Site operators need to deliver corporate sustainability commitments, which are all too often disconnected. To do this, operators often hire consultants to identify efficiency and fuel-switching applications, which are approved and prioritized through conventional financial evaluation. However, managing GHG opportunities as isolated applications can obstruct the overall transition to low-carbon energy. Shifting your perspective from 'decarbonization' to 'energy transition' changes your approach from "spot application" to "systems thinking."

Mining vehicles are in the initial stages of electrification, with major OEMs increasingly bringing out EVs and mining companies showing willingness to adopt them. The industry’s growth will be driven by savings in total cost-of-ownership (TCO) and further development of future battery technologies. This presentation will cover the current landscape and evolution of these two facets and what they mean for the future of electric mining vehicles.

IMPACT Silver Corp. owns the world's first, fully electric mining operation located in the State of Chihuahua, northern Mexico. Using a fully integrated solar and battery system, this best-in-class Tesla-based platform ensures a 90%+ reduction in carbon emissions. The system can can provide power to the operation for up to 48 hours, leading to expanded profit margins while setting a new bar for responsible mining.

In 2016, cooled cables achieved 500 Kilowatt charging speeds—groundbreaking at the time. By 2022, speeds of 1.5 to 6 Megawatt became reality, surpassing gasoline refueling times. Looking ahead, charging rates up to 60 MW with compact connectors and cables are possible. Yet, speed alone isn't enough—automation will be key for operational efficiency. This presentation explores these advancements and the role of automation in shaping the future of high-power charging.

Roundtable:

• Advancements in charging speeds: From 500 kW to 60 MW.
• Compact, efficient connectors for high-power applications.
• Automation’s role in operational efficiency.
• Future trends in high-power charging and infrastructure.
  

For many mining applications, batteries must deliver very high-power discharge capability and a very large number of charge-discharge cycles. The IDEAL battery would provide these attributes and would also be capable of incredibly fast charge with minimal heat release, allowing almost constant up-time. Nyobolt is commercializing battery technology with the capability of fully charging in 5-10 minutes or less, with outstanding cycle life, for mining and material handling/robotic applications.

Tyfast is commercializing a new class of anode—lithium vanadium oxide (LVO—to power high-performance Li-ion batteries. LVO enables reduced charging downtimes, minimizes battery replacements, enables all climate operations, and delivers commercial energy density needed by mining vehicles to maximize productivity and unlock the lowest cost of ownership. This presentation will highlight LVO's unmatched combination of high-rate cycling, extended life, wide operating temperature, and energy density for this novel chemistry.

The battery electrification of heavy-duty mining haul trucks can see incredibly high peak and continuous power demands in both charge and discharge. Though these vehicles are dimensionally large, there are still challenging weight and volume constraints for battery systems. Identifying the right chemistry, especially for the anode is key to unlocking batteries which can operate across these duty cycles within these constraints. Which chemistry will delivery the ideal battery performance and why? This talk covers the unique performance enabled by Echion's XNO anode chemistry against the best of graphite, silicon, and other metal oxides (e.g., LTO) for heavy-duty mining. 

Miners need to understand how to match battery fit for operating purpose, how to budget and model lifetime value, how to safely store and handle batteries, as well as the infrastructure and generation capabilities to have logistic power available. Buying a battery is not the only consideration.

This presentation looks at today’s light-duty EV batteries, how to optimize them for 10-minute charging and longer life, and compares expected near-term battery technology advancements to heavy-duty and mining requirements. We evaluate the cost/benefit of disparate fast-charge technologies ranging from microstructure to systems scales, including electrode architectures, advanced electrolytes, cell form factors, and thermal/electrical management. We introduce a heavy-duty truck electrification project – evaluating the tradeoffs of Li-ion battery chemistry selection and design with lifetime on real-world drive cycles and how this relates to total cost of ownership.

The mining industry is beginning to use lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) on mine utility vehicles (MUVs) and rubber-tired mantrips (RTMs). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is investigating MUV/RTM LIB susceptibility to the mining environment with an emphasis on shock and vibration. This presentation will provide an overview of concerns with the mining environment and discuss MUV/RTM vibration levels measured by NIOSH compared to levels specified in standards. NIOSH data show that the low frequency vibration below 5 Hz is the most significant, whereas standards do not require testing below 5 Hz.