The Sandvik TH550B battery electric truck has a 50-tonne loading capacity and will enter its testing phase at the Lamaque underground mine over the next few weeks. Courtesy of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.
Eldorado Gold Québec has added its first battery-electric truck to its fleet at the Lamaque underground gold mine in Val-d’Or, Québec. The TH550B 50-tonne truck from Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is the first of two BEV trucks to be assembled and delivered in Canada from the Sandvik factory in Winnipeg. The second will be delivered to Eldorado Gold Québec sometime in the fall.
“Eldorado Gold is excited to take this next step towards electrifying our mining operations,” said George Burns, president and CEO of Eldorado Gold Corporation, in a June 16 press release from Sandvik.
Eldorado Gold stated in its own June 15 press release published in French that it is the first mining company in Québec to integrate a Sandvik TH550B BEV truck into its fleet.
Sylvain Lehoux, vice president of Eldorado Gold’s Canadian operations, said in the French press release that the truck is a first step in meeting its targets to lower its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In 2022, Eldorado Gold released its first climate report. By 2030, the company aims to reduce its scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions by 30 per cent from a 2020 baseline, a reduction equal to about 65,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent.
Lehoux added the truck will also improve health and safety by reducing worker exposure to diesel exhaust.
The TH550B features Sandvik’s self-swapping battery technology, which the company said improves equipment availability and safety.
The first TH550B truck will enter its testing phase at the Lamaque mine over the next few weeks, during which employees will be trained on how to operate the truck.
According to Eldorado Gold Québec, once both trucks are fully operational, it expects a reduction in GHG emissions of 1,700 tonnes of CO2 annually. The Lamaque mine, partly due to being powered by hydroelectricity, is one of the lowest GHG-emitting gold mines in the world, the company said in the release.
The Lamaque mine has been in production since 2019 and is one of four mines the company currently operates. According to Eldorado’s 2022 sustainability report, Lamaque generated 0.11 tonnes of scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per ounce of gold produced, while the average across its operations was 0.44 tonnes per ounce.
