Tag Archives: Nick Holland

Gold Fields to trial Caterpillar dual-fuel solution on haul trucks at Tarkwa mine

Gold Fields plans to test the use of LNG to power haul trucks in a trial at its Tarkwa open-pit gold mine in Ghana, CEO Nick Holland told attendees of the IMARC Online event this week.

Speaking on a panel reviewing progress of the Innovation for Cleaner, Safer Vehicles (ICSV) initiative – a supply chain collaboration between the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) – Holland said the trial would involve a mix of LNG and diesel fuel at the operation, and four trucks would initially be tested with the fuel combination in 2021.

Gold Fields later confirmed to IM that the trial would take place in the second half of 2021 and involve the use of Caterpillar’s dual-fuel LNG Dynamic Gas Blending (DGB) retrofit system on four of the mine’s Cat 785C 146 t payload dump trucks.

The DGB conversion kits, available on Cat 785C and 793D haul trucks, are a dual-fuel technology that enables miners to substitute diesel fuel with LNG, according to Cat. The use of LNG has been proven to reduce emissions by up to 30%, as well as lower costs by up to 30%, Cat says.

DGB vaporises liquid fuel into natural gas, then replaces diesel fuel with LNG when possible. On average, DGB replaces about 60-65% of diesel with LNG, according to Cat.

Tarkwa, which is 90% owned by Gold Fields, produced 519,000 oz of gold in 2019, 1% lower than the 525,000 oz produced in 2018. It employs Engineers & Planners Co Ltd as mining contractor.

While this trial will potentially lower the company’s carbon emissions – as will Gold Fields’ plan to fit “diesel filters” on all its machines underground in the next 12-18 months – Holland pointed to a much loftier long-term goal during the ICSV panel.

“The challenge to our teams and OEMs is to move away from diesel completely,” he said.

Such a move could see the company employ both battery-powered and hydrogen-powered solutions at its underground mines, he added.

More OEMs join the ICMM’s Innovation for Cleaner, Safer Vehicles initiative

The Innovation for Cleaner, Safer Vehicles (ICSV) initiative – a supply chain collaboration between the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) – has made significant progress towards understanding what is needed to transform today’s fleet of mining vehicles into tomorrow’s new generation of cleaner, safer vehicles, members of its CEO Advisory Group announced today at IMARC Online.

The ambitions of the ICSV initiative are to introduce greenhouse gas emission-free surface mining vehicles by 2040, minimise the operational impact of diesel exhaust by 2025 and make vehicle collision avoidance technology available to mining companies by 2025.

Two years on from announcing these ambitions, eight new OEMs have joined the initiative, taking the number of participating OEMs to 19, the ICMM said. This includes 3MTech, Behault, Future Digital communications, MTU, Miller Technologies, Miller Technologies, Nerospec, Newtrax and Torsa, the ICMM confirmed to IM.

ICMM members, representing around 30% of the global metals market with over 650 assets, have undertaken assessments to establish a clearer view of the progress made at site level towards each ICSV ambition. These assessments indicate ICMM members are generally at early stages of maturity in the journey, and show what progress will look like for each ambition, the ICMM said.

“This significant representation of industry can speak with an aligned voice, on aligned objectives with OEMs and third-party technology providers,” it added. “In its first two years, the ICSV initiative has achieved the critical step of sending strong signals to OEMs and third-party technology providers on their requirements, and on what is needed to accelerate development and adoption of technology across the industry.”

The initiative is led by a CEO Advisory Group comprising each leader of BHP, Anglo American, Gold Fields, Caterpillar, Komatsu and Sandvik, several members of which spoke today at IMARC Online about the collaborative model.

Nick Holland, Chief Executive, Gold Fields (and Chair of the CEO Advisory Group), said there was a critical need to advance work on cleaner, safer vehicles in mining, which will have important health and safety benefits and contribute towards the pressing need of decarbonising the mining industry.

“It is recognised that there are measures we can implement now, but other, more impactful, interventions are reliant on technology pathways that are still evolving,” he said. “This will undoubtedly take time, but the industry’s collaboration with OEMs, through the ICMM, is critical as we look for these long-term, sustainable and integrated solutions.”

Mike Henry, Chief Executive, BHP, added: “Safer, cleaner mining equipment is important for our people and the world. No one party can tackle this on their own though. The ICSV initiative brings together equipment manufacturers and ICMM members to accelerate the innovations required to improve equipment safety and reduce emissions. This is a great example of the collaborative industry-level effort that can help bring about the scale and pace of change that is needed.”

Denise Johnson, Group President, Caterpillar, said the OEM was committed to helping customers operate safely and sustainably, with the ICSV initiative helping it collaborate even more closely with the mining industry in these important areas.

