recycling helps to reduce CO2 emissions and improve environmental efficiency,” the company explains.

It is also “tightly linked” with ongoing product development, Furtenbach says, singling out Skega™ Life mill lining rubber as an example.

Introduced in November 2023, Skega Life offers up to 25% longer wear life compared with the predecessor premium rubber, Skega Classic. It was developed in Metso’s own laboratory and validated by field studies, also being part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering.

Furtenbach expects the mill lining recycling service to grow in terms of production and product offering, saying Metso’s existing capacity has significantly increased with the current expansion into three regions.

“This is all part of Metso’s plan to do what is needed to make the industry more sustainable,” he concluded.

Orica setting digital groundwork to open up new mining frontiers

Automation, Explosives and blasting, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The integration of a digital backbone into the explosives, blasting and related processes will continue to result in miners accessing new deposits and potentially developing new mining methods, Orica’s Angus Melbourne and Rajkumar Mathiravedu told IM at last month’s MINExpo 2024 in Las Vegas.

Reflecting on a digitalisation journey that started eight years ago, Melbourne – Orica’s Chief Technology Officer – said the original ambition was about taking a very manual process like blasting and digitising the workflows.

“Essentially what we wanted to do was anchor into the design and connect the on-bench activities for a verification process as to where the drill pattern was and how this reconciled with the actual outcome,” he said. “The key was always to link this back to the hub of the machine.”

Bringing data and insights into this equation resulted in better placement of energy (ie explosives), which has since become part and parcel of Orica’s aim of “mobilising the Earth’s resources in a sustainable way”.

The second element underlying this digitised push was the acceleration of automation.

“You cannot automate unless you have a digital foundation,” Melbourne said.

This led to the company – both organically and through M&A – building up a suite of software, sensors and data science applications to enable processes within the explosives and blasting process to be automated.

Just what processes to automate has always been dictated by safety and productivity.

“Getting people off the bench, face, voids, high walls, etc becomes a clear motivator for automating certain processes,” Melbourne said. “It is a bit more difficult on the productivity side of things; you have to be generating value, not just automating for the sake of it.”

From Orica’s initial point eight years ago, the company has progressively moved into adjacencies such as post-blast outcomes, geology and more, bringing the same mindset to each part of this distinct process, while integrating it into the wider work patterns.

Mathiravedu (Orica Digital Solutions Senior Vice President) explained: “What we are seeing in the digital space is the fact that, with blasting, you can either create or destroy value. With all the tools and expertise we have, plus the ability to connect the physical and digital components, we are making the whole process more productive, as well as optimising the use of consumables like water and energy.”

Rajkumar Mathiravedu presenting Next Gen SHOTPlus at MINExpo 2024

And as Orica has opened further to the wider mining ecosystem – think of recent tie ups with Epiroc on the Avatel™ semi-autonomous explosives loading solution showcased at MINExpo or Caterpillar on a potential integration between Rhino™, BlastIQ™ and FRAGTrack™ technologies with Cat® MineStar™ Terrain – its influence across the whole flowsheet continues to expand.

Melbourne said: “If I go back a decade, Orica would have been doing a lot of these things itself…but both Raj and I have worked in other industries that, for various reasons, were collaborative. As a result, we were far more open to working with others.”

This openness is seen with one of Orica Digital Solutions’ latest launch, Next Gen SHOTPlus™, which unlocks the power of the Model Through Time; a cloud hosted, spatiotemporal, digital replica, Orica says. Incorporating the proprietary physics engine, Helfire Damage Model and Advanced Vibration Management solution, Next Gen SHOTPlus enables drill and blast engineers to model and predict blast movement, damage and vibration.

Predictive blast movement modelling is enabled by Predict Physics Engine, allowing engineers to understand the impact of decisions on the post-blast muck pile. The Blast Damage, meanwhile, feature provides 3D damage modelling, allowing engineers to evaluate the predicted damage generated on both blasted and in-situ rock masses.

As the Avatel system loomed over the Orica booth at MINExpo (it was on the adjacent Epiroc stand, see below), it seemed only right to ask about the potential to fully automate the explosives loading process based on the safety and productivity drivers Melbourne outlined.

“The goal is to go fully autonomous,” he replied. “If you look at the safety and productivity drivers, semi-automation advances both of those, but there are opportunities to improve upon both – we are clearly still underground at the moment, which comes with risk, and there are other elements of cleaning, priming and loading that could be accelerated in the development headings through full automation.”

One of the underlying technologies of the Avatel platform is the WebGen™ wireless initiation system, which has been key to unlocking new mining methods and techniques, with numerous case studies detailing a strong value case.

