The ubiquitous use of giant, diesel-guzzling mining trucks may soon be disrupted.
According to the Wall Street Journal, electrification is likely to transform the global mining fleet. Lithium-ion batteries will replace noxious diesel, and mines will become quieter, emission-free, and healthier places to work for miners.
Technological advances and declining costs of lithium-ion batteries are driving the transformation, though electric equipment is still seriously more expensive than diesel. However, the operating costs of electric equipment are much lower.
Newmont Goldcorp’s Borden Gold Project is a futuristic, all-electric underground gold mine in Ontario. It will use an underground fleet of low-carbon, electric vehicles.
Last year, BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, introduced a lithium-battery driven, light electric vehicle into its underground fleet at its Olympic Dam copper mine in South Australia. Testing is underway, and the trials are likely to be extended to other sites.
Diesel accounts for more than a third of BHP’s direct operational emissions, according to the WSJ article.
Swedish mining company Boliden has successfully been using an electrified truck trolley system at its Aitik mine in Northern Sweden, in arctic conditions.
Authorities such as the mines department of Western Australia may soon provide a regulatory impetus to the shift away from diesel. The officials have expressed concerns regarding risk to miners’ health from diesel exhaust.
Read the WSJ article HERE.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
