BATTERY AND ELECTRIC MACHINES
Codelco is set to join the ranks of companies that have tested or acquired the Sandvik automation-ready, batteryelectric Toro LH518iB loader.
This loader, which delivers 540 kW of power for improved acceleration, fast ramp speeds and efficient bucket filling, has been put to the test at Gold Fields’ Invincible mine in Western Australia, Foran Mining’ s McIlvenna Bay project in Canada and LKAB’ s Malmberget mine in Sweden, among other locations.
The loader recently arrived in Chile after being manufactured at Sandvik’ s factory in Turku, Finland, and is set to join the existing autonomous mining fleet at El Teniente, which mainly includes
LH514 loaders and Toro TH663i trucks. In all, Codelco has over 40 Sandvik autonomous loaders and trucks running at the mining complex with a focus on new sectors like Andes Norte and Recursos Norte. Many of these are now using the AutoMine ® Fleet system, part of the AutoMine Core platform, a comprehensive automation solution designed for fully autonomous operations tailored to mass mining applications. The system is highly scalable, enabling support for large fleets of machines, Sandvik says.
The AutoMine Fleet system is a highly advanced automation system for a fleet of underground loaders and trucks sharing the same automated production area. It provides advanced traffic control capabilities, as
well as a wide range of interfaces for infrastructure integration to allow for complex automation applications in challenging environments.
Sandvik’ s LH518iB uses battery swapping via the patented semiautonomous AutoSwap and AutoConnect systems that allow the operator to stay in the cabin during the swapping process, which takes less than five minutes.
Codelco said previously that the LH518iB trial period is scheduled for the first half of 2025 and that it will play a key role in its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.
Having additional success selling underground loaders to mining customers, Caterpillar is gearing up to release more machines that leverage that same“ architecture” technology as the Cat ® R2900 XE dieselelectric LHD, Mike Berry, Vice President and General Manager of Load and Haul for Caterpillar, told IM recently.
The diesel-electric R2900 XE is built on the R2900G’ s platform, Caterpillar’ s most popular underground loader. It features optimised lift arm and component geometry plus load-sensing hydraulics to improve breakout force by 35 % over the R2900G, Caterpillar states.
The 18.5-t payload R2900 XE features a switch reluctance electric drive system alongside a Cat C15 diesel engine, which offers up to 335 kW of power. Caterpillar says the machine comes with about 30 % increased fuel efficiency compared with the R2900G, with its lower engine revolutions per minute resulting in reduced fuel burn, heat, noise, vibration and exhaust emissions.
These traits have, so far, gone down well, with units deployed – or planned to be deployed – across Australia, Africa, North America and South America.
Speaking to IM at MINExpo 2024, in Las Vegas, in September, Berry said that the company planned to build on this momentum with more models set to join the platform.
“ Similar to rolling out this technology from the surface with the 988 XE wheel loader to this machine [ the R2900 XE ], yes, we plan to take that technology up and down the underground loader product line,” he said.
Berry’ s colleague, Paul Bitter, Product Value Stream Manager at Caterpillar, said the architecture of the XE platform
The 18.5-t payload R2900 XE features a switch reluctance electric drive system alongside a Cat C15 diesel engine, which offers up to 335 kW of power
– which also includes a battery-electric loader in the form of the R1700 XE – leaves a“ great degree of freedom from a design perspective both for hauling and loading”. He added:“ We see it as platform for loaders and trucks, where, because of the electric drive, you can change power source. This means you can have a diesel machine, a hybrid machine or a fully-electric machine.”
The most likely haulage and loading candidates for the‘ XE treatment’ are machines that currently only come in diesel form, have not recently been updated and have large populations out in the field.
On the theme of hybridisation, Berry said the company had no plans to combine the electric drivetrain with a small diesel energy and an on-board energy storage element for load and haul equipment. He and colleague Thad Litkenhus, Director of Product Management at Caterpillar, did raise the prospect of a form of the Dynamic Energy Transfer( DET) solution currently equipped for surface haul trucks being converted for underground use, however.
Designed to both transfer energy to large mining trucks, as well as charge a machine’ s batteries while operating with increased speed on grade, the system“ provides the industry with options to support both near-term and long-term sustainability strategies”, Caterpillar says. Litkenhus added:“ We define hybrid as having multiple energy sources and, if you think about the fundamental notion of a DET system, that is effectively a hybridisation of your machine to bring more energy to the machine. It just happens to be an off-board one.
“ We actually think such a combination could provide the hybrid element that diversifies the power source without any drawbacks that come with having it all happen on board the machine.”
38 International Mining | MAY 2025