Category: Equipment & Technology

Rio Tinto will deploy the world’s first fully autonomous water trucks at its $2.6bn Gudai-Darri iron ore mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The new vehicles, primarily used for dust suppression on site, will enhance productivity by enabling mine operations to digitally track water consumption and reduce waste. Caterpillar autonomous water trucks added to Gudai-Darri’s fleet Developed through a successful collaboration with leading equipment manufacturer, Caterpillar, three water trucks will join Gudai-Darri’s fleet of Caterpillar heavy mobile equipment including autonomous haul trucks and production drills. The vehicle’s intelligent on-board system detects dry… Read More Here

Swedish mining equipment maker Sandvik has added a 16-liter Stage V engine as an option for customers its largest truck, the Toro TH663i. Sandvik said the cleaner new engine, developed by Volvo Penta, will delive 585 kW output. The engine’s after treatment system uses Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) rather than a diesel particulate filter. The SCR uses diesel exhaust fluid to reduce emissions of NOx without sacrificing performance or fuel efficiency Further emission reduction is possible through use of ultra-low sulphur , renewable paraffinic diesel fuel, in conjunction with and low-ash engine oil.… Read More Here

Nouveau Monde Graphite and Caterpillar have signed an agreement pursuant to which Caterpillar will develop, test and produce Cat® “zero-emission machines” for the Matawinie graphite mine, in Quebec, Canada, with a view to becoming the exclusive supplier of an all-electric mining fleet for deployment at the mine by 2028. Looking to accelerate and tailor the equipment development, Caterpillar will engage with Nouveau Monde’s team to incorporate “voice of customer” throughout the development, and for testing of the zero-emission fleet and infrastructure prior to commercial production, the companies said. To this… Read More Here

Swedish mining engineering company Sandvik has added fully autonomous capabilities to its Leopard DI650i down-the-hole (DTH) drill rig by adding a new automation platform, iDrill. Sandvik said the addition of iDrill enables the rig to interact with the company’s AutoMine Surface Drilling automation system, meaning it can be operated fully from a control room. “The latest development is a major step on Sandvik’s DTH drill rig automation journey,” said Jari Läntinen, Product Manager, Surface Drilling. “This means shifting from individual automated tasks and sequences towards a genuine ecosystem of automation… Read More Here

Sandvik expects the market for battery-electric underground mining equipment to hit a higher gear in two to three years, as mining companies attempt to lower emissions and cut costs. With an electrification boom looming, Sandvik, whose competitors include Epiroc and Caterpillar, could sell more electric than diesel-driven underground mining kit in ten years, its mining business head said. Although Sandvik has some 30 battery-electric loaders and trucks in underground mine production, which it says is more than any competitor, these make up less than 0.5% of its total fleet of loaders and… Read More Here

Swedish mining equipment maker Epiroc plans to acquire Canadian surface mining wireless connectivity solutions provider 3D-P. Epiroc noted that the acquisition of 3D-P, which specialises in Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) and fleet connectivity solutions, would be important as its customers increasingly seek stronger wireless connectivity for automation and digitalisation. “The mining environment is changing all the time, and that is clear in almost all our automation projects,” Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO, told Mining Magazine. 3D-P’s Intelligent Endpoint system was designed and manufactured in Calgary. The company previously designed GPS systems… Read More Here

Back in February 2018, Caterpillar and Codan Ltd-owned Minetec, announced an agreement for the development and delivery of technologies targeting underground hard rock mining challenges with the integrated solutions to be offered as part of Cat® MineStar™. The third party collaboration brought Cat greater underground positioning capabilities and an underground tracking network with a high speed data channel on top of it. Fast forward to today and the relationship has culminated in Codan agreeing to sell 100% of Minetec to Caterpillar for $14 million. Following completion, Codan will provide manufacturing services to Caterpillar for… Read More Here

VivoPower and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tembo e-LV BV, have entered into a non-binding Heads of Terms with ruggedised vehicle converter, Arctic Trucks, for Arctic Trucks to convert and distribute Tembo electric light vehicles in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland. Under the proposed agreement, Arctic Trucks would commit to purchase 800 Tembo e-LV conversion kits through December 2026. Based upon the company’s estimates, these orders could be worth an estimated $58 million in total value over the life of the proposed agreement. The proposed agreement must be finalised prior to June… Read More Here