MINING TRUCKS
The road less travelled
There is all to play for in the surface haulage market in mining today – everyone is trying to get to the same goal of reduced emissions but there are a lot of tempting options on the menu . Paul Moore reports
There is no doubt about it – the current roadmap for mining trucks is very crowded and there are complex issues at play combining technological readiness , emissions targets , charging capability challenges , unproven marrying of autonomy with new technology – the list goes on . While the first Caterpillar battery electric haul truck ‘ Early Learner ’ is enroute to customer BHP – more on that later - these models are still years away from running as full fleets in operational mines . This is a major reason why BHP and Rio Tinto have opted to collaborate on their testing – to speed up the learning process . BHP will trial the Caterpillar battery trucks while Rio Tinto will trial the Komatsu Power Agnostic battery trucks , which are expected to be delivered from 2026 .
Electrical infrastructure at minesites is also being bolstered to accommodate high powered static charging plus charging units are being set up and trialled to accommodate these future BEV haulers but it is still in its infancy – Cavotec has been working with a Tier 1 iron ore miner in Australia for example on its Megawatt Charging System ( MCS ). Hitachi Energy and BluVein have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU ) to , they say , accelerate the electrification of heavy haul mining fleets and solve one of the biggest challenges in decarbonising mine operations . Hitachi Energy ’ s advanced power electronics and digital charging technologies allow BluVein ’ s e-rail charging technology to deliver electricity safely and reliably to haul trucks of up to 400 t while transporting materials . The collaboration will fast-track the development of a high-powered , fast and flexible dynamic charging solution for surface and underground mines and quarries in Australia and across the globe . BluVein will focus on its leading-edge e-rail and connection of the truck , which Hitachi Energy will further complement with advanced power electronics and digital solutions to power and monitor the whole system .
And the wider electrical readiness issue was a central theme of the Electric Mine 2024 presentation by Sean McGinnis , Caterpillar VP and General Manager , Resource Industries : “ Probably the single most important thing that we have to do to enable this all to happen is … the modernisation and stabilisation of the electrical grid . And I think that is true of any country , irrespective . The amount of demands we are going to put on that grid or the addition of that grid or expansion … is going to be pretty substantial .”
He adds : “ Our reciprocating engines and gas turbines today play a major part in what I believe is a alternative fuel to enable this and that is natural gas . We use those to produce that natural gas and also to distribute it . We also use those same reciprocating engines and gas turbines as we continue to get more and more renewable power sources whether it is solar or otherwise and that creates a distributing grid to provide grid stability .”
Many operations are looking to dynamic charging as the fastest route to lower emissions – starting with conventional trolley and then being able to run battery trucks on these trolley lines when they become operational . This is despite the underlying concerns about trolley flexibility and the list of miners that have committed to trolley today is actually quite lengthy – BHP at Escondida , Glencore at Antapaccay , AMSA at Los Pelambres , Newmont at Penasquito , Ferrexpo across all three of its pits , the list goes on , not to mention trolley expansion by trolley ‘ champions ’ Boliden at Kevitsa / Aitik and FQM at Kansanshi and Sentinel . At The
ABB has completed the retrofit conversion of a Nuh Cement-owned diesel-fuelled Euclid R85B haul truck into a fully electric , zero-emission vehicle
Electric Mine 2024 , Tomás Nass , Decarbonization Manager , Antofagasta Minerals and Ratna Kanth Dittakavi , Global eMine Sales Manager at ABB presented on the Los Pelambres trolley project which they are partnering on . Nass said : “ The first step of the partnership was to build a trial that could help us understand the potential impacts of building a trolley line in one of the copper mines that we currently have operating in Chile . Its important to say that there is not a single trolley line currently operating in Chile – and Antofagasta will have potentially the first one to ever be installed in the country ... so the change management of that is going to be challenging in itself . We decided to put 800-1,000 m of trolley in one of the dump areas of Minera Los Pelambres ... basically to test out are we really going to deliver the speeds that are expected ; the road quality that we should expect ... to actually keep the truck plugged into the system . What ’ s the width – is it going to change , is it going to need a new mine design ? What ’ s the time to construct all this ; what ’ s the potential impact of moving it around .” Nass said it is common in Chilean copper mining for main roads to only last for about three years before being moved . He said the trolley line should be operational by year end / early 2025 .
But the promised land of autonomy combined with trolley or autonomy combined with battery trucks also remains some way off though everyone agrees it will be the only way to get electrified fleets to work . While advanced simulation is playing its part , even adding trolley to AHS is not a small leap to take .
At the same time the elephant in the room is that the initial interim 2030 emissions targets require far more cuts and that these cuts need to come faster . As such , the interest in hybrid retrofit solutions – that is converting existing trucks to a battery and engine combination – has increased markedly . But , while here a number of companies have revealed solutions – these are also largely at prototype or trial stage , with potential timelines to convert large numbers of trucks essentially unknown . This article attempts to give a broad global overview of what the major OEMs and other technology players are up to – beginning with the hybrid options that are currently in the medium term spotlight .
Also while the attention is always on the big trucks , arguably it is easier to convert smaller trucks and there has been some interesting activity there as well . At The Electric Mine 2024 , EPCA had its solution on show – a Cat 777D rigid truck converted to full electric with a distinctive green Austin Engineering Ltd truck body - the 750
JULY 2024 | International Mining 35