A fully autonomous Avatel unit could do similar, according to Melbourne, ticking that productivity box.

“With full autonomy, you can start to employ new mining methods and go to different parts of the mine you couldn’t previously,” he said. “On a case-by-case basis, you can look at individual mines where they understand the mineralisation that, because of safety constraints, cannot currently be classified as a resource or reserve.

“If we’re able to remove that constraint, we can start to tangibly assess bringing that into a resource or reserve and mining that.”

Fortescue ready to disrupt the decarbonisation status quo

Automation, Environmental, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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?

Philippi-Hagenbuch introduces ultra-class equipment lowboy trailer at MINExpo

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , ,

Philippi-Hagenbuch used last week’s MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas, to, among other things, highlight its “revolutionary” HiVol® Lowboy Trailer, uniquely engineered for transporting the largest, heaviest off-highway mining equipment quickly, easily and safely.

The HiVol Lowboy Trailer is the only system that provides the capacity necessary to haul ultra-class rated equipment, a standard for mining equipment such as drills, loaders and high-capacity shovels, the company claims. It offers a hauling capacity of 250-2,200 tons (227-1,996 t), far exceeding the capacity of any other trailer on the market.

“Whether providing initial transport into the mine pit, relocating a shovel from one pit to another or hauling a piece of downed equipment to the shop for repair, Philippi-Hagenbuch’s lowboy trailer system is able to move nearly any piece of mining equipment, eliminating the need for multiple vehicles and trailers,” the company says.

Acting as the intermediary between the haul vehicle and trailer, the Vehicle Recovery Tool (VRT) is Philippi-Hagenbuch’s version of a “jeep” that is key to allowing up to 22% more hauling weight than the trailer alone. The VRT evenly distributes the load over the axles and tyres of the VRT, the haul truck and the trailer. By distributing the weight of the load, Philippi-Hagenbuch’s Ultra-Class Lowboy Trailer can haul the larger loads safely.

Transporting large equipment is safe with the HiVol Lowboy Trailer, as well. The VRT and trailer’s wide base provides greater stability and balance for unparalleled control of the load during transport.

While traditional lowboy trailers use a detachable gooseneck that requires more time, manpower and effort to front load the trailer, the HiVol Lowboy Trailer features an innovative rear-load system, designed for safe, efficient loading and unloading for all sizes of equipment. In fact, most pieces can be loaded or unloaded in less than 20 minutes, according to the company.

The trailer’s rear axles drop the deck to the ground level and then swing out as rear loading ramps descend. The equipment “walks” up the ramp for fast, convenient loading. Additionally, the ramp is designed to maintain a consistently flat plane with the deck of the trailer, eliminating apex loading and potential damage to the idlers and rollers on tracked equipment and the trailer. Once a machine has been secured on the trailer, the ramps raise and the axles swing back into transport mode, fully containing the equipment for safe transport. At this point, the deck raises and the trailer is ready to move.

In addition to enhancing safety, efficiency and convenience, the HiVol Lowboy Trailer makes moving large mining equipment far less expensive than traditional means, according to the company. When a machine such as a mining shovel moves under its own power, excessive pressure and unnecessary wear is placed on the undercarriage: tracks, rollers and idlers. Because replacing an undercarriage can cost up to $3 million, in most cases the system easily pays for itself within the first year. While intended to work as a unified system, the HiVol Lowboy Trailer and VRT can operate independently of one another for added versatility.

Philippi-Hagenbuch custom builds every HiVol Lowboy Trailer to fit an operation’s exact needs and expectations. When not used in conjunction with the VRT, the trailer attaches to a haul vehicle with Philippi-Hagenbuch’s standard six-way kingpin style hitch. The trailer and hitch feature a low-maintenance design with minimal moving parts, components and hydraulics for high uptime.

The VRT is the first product of its kind offered to the mining industry, Philippi-Hagenbuch says. In addition to its direct interfacing capabilities when paired with the HiVol Lowboy Trailer, it can be used on its own as a towing device with the ability to tow inoperable off-highway haul trucks with rated capacities of up to 400 tons (363 t) to the shop for repairs or to any desired location within an off-highway environment. The VRT interfaces with the front bumper of the disabled haul truck and lifts the front tyres off the ground, evenly distributing the weight between the rear tyres of the disabled vehicle, the VRT and the prime mover. The VRT’s wide wheelbase provides stability and balance, eliminating the need for a counterweight on the tow vehicle’s chassis and ensuring safe towing with no added pressure on the truck or the haul vehicle.

