Tag Archives: ST1030

Epiroc registers robust mining demand in Q3

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining finance, Mining services, , , , , , ,

Epiroc continued to register high demand from the mining sector in the September quarter, as several large mining equipment orders were won over the three-month period, leading to a 17% year-on-year rise in orders received.

This total of SEK14.36 billion (US$1.29 billion) was supported by strong organic growth and acquisitions, Epiroc said, as well as its largest order ever received – a SEK700 million agreement to supply the Kamoa-Kakula copper operation in the DRC with Minetruck MT65 S haulers, Scooptram ST18 S loaders, Boomer 282 face drilling rigs and Simba E70 S production drilling rigs.

In a quarter that included no acquisitions, Epiroc saw its operating profit increase 12% to SEK3.26 billion, while its operating margin was up at 21.7%.

Helena Hedblom, President and CEO of the company, said the quarter saw particularly strong demand for its automation and connectivity solutions, which was reinforced by a recent agreement with Boliden, Algoryx and Örebro University to evaluate autonomous face drilling options, plus a separate strengthened cooperation with Newcrest Mining to take a holistic approach towards the entire mining process at several Newcrest mines.

Outside of these financial specifics, Hedblom said the company was also looking to consolidate several functions – transactional and human resources, among them – into new regional centres of excellence to better serve customers in certain markets as part of its wider operational excellence pursuit.

“These will be rolled out region by region,” she told IM.

One such change is happening in South Africa, with the company moving production of its low-profile machines from Örebro, Sweden, to South Africa. This move follows the acquisition of Aard Mining Equipment in April of this year, and recognition of a substantial portion of the low-profile market being in southern Africa, Hedblom acknowledged.

Aard, based in Chamdor near Johannesburg, designs, manufactures, services and supports a wide range of mining equipment, specialising in low-profile underground machines for mines with low mining heights. Its products include drill rigs, bolters, loaders, scalers, and more.

BEV retrofits on the up

A key differentiator in the Epiroc electrification portfolio that has been covered extensively by IM is the company’s battery-electric retrofit options.

Launched in the March quarter of 2021 – with the first retrofit kit offered for the ST1030 underground loader – the solution was viewed as a sustainable way to electrify machinery, with the conversion kits expected to be fitted during a midlife service rebuild.

Hedblom said interest for these retrofits continued to build from the mining community, with the company scaling up the number of retrofit kit models available, the expertise and resources to enact these changes, and the “standard operating procedures” required to offer this.

“It is still early days…but over the coming years we expect to have a mix of both new [battery-electric] equipment sales and retrofits coming through,” she said.

Epiroc and Rokion battery-electric machines reduce costs at Evolution’s Red Lake ops

Environmental, Explosives and blasting, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

Evolution Mining’s efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 are already being witnessed at its Red Lake Operation (RLO) in Canada, where the company is pursuing fleet replacement and energy efficiency gains through deepening its partnerships with Epiroc and Rokion.

The pacts with the two battery-electric vehicle (BEV) service providers also extend to operational changes Evolution is making via fan timers for underground ventilation at RLO.

In partnership with Epiroc, Red Lake has taken the opportunity to leverage its offering of conversion kits to transform diesel-powered loaders easily and seamlessly to battery-electric driven operation, it said. RLO has ordered two of the converted diesel-powered Scooptram ST1030 machines for deployment underground with the first one delivered at the start of December 2021. The site has also ordered two Scooptram ST14 battery-electric loaders that are designed based on the diesel ST14 version, which are scheduled for delivery in 2022. This order was announced last year by Epiroc.

The Red Lake team has also purchased three Rokion electric light vehicles – two R100s and an R400. They have been risk assessed in the field, have dedicated charge stations and are capable of online data capture and storage, the company said.

Rokion says the R100 series includes a four-passenger crew truck and a two-passenger utility truck, with both models built on the same frame dimensions and available in ramp-ready configurations. The R400 platform, meanwhile, is able to accommodate three passengers in a utility vehicle setup or up to 12 in a passenger crew variant.

“The electric fleet brings the opportunity to save on maintenance, cooling and ventilation costs with reducing expenditures related to diesel and power usage,” Evolution Mining says.

“This cost saving and energy efficiency has similarly been seen in the recent changes to the underground ventilation fan timers, which are vital in clearing the drives, post blasting of headings. After assessing the timer programming, the functionality of the fan timer switch was altered so that operators can run them when needed rather than running automatically at irrelevant times.”

Epiroc to supply equipment, services for Codelco’s Chuquicamata underground mine

Automation, Base metals, Communications in mining, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Epiroc is to deliver underground loaders, face drill rigs, rock bolting rigs and mine trucks to the Chuquicamata underground mine in northern Chile following an order from Codelco.

The large equipment order, which comes on top of the signing of a large contract for services at Codelco’s Andina mine and a large order for equipment used at its El Teniente mine, also includes several years of technical support and training. The order is valued at more than $20 million and was booked in April 2020.

Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, opened the Chuquicamata underground mine in 2019 as it looked to transition the world’s largest open-pit mine into a technologically advanced underground operation. The transformation will extend the mine life by 40 years, according to Codelco.

Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO, said the company was proud to be a key partner of Codelco “as it significantly extends the life of the Chuquicamata mine in the most productive, efficient and safe manner possible”.

Juan Mariscal, Sourcing Category Manager at Codelco, says: “Epiroc was chosen because it complied with all the technical, safety and performance requirements that Codelco demanded for the Chuquicamata Underground Mine project, while being the supplier that provided the best economic proposal for all its equipment as a whole.”

The order includes multiple units of the Scooptram ST1030 and ST18 loader, the Boomer S2 face drilling rig, the Boltec M bolting machine, and the Minetruck MT65 (pictured), the highest payload capacity underground truck in the world.

The machines will be equipped with 6th Sense solutions for automation, connectivity and information management, Epiroc says. The solutions include Epiroc’s Rig Control System, RCS, which makes the equipment ready for automation and remote control, and Epiroc’s Certiq system, which allows for intelligent monitoring of machine performance and productivity in real-time.

Delivery of the equipment will take place later this year.