WORLD PROSPECTS
Automation tech leader VIPioneers signs deal with mining truck & loco major XEMC
Just a month after China’s surface truck mining
automation technology major TAGE Idriver
announced a deal with China’s leading mining
truck OEM Inner Mongolia North Hauler (NHL), the
other leading unmanned surface mining equipment
tech player VIPioneers (officially known as Qingdao
Huituo Intelligent Machine or Huituo and also using
the brand WAYTOUS) has signed a deal of its own
with the other big domestic mining truck
manufacturer Xiangtan Electric Manufacturing
Co (XEMC). XEMC is one of China’s leading electric
drive technology and electric motor suppliers to a
range of industries and in mining is a key supplier
of electric locomotives for underground projects.
The statement said that on May 13, a “strategic
cooperation” relationship was established between
VIPioneers and XEMC which will help both parties
to “give full play to their respective technological
and market advantages.” The two parties will
jointly develop products such as unmanned mining
trucks and locomotives, carry out national-level
project cooperation, jointly create smart product
demonstration projects, promote mass production
and the operation of unmanned mining vehicles,
and make contributions to the development of
unmanned mining areas in China.
Chen Long, CEO of Huituo (VIPioneers) said: “In
recent years, Huituo has continued to invest in the
platformisation and openness of unmanned
solutions for smart mines, enabling Huituo to
quickly connect mining equipment manufacturers
and system integration, and promote the
intelligence of the entire industrial ecology. XEMC is
a leading enterprise in China’s mining electric wheel
dump trucks, and has advanced technology and
experience in the research and development and
manufacturing of mining transportation equipment.
The strategic cooperation between Huituo and
XEMC will help the two sides complement each
other’s advantages, jointly promote the
improvement and market expansion of unmanned
driving technology
products, help the
intelligent transformation
and upgrading of
equipment in China’s
mining areas, and build a
harmonious modernisation
of people and nature.”
Jin Bin, General Manager
of XEMC, said: “XEMC has
long been committed to the
research and development
and manufacturing of mine
transportation equipment.
It is the earliest
professional manufacturer
of non-highway electric
drive dump trucks and
industrial and mining
traction motor vehicles in China. With the speeding
up of the development of national mine
intelligence, traditional product technology
upgrades, and the application of unmanned driving
technologies are urgent problems that companies
need to solve. As the leading intelligent mine
unmanned solution provider in China, Huituo has
obvious technical advantages and mature
solutions. The cooperation between the two parties
will provide comprehensive solutions and mature
and reliable products for the intelligent products of
China’s mine transportation equipment, and jointly
promote the overall technical level of the national
mine intelligent equipment.”
Huituo/VIPioneers claims to be China’s largest
mining area unmanned solution provider (though
TAGE Idriver also makes that claim), and says it has
rich project experience and technical advantages in
the mining area unmanned field. It says:
“Supported by the world’s first parallel driving
technology, Huituo has developed a cloud-based
intelligent dispatching and management system, a
mining vehicle unmanned driving system, an
excavator cooperative operation management
system, an unmanned transportation simulation
system, a remote driving system, and V2X vehicleroad
collaboration. The core technology products
represented by the perception system have created
the leading domestic unmanned full-stack solution
for the mine, which has been applied to many
open-pit mines in China.”
XEMC is a leading domestic electric mining
dump truck OEM, with 108 t, 136 t, 154 t, 220 t, 300
t and 330 t product series with completely
independent intellectual property rights. XEMC
says it is also the company with the largest sales
volume, and the most complete varieties and
specifications in the domestic electric locomotive
market. It is a major manufacturer of domestic DC
and AC electric locomotives offering 80 t, 100 t, 150
t, 200 t and 224 t large-scale industrial and mining
electric locomotives as well as offering custom
designs to meet customer demand.
www.vipioneers.com; www.xemc.com.cn
Sandvik’s new LH514BE underground LHD offers the best of both worlds
The new Sandvik Mining LH514BE, when
launched, will offer a solution adding more
flexibility to the traditional tethered loaders. The
LH514BE gets its power from the electric cable during
normal operation, but it uses its battery for relocating
to another production area. The battery also gives an
extra boost to ramp
speeds, which
traditionally have been
the weak spot of electric
loaders, as they have
been designed for level
applications.
The LH514BE
naturally features the
traditional positives of
electric loaders: zero
exhaust emissions, less
noise and less heat
compared to
combustion engines.
Sandvik told IM:
“Further, we can think
that the LH514BE is a battery-boosted loader which
never needs charging time for its battery as it is
continuously recharged during mucking, connected to
the mine electric network. The LH514BE is very well
suited for applications where the loader needs to be
easy to relocate from one operating area to another,
and where there is just one loader operating at a time.”
Sandvik says the LH514BE is still under
development, preparing for thorough field tests at a
customer operation. “The purpose of the field tests is
of course to ensure the technology is working as
intended, but additionally to allow the customer to
provide feedback on the test unit that could be taken
into consideration in product development. As the new
model strongly relies on the proven LH514E, the basic
technology is already well-proven. To serve the current
LH514E users and enable equipment upgrades, a
retrofit kit will also be made available for converting
the existing LH514E loaders to battery-assisted
LH514BEs.” www.rocktechnology.sandvik
6 International Mining | JUNE 2020