When used as an intermediary between the prime mover and a Philippi-Hagenbuch Lowboy Trailer, the VRT attaches to the gooseneck of the trailer itself through a lowboy interface point located on the top of the VRT. To disengage, the VRT pivot actuation system hydraulically adjusts the height and pitch of the lowboy interface point and the VRT can be moved out of the way, ready to be used for towing disabled vehicles.

Every HiVol Lowboy Trailer and VRT is completely engineered, built, assembled and tested by Philippi-Hagenbuch prior to shipment at its Peoria, Illinois, factory. Due to their size, both pieces are fully modular so they can be broken down easily for shipment by legal load and reassembly on-site. In addition, the company offers on-site assembly assistance to every customer with a Lowboy Trailer or VRT purchase.

With this being a new product, Philippi-Hagenbuch is looking for the first mine to utilise this innovative lowboy trailer technology within its operation. As an incentive, Philippi-Hagenbuch will provide a residual on every lowboy trailer it sells for the 10 years following to the first purchaser of a Philippi-Hagenbuch HiVol Lowboy Trailer.

Epiroc focused on ‘connecting the dots’ to create mine of the future

Automation, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ahead of Epiroc’s Capital Markets Day (CMD) and MINExpo 2024 at a hotel just outside of Las Vegas, Helena Hedblom, Epiroc President and CEO, was happy to tackle the industry’s big three: automation, digitalisation and electrification.

Hedblom, like the heads of her fellow OEMs, has big ambitions for these three technology pillars, but the way Epiroc is looking to meet these ambitions is different.

The company’s “agnostic” philosophy has been a key differentiator for the past years, and even as more OEMs start to open up their architecture and platforms to the wider vendor marketplace, it is this attitude that is likely to help it lead from the front.

“Our ambition is to provide mixed fleet automation,” Hedblom told IM last week. “That is what we have invested in quite heavily over the last two years; we have acquired two companies in RCT and ASI Mining to allow us to achieve this.

“This is how we see the future of mining when it comes to automation, having the capabilities to operate whatever type of equipment there might be in that mine, including utility vehicles.”

Epiroc has, as of the CMD last week, 3,100 machines running without drivers. This is up 29% from the last CMD in June 2023, with the company noting that there was “great potential to connect an even larger fleet” via Epiroc machines and/or units from other OEMs.

RCT, underground, has a track record of achieving such autonomy on a wide range of machines, while, on surface, ASI Mining has proven it can do the same with the fleet at Roy Hill, in Western Australia.

Epiroc is currently converting Roy Hill’s mixed fleet to driverless operation in Australia, with 78 autonomous haul trucks made up of Caterpillar and Hitachi trucks, and over 200 utility vehicles.

Roy Hill remains the sole case study on surface, but Hedblom says the company will soon transition to the ‘scale’ of its “nail and scale” process that leads to adding more mine sites to its agnostic automation platform.

Hedblom is convinced the ability to automate the entire fleet – whether the machines are “digitally connected” or not – plus integrate the highest levels of collision avoidance solution, will go far in eradicating the need to allow autonomous and staffed equipment to operate in the same zones underground and on surface.

“If you have all the utility vehicles automated, that is the key,” she said. “It is more than just automation; through the Mernok acquisition, we’re now able to bring in Level 7, 8 and 9 collision avoidance technologies.

“Technology-wise, it is all coming together.”

IM Editor, Dan Gleeson, met with Epiroc President & CEO, Helena Hedblom, ahead of the company’s CMD and MINExpo 2024 in Las Vegas

Electrification

The big stats in terms of electrification include:

  • 42% of the offering in “fossil free” versions;
  • Battery-electric vehicles deployed at 34 sites;
  • An active electric fleet of rigs, loaders and trucks totalling over 600 units (of which a large portion is historical fleet, including cable);
  • Recurring battery-electric vehicle orders from 12 sites; and
  • A three times increase in the utilisation rate of battery-electric vehicles during the last 12 months.

The other statistic of note is that, as it stands, Epiroc group revenues related to electrification amount to just 4%.

This indicates both Epiroc and the industry are still in the initial stages of this transition; an opinion backed up by claims from the Electric Mine Consortium that Sandvik’s battery-electric truck population across the globe represents only 15% and, as it stands, no battery-electric load and haul equipment has been sold commercially in one of the biggest underground markets: Australia.

Hedblom, here, sees parallels with the automation uptick in the industry.

“This transformation is happening in the same way that automation evolved,” she said. “A couple of years ago, we had some customers that had greenfield operations and decided to go fully electric. Now we see more customers looking at repeat orders.”

