UNDERGROUND LOAD AND HAUL
The launch of the HT66B, HT77B and HT66S vehicles for underground mining represents a rightsized electric haulage concept for underground mines and demanding internal transport flows where conventional wide-body haul trucks are difficult to accommodate, according to Nordkust’ s Johan Gustafsson
make the announcement, displaying a slide that highlighted the underground move as well as offer up a rare vehicle‘ sticker price’. IM caught up with the pair almost a month later to review the event and also Nordkust’ s plans to capture underground market share with the HT66B, HT77B and HT66S vehicles.
“ This new electric platform is not simply another electric truck launch,” Gustafsson said.“ It is a wider, right-sized electric haulage concept for underground mines and demanding internal transport flows where conventional wide-body haul trucks are difficult to accommodate.”
It is wide-body trucks, specifically SANY SKT105Es, that put Nordkust on the global mine electrification map recently with the deployment at Svappavaara. This has seen two 72-t payload, 564 kWh battery capacity vehicles haul over 1 Mt, all while generating zero local emissions and saving SEK2.5 million($ 268,879) on what it would cost to power a diesel-equivalent machine.
Even though the underground offering is not in the wide-body truck category, it is worth exploring the work Nordkust and Snells Entreprenad AB( the earthmoving contractor at Svappavaara) did to make these SKT105Es work at the operation.
These vehicles were modified based on Nordkust’ s experience, some local and site requirements relating to lighting and fire protection; plus all the components checked for CE-certification compliance and Swedish mining industry SWEMIN’ s regulation compliance. Nordkust also provided additional training for operators to ensure they made the most of the technology’ s onboard capabilities.
This added up to the trucks recording an availability number of 99 % over the electric haulage pilot time frame.
While it is easy to focus on the truck specifically, Gustafsson and Dittrich are adamant that it was the operating model that generated such positive results.
“ We did so much development work together with SANY after listening to the market,” Gustafsson said.“ The trucks had to fit the route, offer charging that adapted to this existing route and potentially accommodate truck swaps where needed.”
It is the company’ s ability to listen to its clients that has now led it down the underground path.
“ The reason we have developed this underground platform, together with SANY,
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International Mining | JULY 2026 15