IM 2020 March 20 | Page 17

BATTERY AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES While Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology chargers from 40 kW all the way to 300 kW. “From a productivity perspective, with concrete spraying and explosives charging, while you are carrying out the process, you can connect to the underground for decades have recently been getting a revamp and could find a home in situations where a diesel-alternative is sought but there may still be question marks over a battery- President, Henrik Ager, told IM that the company was weighing up development of a diesel-battery hybrid (see High Profile, pages 48-49), further power source for ‘opportunity charging’, rather than use the battery, having no negative effect on the production cycle,” he said. It is the company’s medium-size range that has powered vehicle’s range. Boudreault sees trolley-electric solutions being factored into future mine designs. “For trucks constantly hauling on ramps, a trolley solution is often more economical due to along the development pathway is a battery- assisted version of its tethered machine, the LH514E. Known as the LH514BE, this machine is understood to be a combination of tethered cable the large energy consumption,” he said. This is why the company is currently looking into the potential benefits of designing a trolley version of its MT42 Minetruck and why its existing Kiruna brand of trolley trucks are still being used and battery – battery for tramming and cable operation for mucking. The development of a horizontal cable reeling for this machine means there is the possibility to operate with the connecting point on either side of being lined up for trials with another mining customer in a third country, he confirmed. On the latter, he said: “For me, this is the most at some of Vale’s Sudbury operations. Tethered vehicles may be another alternative. Sandvik has recently delivered its 600th cable- electric LHD to the LKAB-owned Kiruna iron ore mine, in Sweden, with the LH625iE unit based on the unit, according to Sandvik, offering increased flexibility over traditional cable-electric designs. Sandvik is not the only company working on interesting case study as you typically bring concrete downhill, so you can really optimise the battery drive there,” he said. “According to our simulations, the payback on that application could the well-proven design of the tethered LH625E that has already been used at the mine for many years. Eriksson, who was present at the handover of be very tempting.” Feasible options the machine, sees room for both battery and tethered equipment in the industry – in some cases a combination of both technologies in the As the GMG Electric Mine Working Group and the ICSV initiative hinted at, battery-electric solutions are not the only diesel-power alternatives being same environment. “It’s very much dependent on the mine design and what makes most sense,” he said. factored into economic studies. Electric solutions that have been present hybrid? been released to the market as part of Normet’s strategy to electrify its existing line of diesel- powered equipment, and Ristimäki said Normet BEVs will start in “real operation” in the June quarter with a multi-purpose cassette type vehicle going to a mine site in Canada and an emulsion explosives carrier application going to Australia. An electric concrete transmixer unit is also Perhaps there is room for a battery-tethered such a machine. GHH, no stranger to the design, development and operations of tethered electric LHDs having introduced its first such machine in 1978, says it has been developing a new battery-electric tethered loader with a key customer. The new loader, the LF-19EB, is predominantly for soft-rock applications, and specifically designed for loading into a feeder breaker with a robust T-Kinematic and low total height above the motor compartment, the company says. GHH explained the design rationale: “Currently some of the soft rock, room and pillar operations are using tethered electric loaders which have the ABSOLUTE MATERIAL FLOW CONTROL CHUTE SYSTEMS & SOLUTIONS t0QUJNVNNBUFSJBMnPX t6QUPEFDSFBTFJONBUFSJBMEFHSBEBUJPO t3FEVDFEEVTUBOEOPJTFMFWFMT t7JSUVBMMZNBJOUFOBODFGSFF t(SFBUMZSFEVDFETQJMMBHF t4JHOJmDBOUSFEVDUJPOJOCFMUEBNBHF Tel: +27 (0) 11 827-9372 email: [email protected] www.webachutes.com MARCH 2020 | International Mining 15