Rio Tinto, Komatsu to develop zero-emission mining vehicles

Rio Tinto and Komastu have joined forces to accelerate zero-emission mining haulage vehicles – and the duo are looking at hydrogen as a potential technology.

Along with its partnership on haulage solutions developments, it was also announced today (August 2) that Rio Tinto is one of the first companies to join Komatsu’s newly launched Greenhouse Gas Alliance.

Focused on decarbonisation, the Greenhouse Gas Alliance hopes to advance Komatsu’s power agnostic truck concept for a haulage vehicle that can run on a variety of power sources including battery and hydrogen.

Rio Tinto is also a founding patron of the Charge on Innovation Challenge, which is focused on solving the power distribution infrastructure needed to support zero-emission haul trucks.

Through such efforts the duo hopes to decarbonise mining equipment and infrastructure.

On the plans, Alf Barrios, Rio Tinto’s Chief Commercial Officer said, “Rio Tinto and Komatsu have a shared history of partnership on innovation going back to when we built the world’s largest Komatsu autonomous haulage fleet in 2008.

“Our support of a trial, and the option to buy some of the first trucks from Komatsu, underscores our shared commitment to actively collaborate on product planning, development, testing and deployment of the next generation of zero-emission mining equipment and infrastructure as we look to decarbonise our business.”

Welcoming the partnership, Max Moriyama, President, Mining Business Division of Komatsu, added, “Rio Tinto and Komatsu both recognise the critical role zero-emission haul trucks play in meeting the Greenhouse Gas emission reduction goals for the mining industry and the need to focus on developing practical haulage solutions.”