Electric Mine Consortium: decarbonising the mining industry
Electric Mine Consortium brings together a group of mining firms and industry services companies, including State of Play, Sandvik, Epiroc, OZ Minerals, South32, Gold Fields, Safescape, Dassault Systemes, Energy Vault, Hahn, Horizon Power, 3ME, IGO and Barminco, aiming to decarbonise the mining industry.
Electrification
The genesis for the Consortium was the 2020 report State of Play – Electrification. The State of Play platform was initiated by VCI in partnership with The University of Western Australia in 2011 and is now the world’s largest mining research platform for strategy and innovation. It was sponsored by The Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre, METS Ignited and Project 412. The report covered extensive research aimed to understand the drivers and barriers of mine electrification, identify the key enabling technologies and enable collaboration to accelerate its adoption.
State of Play’s co-founder, Graeme Stanway, highlights that while the industry as a whole understands the benefits of mine electrification, there are still challenges to overcome on the journey towards adoption, namely cost.
“Our data shows renewables, all electric systems and batteries will help fuel the change towards a healthier, economically viable future of mining,” says Stanway. “But uncertainty remains when it comes to which area to invest in first, and how. Here in Australia, we have an abundance of renewables that the industry is tapping into, particularly in our most remote operations. Local mine sites have the opportunity to install solar, wind and battery energy storage systems to power their operations at a much cheaper cost than many global players.”
Energy Vault
Energy Vault Co-Founder & CEO Robert Piconi maintains that minimising C02 and diesel particulates through innovative technology choices, like energy storage, is key to how the Consortium can pursue the goal of fully electric mines. “We’re pleased to become a founding member of the organisation. Our unique, long duration storage technology is especially well suited for use in mines given that it provides the opportunity for the beneficial re-use of waste tailing materials as well as other localised materials, avoiding cost disposal and environmental hazard. Importantly, Energy Vault’s solution also economically deals with severe weather environments, in particular high ambient temperature climates, with an unprecedented, low operating cost sustainably.”
3ME
3ME, so-called because of its three target markets (mining, military and marine) for electro mobility, is a tech company member specialising in resilient battery systems, software and power electronics. It works collaboratively with vehicle and platform manufacturers and end-users (static energy storage systems) to electrify their offerings. Chief Growth Officer Steve Lawn explains that 3ME has 15 years experience developing reliable battery technologies and has been working on solutions for underground mining since 2015: “We worked on a light-utility vehicle with partner Safescape and designed a 20-tonne loader with Batt Mobile Equipment.” The company can supply packages for OEMs to electrify and retrofit existing fleet with electric power sources after removing all diesel internal combustion engine components, except the transmission and drivetrain.
Open to the potential for innovation through collaboration offered by the Consortium, 3ME were previously involved in Project EVmine developed with the help of METS Ignited. “It’s a natural progression for us,” adds CEO Justin Bain. “We’re keen to help scale and accelerate the uptake of battery electric vehicle equipment for heavy industries like mining. We can offer a solution now. We’re in a position where we've got a toolkit of proven components and we can provide that last 20% level of customisation to provide the right solution. Right now, in a retrofit fashion, or right now in a new development fashion. We're ready to roll out.”
Dassault Systèmes
Consortium founding member Dassault Systèmes specialises in 3D design and engineering software. Geovia CEO Michelle Ash comments: “To fully realise the opportunity of zero emissions mines we also need to be able to effectively test and implement new technologies. To do this rapidly we need to be able to model and simulate them in the virtual world so we can then de-risk in the real world. We need to modernise our regulatory framework and consider what skills our sector will need across the entire workforce, from trades, technicians and university graduates, through to our scientists and PhDs.”
Working Group Goals
Executives at some of the Consortium’s other member companies have outlined a set of key goals. “Currently there is a lack of understanding on the supporting infrastructure requirements for all electric equipment and vehicles. This working group aims to establish OEM agnostic charging standards by prototyping a potential open charging system,” explains Rob Derries, Manager: Innovation & Technology at Gold Fields.
South32’s Director of Technology Development Michelle Keegan adds: “Whilst they are available, the economic and operating assumptions for light BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) on site are unclear. This working group will progressively convert a light vehicle fleet to battery electric across multiple consortium mine sites.”
Brett Triffett, a Transformational Technologist at OZ Minerals says that traditional asset design does not enable the realisation of the full benefits of mine electrification. “This working group is simulating a range of mines and mining methods to establish electrification performance benchmarks, a business case and future mine designs.”
“Heavy BEVs are not yet commercially available at the larger end of the scale or technically viable underground. We’re aiming to establish a greenfield electric mine, convert a full ancillary fleet to all-electric and test selected brownfield heavy EV applications,” pledges Barminco’s Plant General Manager, Peter Campain.
To realise the potential for energy storage technologies currently not operational or proven at scale in mining, IGO’s Technical Projects Lead Michael Hegarty says the Consortium aims to “test mine scale remote energy storage through installation of multiple technologies across 5+ sites.”
Global Ecosystem
“The way the we generate, store and harness energy around the globe is undergoing a period of major change,” say the founding members of the Electric Mine Consortium. “A global ecosystem has begun to emerge to underpin the innovation and scaling of electrification technologies. A rare trifecta, electrification will provide economic, health and environmental value for the mining industry.
Envisaging a brighter future for mining and the communities it operates in the Consortium concludes: “Electrification creates enormous opportunities for operational cost savings, innovative mine designs and resilience against uncertainty. It will reduce the exposure to carcinogenic diesel particulates and reduce scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 100%. The value upside of this not only increases productivity in existing assets, but also improves a company’s ability to unlock deeper and more remote ore bodies.”
