Codelco Launches Electric Mining Truck In El Teniente Underground Mine

CHILE - Chilean state owned copper mining company Codelco announced that it has debuted the first electric mining truck in the In the El Teniente underground mine in Chile. It is a mining equipment of the German brand Scharf that will operate within this operations center in a joint project with the Engie company, which will be in charge of data monitoring and load management. It is the first versatile electrical equipment to cover extensive stretches, both outside and inside the El Teniente underground mine. The new truck, an equipment for mining use adapted with a 100% electric power train, which allows moving all the diesel, begins its industrial test stage this week in which it is planned to validate its operation in terms of power, resistance and energy consumption in underground mine and high mountain industrial road conditions.

Given that this type of truck is one of the most used vehicles in the national mining industry - only Codelco has more than 1,300 diesel version mining trucks - this experience will allow us to foster a market for the development of this type of low-emission equipment.

Currently, a large part of the electromobility solutions available in the market are not necessarily designed for large mining conditions, so it is necessary to develop pilot experiences to collect operational data and strategic designs that allow determining the requirements for a future massive implementation in tasks.

Autonomy, recharging times, vehicle wear, user experience and driving safety are some of the aspects that will be monitored during the twelve months that are contemplated for the industrial test of this truck, in order to determine and identify the conditions that allow scaling this type of technology in the state company.

In 2018 Codelco began the development of electromobility pilots with a pioneering plan for testing electric vehicles in service in the Northern District. This program allowed, for the first time, to face electric vehicles in real conditions of a mining operation in order to validate technological, business and sustainability variables, in addition to understanding the technology and identifying the challenges to extrapolate, incorporate and scale it to other processes . The positive results obtained led the company to advance in two lines: passenger transport and equipment in operating areas.

Source: Mining News - Published on Mon.19 Oct 2020