Power supply
The company’s partnership with Liebherr Mining – which has existing electric mining equipment solutions and has supplied electrified haul trucks and mining excavators in multiple countries – focuses particularly on trolley support. ABB is also working with mining company Boliden, and mining and infrastructure equipment manufacturer Epirocto, to develop and demonstrate an electric trolley truck system on a test track at Boliden’s Kristineberg copper-zinc mine in northern Sweden. Coming at the issue from another angle, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has teamed up with ABB to create solutions for digitally integrated all-electric operations. In a first demonstration, ABB Ability Operations Management System (OMS) has been integrated with heavy-duty electrical vehicle drivetrain developer MEDATech’s cloud data collection system on AWS.
In order to drive the industry’s energy transition forward, however, electric-powered mining equipment is not enough. For a mine to be truly sustainable, this technology must run on renewable power rather than the diesel generators that are currently the norm. This can be achieved by integrating energy storage systems, which reduce the demand for gas and diesel generation, and bring in power from renewable sources when possible. Gold Fields, for example, has achieved renewable energy penetration of up to 85% under favourable weather conditions at the Agnew Gold mine in Western Australia, thanks to an energy storage system that forms part of a new hybrid power microgrid. The mine is the country’s first to integrate large-scale wind energy. Alternatively, a grid scale energy storage system could be used to bring in power from the grid rather than a localised microgrid.
Pressure from all angles In Australia, a consortium has been developed to bring together leading operators in the mining industry – as well as service companies – to accelerate progress towards the fully electrified zero CO2
Why mining operators are investing in electrification
In recent years, the mining industry has seen an increased scrutiny over its contributions towards CO2
emissions, clocking in at around 2–3% of the global total.
Facing increasing pressure from regulators, investors and customers to decarbonise, more and more mining operators are looking to electrification to help bring their emissions down. Electrification is one of the biggest technology shifts in mining, along with digitalisation and automation. Many operators are already implementing it in their mines due to a range of benefits that include improved economics and the benefits of license to operate – and most new mines now feature battery-based equipment in their mine plans. Today 40–50% of CO2
emissions come from diesel used in mobile equipment –
battery electric vehicles are the best option for mines looking to cut this down. Current electrification efforts in the industry are mainly focused on underground mining to reduce exhaust emissions and operational costs, and improve worker safety. The continuing demand for mineral resources has been driving operators to delve deeper to extract materials, leading to an increased cost in implementing the necessary exhaust ventilation infrastructure. With this in mind, it is unsurprising to see that the global electric mining equipment market is projected to reach $11.7bn by 2030 – at a CAGR of 19.6% – according to a report by Tersus Strategy on 14 February 2022. North America is expected to be the largest region in terms of market share of the electric mining equipment market by 2030 – mostly due to US-based operators. The growth of the US market is driven primarily by the environmental protection measures, with local companies making efforts to manufacture electric and hybrid equipment for the domestic market.
Another key factor driving growth for electric mining equipment in the US is the ongoing development of advanced solid-state battery technology. This aims to solve some of the main drawbacks with conventional battery types in electric loaders and
excavators, which have held back industry investment in electrification up to this point. Source: Tersus Strategy
performance class label, with any batteries not meeting the new regulation by 2027 to be banned. Meanwhile, the mining industry has ambitious net- zero targets for Scope 1 and 2 emissions, that have been agreed upon by the biggest mining players. Targets for Scope 3 emissions are expected to be finalised by 2023.
and particulates mine. It’s a journey, says strategy consultant Madi Ratcliffe, who manages the Electric Mine Consortium, that is not only necessary due to the increasingly stringent environmental regulations that are coming down the track, but also makes sense financially for companies. “We are seeing the emergence of premium commodity pricing for those products considered ‘green’ or ‘clean’. Lower carbon products are touted to be giving miners preferential supply,” she notes. In addition, the behaviour of the capital markets is evolving. “ESG practices are now becoming a requirement for financing. There are several third- party certification bodies around the globe that provide verification for green products,” she notes. This is all underpinned by growing pressure from regulators. The EU has announced that from 2026, all lithium-ion batteries will have a carbon intensity
World Mining Frontiers /
www.nsenergybusiness.com
“Electrification is the rare trifecta that hits all three areas of value for the mining industry,” Ratcliffe notes. According to the Electric Mine Consortium, miners can expect operational cost savings of 7–15% comprised of 30–50% energy cost reduction, 25% maintenance cost reduction and 40% ventilation cost reduction if they go electric. Scope 1 and 2 emissions are slashed by 100%, while diesel particulate exposure reduction has huge impacts on the health of workers. There are more than 40 toxic pollutants in diesel exhausts, which would be avoided for the 250,000 Australians in the mining industry in the country if mines were all-electric. “The pressure for mining companies to decarbonise is coming from all angles,” Ratcliffe says.
Tackling electrification challenges The Electric Mine Consortium has developed six high-impact, fast-moving working groups focused on key mine electrification challenges, which – if solved – they say would provide the technology solution set to achieve zero-emission mining within a typical mine-to-mill value chain. These are: mine design; energy storage; electrical infrastructure; heavy underground equipment; light and auxiliary equipment; and surface and long haulage. In each
61% Electric Mine Consortium 17
Percentage of the industry that believe the first step in transitioning to an all-electric system is through developing renewable energy generation capability.
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