The automation analogues also come with the fact that Epiroc – unlike other OEMs – is offering a mid-life rebuild option to convert some of its existing diesel-powered load and haul fleet to battery-electric operation.

Epiroc has plans to offer this conversion option across its full existing diesel-powered load and haul fleet by 2030.

The addition of ‘fossil free’ in the Epiroc lexicon over the last few years reflects the need to put multiple options on the table for miners.

“We see that there will be different types of solutions needed during the coming 10 or 20 years, depending on mining method, type of application, etc,” Hedblom said.

This was made apparent on the floor at MINExpo where Epiroc showcased the MT66 S e Drive, a Pit Viper 271 E and a SmartROC D65 BE. The former is a diesel-electric haul truck that uses both diesel engine and electric drivetrain to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, the SmartROC D65 is a battery-electric down-the-hole drill demonstrator that trams on battery yet is plugged in for drilling, while the Pit Viper 271 E is currently envisaged as a unit connected to the site’s renewable electricity infrastructure for that ‘fossil free’ operation.

The Minetruck MT66 S e Drive

“We believe there will be a combination of different energy sources in this mix,” Hedblom said, reeling off the likes of battery-electric, cable, trolley and hybrid options. Additionally, biofuel ‘drop-in’ solutions are already available for conventionally powered machines in its offering.

She added: “Sometimes the discussion is all about benchmarking diesel against a fossil-free machine, but the reality is that every machine we are developing now cannot just be on par with its diesel counterpart. It must be better – faster up the ramp, filling the bucket faster, etc – to ensure we provide productivity benefits and a lower total cost of ownership for customers.”

Digitalisation

From an M&A perspective, digitalisation has been a key focus area for Epiroc since the Atlas Copco spinoff in 2018, with many of the 27 acquisitions since listing tied to this trend.

This, as well as many organic initiatives, has led to the company building up a revenue base for its Digital Solutions division of SEK2.4 billion ($234 million).

“Our digital solutions are agnostic, working on different types of machines and systems, so this opens up many ways to engage with our customers,” Hedblom said, noting that the platforms it had created are being used by existing Epiroc equipment customers, as well as those with fleets from other OEMs.

“The areas of high interest are around collision avoidance, situational awareness and mixed fleet automation,” she said. “I see that digitalisation creates that transparency needed to drive productivity.”

Digitalisation, itself, represents an easier ‘sell’ for Epiroc due to its seamless nature – ie not creating multiple change management issues – when compared with adopting automation and electrification technologies, Hedblom added.

Going forward, she is convinced a digital backbone will become more important with the increasing uptake of automation and electrification.

“Today, a lot of the different tools mining companies are using – for the mine plan, for maintenance, etc – are still not connected,” she explained. “You don’t use all data at the same time for the best type of decision.

“A lost hour of productivity is a lost hour of productivity; we are seeking to avoid this through increased digitalisation.”

This is where the individual solutions Epiroc has acquired through the likes of Mernok (collision avoidance), RCT and ASI Mining (agnostic automation solutions), Meglab and JTMEC (battery-electric chargers and infrastructure) could combine with its digitalisation platforms to optimise the overall mining process.

“By connecting the dots, there are many more optimisation opportunities to be had,” Hedblom said.

The difference here is that Epiroc is willing to look outside of its own four walls to the broader industrial space to ‘connect these dots’, meaning the idea of a fully-electric, fully-autonomous, fully-digitalised mine could be much closer to becoming a reality.

Aramine intent on ‘rapidly expanding’ battery-electric machine offering

Automation, Environmental, Mining equipment, Power supply for mines, , , , ,

Aramine showcased its expertise in battery-powered mining machines, enabling mining operations with low CO2 emissions while ensuring maximum productivity this week at MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas.

The French manufacturer released its first battery-powered machine back in 2016: the L140B miniLoader. At the time, with more than a decade of experience in manufacturing underground mining machines, “we started from scratch; we didn’t electrify a diesel machine, we designed battery-powered machines,” explains Marc Melkonian, Co-President – Equipment Division.

Now, with more than 50 L140B loaders in operation worldwide, and over 200.000 operating hours, the initial objectives have been achieved, with a machine offering numerous advantages:

  • Reduced CO2 and Nox emissions;
  • No need to transport fuel underground;
  • Reduced ambient temperature and noise in the mine, improving working conditions for operators;
  • Lower mine operating costs; and
  • Guaranteed maximum productivity

Recently, Aramine has released its latest battery-powered machine: the L440B Loader. It is the logical continuation of its precursor: the same technologies but for new challenge – a more efficient, more powerful and more intuitive machine. The machine has a 4.6 t tramming capacity, more than 3.5 times greater than the L140B (1.3 t), and soon a 5-t payload version will follow.

