The newest guideline from the Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG) offers more guidance on using battery electric vehicles (BEV) underground.
The guideline, published in partnership with the Canadian Mining Innovation Council, expands on the first edition, released in April 2017, by covering recent BEV technological developments and incorporating suggestions from users of the previous edition.
It has a new operations-focused section that covers topics like requirements for emergency response, training for operators and maintenance, and includes material to assist people who are making the business case for BEV adoption within their operations.
It also addresses recent developments in charging, e-stops, master disconnects and the use of dynamic braking, and has new considerations for extreme environments.
Related: The move to battery-powered underground mining fleets is gathering speed and opening up a new realm of possibility for miners
GMG said the first edition came in response to an “urgent need for standardization” and as such contained “only the most critical information;” the new guideline is an attempt to add “valuable context” to the first edition.
More than 100 industry experts helped to develop the new guideline. Tom Guse, the infrastructure lead for mining projects at Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, called it a “great catalyst to bring the industry together to push the development of underground BEVs.”
BEVs are rapidly gaining popularity in the industry as miners look to reduce ventilation costs and carbon emissions caused by diesel. “The health risks of diesel vehicles are considerable, especially underground,” said Heather Ednie, GMG’s managing director. “In fact, diesel emissions have been classified as a Group 1 carcinogenic by the World Health Organization.”
Goldcorp recently received a $5-million grant from the federal government to help it replace all the diesel-powered equipment it would need for its Borden mine with battery-powered vehicles. Vale Base Metals said in May it was transitioning its Creighton deep zone to an electric vehicle fleet and designing its future greenfield operations as all-electric. And in Quebec, Nouveau Monde Graphite is planning its Matawinie graphite project to be the world’s first all-electric open pit mine. Last year equipment giant Caterpillar said it had developed a proof of concept battery electric LHD.
