SURFACE MINING TRUCKS
Komatsu ' s power agnostic development truck being put through its paces at the company ' s Arizona Proving Grounds - this one is based on an 830E platform and is all electric with battery power and trolley capability
how much diesel fuel they have and generally , a tank is enough for three shifts or 24 hours . As you move to electric – you need to charge those trucks much more frequently . You are in a position where , depending on where you are on
the minesite , you may not get back to a charging station and the truck will get stuck . The layer of technology to know where you are in your battery level as well as where you are in the haul cycle is critical . Technology is the key to optimise battery performance , battery life , and production . And we have conversations every day with mining customers on these sorts of issues . Autonomy is going to be a part of the future for almost all major mines as well as many of the smaller ones , so it will go hand in hand with electrification .”
Autonomy ’ s head to head battles
Autonomous haulage itself is still largely a two horse race – and a very , very close one . Caterpillar in March 2022 announced that over 500 trucks using its Command for hauling technology had autonomously and safely hauled more than 4 billion tonnes ( 4.4 billion tons ) of material since 2013 and launch customer Fortescue at its Solomon Hub iron ore mine . Roughly 1.2 billion tonnes ( 1.3 billion tons ) of that total were autonomously hauled in 2021 alone . That is across 18 different sites . Komatsu is slightly ahead – though it rolled out its FrontRunner AHS sooner in 2008 with Codelco – however , its trucks have passed 4.7 billion tonnes of material movement leveraging Komatsu ’ s FrontRunner Autonomous Haulage System on more than 510 trucks . With 15 years of commercial operation and zero system-related injuries reported , its system also operates currently at 18 active sites across three continents , with the 19th site , Anglo American ’ s
Los Bronces copper mine , starting operation in early May 2022 .
In Chile , copper mining major Codelco as stated has the distinction of the longest running autonomous mining truck fleet , consisting of 930E-AT haulers at Gabriela Mistral ( Gaby ) that have been operating since 2008 . But now the company is taking its AHS program into a new phase – four new Caterpillar AHS 797F trucks are being deployed at Division Ministro Hales ( DMH ), working with Cat dealer Finning , while another four AHS 930E trucks , this time from Komatsu , will be deployed at the Radomiro Tomic operation . Both divisions were fine-tuning engineering for the start of tests in May 2022 . Both mines are currently mainly using conventionally operated 320 ton and 400 ton class trucks including Cat 797 , Liebherr T282 and Komatsu 930E models . “ We will have two of the largest providers running , in parallel , autonomous truck pilots that will operate on an LTE network in these divisions , which brings important benefits in quality and coverage ,” said José Ramón Abatte , Codelco Manager of Technology and Automation Projects . Hitachi and Liebherr are of course also well
Recently surpassing the 4 billion tonne mark with no lost-time injuries , roughly 1.2 billion tonnes of material were autonomously hauled in 2021 alone using Caterpillar Command for hauling across 18 minesites
into the autonomy and zero emissions game . Hitachi and Wenco are offering an open autonomy solution based on ISO 23725 , the first public interface between an AHS truck fleet and the FMS system , which is essentially allowing the mining industry for the first time to ‘ decouple ’ fleet management and autonomy , while Hitachi also has its own “ all-Hitachi ” AHS such as that deployed at Whitehaven Coal ’ s Maules Creek in Australia . Hitachi is also working on its battery trolley truck today , while Hitachi Energy is working on a “ truly interoperable ” 8 MW electric charging solution for large haul trucks , with plans to conduct field trials by 2023 , according to Matt Zafuto , VP , Industry Solutions , Hitachi Energy . “ This electric haul-truck solution brings together these areas of expertise and will push the electric mine forward by leaps and bounds . Our solution will provide 8 MW of power in three minutes of charging , about 14 times higher than any other solution available today .” Hitachi is talking to customers about mining fleet decarbonisation on two fronts – what can the company do for mines to mitigate emissions today and what can it do to achieve future 2025- 2030 and final 2050 targets . Brian Wells , Division Sales Manager , Hitachi Construction & Mining Division : “ Already today from Hitachi you can make choices to significantly reduce your carbon footprint – part of that is trolley truck technology on the mining truck side , then on the mining excavator side we have a complete electrically powered line-up . Looking in the medium term then you have options like trolley trucks with onboard batteries .” On the battery trolley truck and tie in with automation , Hitachi in Japan recently told IM : “ In the future , we are looking at linking zero emissions haul trucks and AHS , but specific studies are still to be conducted . On trolley , R & D on automation and electrification is underway , but has not been publicly announced in detail . On the new trucks , we are developing a
International Mining | MAY 2022