THE ELECTRIC MINE 2023 REVIEW
Autonomy ’ s place within a sustainability roadmap
It wasn ’ t just electrification milestones placed under the microscope at The Electric Mine 2023 ; those pushing the automation envelope also had their place on the podium .
Darrell White , Executive General Manager , Americas , at Thiess , was one such presenter , with his ‘ Enabling a more sustainable future through partnership models ’ talk highlighting the company ’ s automation journey – a journey that began back in 2012 at Fortescue ’ s Solomon mine site in Western Australia with an autonomous haulage support services contract .
In those 11 years , Thiess has helped automate both the first Cat MD6250 drill ( at the Mount Pleasant mine in New South Wales ) and the first Epiroc Pit Viper 275 drill ( at Lake Vermont in Queensland ), as well as successfully deployed six semi-autonomous Cat D11 dozers .
Earlier this year , it added to these milestones with the deployment of 15 Cat 794ACs and six Cat 793 haul trucks – all of which will work autonomously – at a greenfield Queensland mine .
“ We believe at Thiess that autonomy is a critical component of our sustainability roadmap ,” White said in Tucson . “ We ’ re all focused on emissions and reducing our carbon footprint , and this is one outlet that allows us to do that .”
Alongside this , Thiess is looking for “ bridging opportunities ” where the service provider can reduce its emissions as different technologies advance , with plans to trial such technologies at the circa-40 sites it has around the globe . After proving out the technologies to a commercial level , the company will roll them out to interested clients , White said . One such engagement has Thiess – via MACA , which it recently acquired – partnering with AVL , Mitsui & Co Ltd and Forsee Power to create a modular battery solution able to be tailored to a client ’ s existing site infrastructure , as part of a diesel-to-electric truck retrofit solution .
Thiess has also been working with Mine Energy Solutions to convert six trucks to a dual-fuel energy supply of gas and diesel , and it has trialled the introduction of hydrogen trickle-feed technology to reduce diesel
Darrell White says autonomy is viewed as a critical component of Thiess ’ sustainability roadmap
usage at a project in South Australia .
As part of its initial phase to deploy electric trucks at client sites , Thiess has also acquired two Scania P 230 battery-powered support trucks for planned deployments .
White said on the support trucks : “ These are the first generation of production units from the Swedish manufacturer and leverage Scania ’ s own investment in battery manufacturer Northvolt .”
The first units will be placed at a site in Queensland and will be charged by chargers from ABB , he added .
The company has also had success with a battery-powered bus pilot for personnel transport . “ In addition to this , we are adopting electric light vehicles as they become available ,” White said . “ Our target is to reach 85 % of all light vehicles to be electric by 2030 .”
compared favourably with having to invest in more trucks down the line as the mine plan evolved .
A separate showcase session on Day 2 from Railveyor , which has an autonomous system where a light rail train is propelled by stationary drive stations , included a compelling emission and operating cost argument to use Railveyor alongside in-pit processing equipment and a 10 % haul truck contribution in an 80 Mt / y open-pit mining application , from Amber Bieg of Warm Springs Consulting .
In the fast lane
As one would expect , there were arguments from all sides of the industry about which routes mining companies should take – albeit with the caveat that there was no one-size-fits-all solution to decarbonise open-pit operations .
Rhae Adams , First Mode Chief Growth and Sustainability Officer , argued the case for fuel cell electric vehicle ( FCEV ) options where the “ fuel cells keep the batteries charged over long distances and difficult routes ”. He said the company also believed it represented the best way to rapidly transfer energy on board the vehicle .
“ Our modelling also shows that a hybrid solution brings a lower TCO to our customers ,” he added .
Luis Marin Sepulveda , Project Director at the HYDRA Consortium – made up of public and private entities and founded by ENGIE and Mining3 – showed data from trials in Chile that these trucks could offer significant operating cost benefits in scenarios with deeper mine haulage applications .
With a presentation title of ‘ Trolley trucks are dead , long live battery trucks ’, it seemed clear which camp Jonas Ranggard , Manager , Mines Climate and Energy Program , Boliden , was in when it comes to mine haulage decarbonisation options . Or was the title clickbait ? After revealing some of the issues experienced with commissioning and executing on a 900 m inpit trolley project on a narrow production ramp at Aitik – which included turns – Ranggard highlighted that the project had only returned a less than 10 % reduction in diesel consumption at the mine .
When outlining a case study for a greenfield mine based on inputs from Aitik , Ranggard said a plan to install battery trucks across this mine –
albeit with automation factored in for optimisation – came with a 23 % internal rate of return based predominantly on savings of $ 58 million / y in diesel costs . He gave a passing reference to Cavotec ’ s MCS 3 MW stationary charging solution here , as well as several dynamic charging options , as evidence that battery charging was being optimised to facilitate such a plan .
A battery-plus-trolley option would prove even more economically compelling by his estimates , reducing the number of trucks needed and increasing the battery lifespan . This led to the conclusion that his presentation title might need a rewrite : “ Perhaps it should say : For Boliden , diesel trolley is dead ; long live batteries that might use dynamic charging .”
Dynamic charging was also highlighted in Peter Wan ’ s surface mining presentation , with the Teck Resources ’ Manager of Mobile Fleet Decarbonisation urging mining companies to have a portfolio of evolutionary projects that deliver emissions reductions through a zero emission learning & performance curve .
BluVein ’ s James Oliver had a whole presentation on the subject – ‘ BluVein : a truly standardised dynamic charging system ’ – with
28 International Mining | OCTOBER 2023