Both machines have a number of innovations in common to offer cutting-edge equipment, Aramine says:

  • Innovation #1: Unlimited autonomy: Aramine offers a unique “plug and charge” solution: its “quick replacement system”. The energy module at the rear of the machine, housing the batteries and the charger, can be “hot-swapped” in less than 10 minutes. Filling the battery is now quicker than filling the fuel tank. A machine equipped with two energy modules can be operated without interruption;
  • Innovation #2: Low maintenance and high reliability: The energy module is a dual technology. Each energy module includes two completely autonomous battery packs with their own battery cells, electronic system and chargers. The machine continues to
    operate even if one of the battery packs fails;
  • Innovation #3: A single pedal for total control Aramine’s unique operating mode uses a single pedal to control speed and braking. This has two major benefits: no friction or wear on parts to stop the machine, and high regeneration during braking phase;
  • Innovation #4: Industry 4.0 ready: The software on Aramine’s battery machines complies with the requirements of Industry 4.0 and
    provides all the information needed for optimised operation, the company says. “All data can be consulted in real time on the machine screen or on a remote tablet to optimize functions, improving productivity and reducing machine fatigue,” Marc Melkonian says; and
  • Innovation #5: The multi energy supply kit: True to its CSR commitments, Aramine offers to give a second life to the batteries in its machines. At any time, thanks to the “Multi Energy Supply kit”, the batteries can be used to supply an office or any other facility. At the end of their original useful life in the mine, these batteries are still powerful enough to power homes and offices in 220 v (50 Hz) or 110 v (60 Hz) for basic electricity needs: lighting, heating, etc. Coupled with solar panels, batteries can operate autonomously in isolated locations.

Marc Melkonian added: “Our engineers are CSR-minded, always looking ahead to the mining machines of tomorrow. Naturally, we intend to rapidly expand our range of battery-powered machines.”

Perenti and Sandvik to collaborate on underground diesel-electric equipment

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

Global mining services provider Perenti and Sandvik have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at MINExpo INTERNATIONAL® 2024 centred on developing cutting-edge diesel-electric equipment for underground mines.

This collaboration aims to enhance sustainability, efficiency and productivity in underground mining operations, Sandvik said.

Under the agreement, the companies will work together to optimise underground diesel-electric loaders and trucks. Through Perenti’s leading underground mining business, Barminco, the collaboration partnership will focus on improving Barminco’s operations and generating valuable insights and data to further refine Sandvik’s diesel-electric technology.

The initial phase of the collaboration involves establishing a shared vision for optimising Sandvik’s diesel-electric machines to meet Perenti’s requirements. Perenti will contribute to the machine design and provide feedback at various testing stages, including pre-factory testing, operational testing and trial testing.

Mark Norwell, Perenti Managing Director & CEO, welcomed the agreement, saying Perenti was excited to explore the full potential of diesel-electric solutions as part of its journey to decarbonisation.

“We are constantly looking for ways to improve the working environment and boost underground safety, efficiency and sustainability,” he said. “Diesel-electric equipment has the potential to do this. Collaborating with our partners is a critical step in the process, and we believe that working with Sandvik enables us to benefit from cutting-edge technology and also play a role in shaping the equipment that the wider industry will be using tomorrow. That’s good for us and it’s good for our customers.”

Mats Eriksson, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, emphasised that the mutual benefits of collaboration often do lead to better products – and safer, more efficient operations.

“Perenti, through its businesses including Barminco, is one of the world’s leading mining services providers, and can provide us with design suggestions and fantastic insights into real-world mining conditions,” he said. “Together, we can create equipment optimised for Perenti’s working conditions while also developing the most advanced diesel-electric machines available anywhere in the world.”

Diesel-electric mining equipment is seen by many within the industry as a way of achieving cleaner, more sustainable and more reliable mining, without the structural changes required for a fully-electric operation.

Diesel-electric machines typically have a diesel engine that drives a generator which, in turn, provides electricity to motors responsible for movement and operating equipment. Unlike conventional diesel, diesel-electric machines generally have no torque converter and fewer rotating components, allowing for a more flexible design, requiring less maintenance and enabling lower operating costs while maintaining high availability.

Sandvik first announced last year that it was moving ahead with developing a diesel-electric range of underground loaders and trucks to complement its leading battery-electric offering. The decision followed the showcasing of Sandvik’s Toro™ diesel-electric truck demonstrator to customers at a technology workshop in Turku, Finland in 2022. This demonstrator is on the booth at MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas, this week.