IM JULY 23 July 23 | Page 6

BHP outlines diesel & battery trolley roadmap at Escondida and Spence
WORLD PROSPECTS

Wabtec acquires L & M Radiator & its MESABI ® range

Wabtec Corporation has acquired L & M

Radiator , Inc , the leading manufacturer of heavy-duty equipment radiators and heat exchangers . L & M Radiator will join Wabtec as a part of its Components Group .
“ We are excited to welcome L & M Radiator to
Wabtec ,” said Mike Fetsko , President of Wabtec ’ s
Freight & Industrial Components business . “ This transaction will further Wabtec ’ s presence in premium heat transfer solutions and will extend and complement Wabtec ’ s mining products portfolio . In addition , L & M ’ s technology further enhances Wabtec ’ s mission to develop clean energy solutions for operations in mining .”
Through this acquisition , Wabtec will expand its installed base and recurring revenue in mining , engine cooling , and heat transfer solutions . It also will accelerate long-term profitable growth across
L & M ’ s innovative products both domestically and internationally , while driving value creation for customers and shareholders . L & M MESABI ® heavy-duty equipment radiators and heat exchangers will create a comprehensive thermal management portfolio that extends and augments
Wabtec ’ s capabilities . The range of solutions offered by L & M products will allow customers to realise efficiencies in maintenance costs , safety , and fleet availability .
“ This deal is a recognition of L & M ’ s industry success for more than 65 years and positions our worldwide operations to continue to thrive ,” said
Dan Chisholm , President of L & M Radiator , Inc . “ By joining Wabtec , we can build upon the strengths of our two companies to develop new cooling
products for our customers while supporting consistent growth as an industry leader .”
Wabtec is acquiring L & M for $ 230 million in cash , financed through cash on hand and a revolving credit facility . Wabtec expects L & M to be immediately accretive to EPS excluding transaction costs , further enhanced with strong synergies to be realised over the next three years .
As well as being a market leader in radiator supply to diesel and diesel-electric mining trucks and other mining equipment , the Hibbing ,
Minnesota-based heat exchanger manufacturer has also proven itself instrumental to the implementation of new , green technology for the mining industry with its recent projects developing coolers for fuel cell-powered mining equipment .
L & M Radiator was called upon by Anglo
American , to develop a first-of-its-kind radiator solution for the nuGen™ zero-emission haul truck , a Komatsu 930E which was converted from diesel to run entirely on hydrogen fuel cells and battery power by First Mode for testing at the
Mogalakewna platinum mine in South Africa .
Tim Cass , L & M Radiator Applications Engineer
for Truck and Underground : “ For this initial 930E conversion , it was necessary to take the whole engine module out and replace it with fuel cells and batteries . Space constraints were definitely a challenge for our engineers . Designing the fans and motor mounts and getting the air flow to work in that limited space took some engineering ingenuity .”
“ Another challenge was the very strict set of guidelines for limiting contamination , including materials that fuel cell manufacturers have in place ,” added Josh Mitchell , an Applications
Engineer with L & M Radiator . “ That ’ s where the
MESAEI ® All-Aluminum M-Tube came in .” L & M
Radiator engineered an All-Aluminum M-tube cooler for fuel cell cooling compatibility with the existing coolant on the 930E as brass and copper were not viable options .
According to Chris Domogalla , an L & M Design and Applications Engineer , hydrogen fuel cells operate at a lower maximum temperature than diesel engines , and they have a narrower coolant operating range . When outside of that operating range , the output of the fuel cell stack decreases .
In addition , approximately 40 % of the energy produced by hydrogen fuel cells is heat , which must be removed . This posed a unique challenge for engineers at L & M Radiator . “ The Research and
Development department at L & M Radiator has developed a cooling management system to keep the power source – whether it ’ s a battery or a hydrogen fuel cell – operating at its most ideal temperature .” www . wabteccorp . com

BHP outlines diesel & battery trolley roadmap at Escondida and Spence

In its just published operational decarbonisation investor briefing , the world ’ s leading mining company BHP outlined some of its plans and strategies to meet its decarbonisation targets – the most immediate of which is reducing operational emissions by at least 30 % by 2030 from 2020 levels followed by net zero by 2050 .

Dr Graham Winkelman , Head of Carbon Management , Sustainability & Climate Change emphasised that BHP is working hard to find the most capital efficient carbon abatement solutions adding that technology must advance quickly from where it is now , that its recognises the importance of collaborating with vendors and industry and that the pathway to net-zero will be non-linear as it grows the business .
Discussing plans for its Chile operations was Alejandro Tapia , Planning and Technical VP , Minerals Americas and soon to be Asset President at the Escondida copper mine . This is where some additional detail was given on mining fleet plans for both Escondida and Spence
operations in Chile .
Tapia revealed that it has committed to trolley assist to advance fleet decarbonisation in Chile – starting with diesel trolley then advancing to battery trolley , with implementation targeted to start at Escondida in 2028 and Spence in 2029 . BHP has already signed a deal with Caterpillar and Finning to replace its 160-strong fleet with diesel-electric 372 t 798 AC Cat trucks over the next decade beginning later this year – so at this mine , these are the units that will run under trolley – no 798 AC trucks are currently running at a trolley operation elsewhere in the world though some other projects are under discussion .
At Spence , BHP has already begun deploying the competitor ultra class diesel-electric truck , the Komatsu 363 t class 980E – more are being added and are going autonomous – it has an initial target of 33 trucks in the autonomous fleet – some of which will be retrofits and some new trucks with autonomous kits . Again there are no trolley 980E trucks operating yet but there are several advanced projects . Overall he said between the two mines the fleet that may benefit from trolley will be around 200 trucks with about 350 million litres of diesel to abate annually , which represents about 80 % of those mines ’ Scope 1 emissions .
Tapia states : “ We will approach trolley assist in two stages . First , we will implement trolley assist with diesel-electric trucks . And second , next decade , we will expand the trolley infrastructure to assist a transition from dieselelectric to the next generation of battery electric haul trucks … we will soon begin testing dieselelectric trolley assist at Escondida , followed by
Spence , with implementation of the first stage s
4 International Mining | JULY 2023