“Its progress to date has helped to form a shared understanding of where the industry is on its journey and demonstrates that by working together we can more quickly accelerate the pace of change,” she said of the initiative.

Tom Butler, CEO, ICMM, added: “Partnership and collaboration fuels long-term sustainable development, and is crucial to addressing some of the mining industry’s biggest sustainability challenges. Progress made on the ICSV initiative has been building the widespread confidence needed to accelerate the level of innovation investment required to scale up commercial solutions. The initiative will benefit the entire industry and is open to all OEMs who would like to join.”

ICMM has developed tools to support the industry, OEMs and third-party technology providers to meet the initiative’s ambitions, it said. These tools include an ICSV Knowledge Hub that, the ICMM says, facilitates knowledge sharing of industry innovations, provides technical and practical resources including case studies, standards, regulations and a technology and solutions database.

Additionally, a set of “maturity frameworks” that help to “map, motivate and measure” progress against the ambitions have been published, with the intention to stimulate conversations within companies that drive thinking, decision making and action, it added.

In 2021, ICMM’s company members will focus on integrating the initiative’s goals into their corporate planning processes, allocating internal resources and effectively leveraging external resources such as synergies with other industry initiatives and collaboration between member companies, the ICMM said.

Wits students search for mechanised solutions to Gold Fields South Deep problems

Mining students from the Wits School of Mining Engineering, with the support of Gold Fields, are building South Africa’s capacity to apply mechanised mining methods and supporting technologies in deep-level gold mines, according to the institution.

In a three-year partnership, supported by a R6-million ($425,056) Gold Fields grant in 2017, a range of research projects are underway at both post-graduate and under-graduate level in the Wits School. This work tackles challenges and opportunities at Gold Fields’ South Deep mine – the country’s largest and deepest underground mechanised gold mine.

Gold Fields is currently restructing operations at South Deep, saying it needs to reduce mining areas, lower overhead costs and use fewer machines more productively to ensure the mine’s future.

The school said: “Wits and Gold Fields have recognised South Africa lacks sufficient skills and expertise to run deep-level mechanised operations. The school has been a pioneer in conducting research and developing solutions in the field of digital technology and mechanised mining systems in partnership with the Wits Mining Institute.”

According to the Head of the School, Professor Cuthbert Musingwini, young researchers play an important role in finding economically viable strategies to mine South Africa’s deep deposits.

“These partnerships between academia and industry can make our deep-level mines more safe and sustainable, continuing their vital contribution to the economy,” Professor Musingwini said.

Gold Fields CEO, Nick Holland, emphasised the school’s long history of research-intensive higher education – as well as its association with the digital technology-focused Wits Mining Institute – making it the natural partner for Gold Fields’ vision for South Deep. “Deep-level mining in South Africa will only be sustainable in the long run if it’s done in a mechanised manner. The School of Mining’s new focus on deep-level, mechanised mining research points the way,” Holland said.

Several of the post-graduate applied research projects are well advanced, covering topics that have the potential to positively impact South Deep across safety, productivity and cost improvement fronts as the mine continues its production ramp-up, according to the school.

Focus areas for the various projects at South Deep, which will lead to Masters Degrees for the post-graduate students, cover the following areas:

  • Assessment of the local ground support and corrosion life cycle to improve long term cost-effectiveness by Rachidi Dineo;
  • Analysis and optimisation of the ore flow system from stope to mill by Matsobane Nong;
  • Research to increase the effectiveness of backfill in the mining value chain by Mosebudi Matlou, and;
  • Multiple point simulation for reducing uncertainty in ore body modelling by Isaac Mabala.

A project to assess opportunities to facilitate cost-effective communications right to the mining face, to complete the “connected mine”, has also recently been initiated, the school said.

Other on-going research at postgraduate level, linked to achieving improved safety and productivity in deep-level mining, is being carried out under Professor Rudrajit Mitra, the School’s Chair of Rock Engineering. The chair received significant financial support under a previous Gold Fields sponsorship agreement.

Six undergraduate research projects have so far been conducted by third and fourth year students as part of the vacation work degree requirement. In one project, the research investigated ways to ameliorate seismicity and rock burst damage underground, while another was a techno-economic assessment of backfill barricades used in ultra-deep-level gold mining.

The Wits University Gold Fields steering committee overseeing the work comprises Professors Musingwini and Mitra, Professor Fred Cawood from the Wits Mining Institute, Tim Rowland, Gold Fields VP GeoSciences & Planning and Chair of the committee, Johan Sliep, South Deep’s Head of Technical & Production Intelligence Systems, and Andrew Whibley, Gold Fields VP Technology & Innovation.