Two of the world’s largest mining companies have announced a collaboration on a trial of large battery-electric haul truck technology in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Rio Tinto and BHP will work with manufacturers Caterpillar and Komatsu to conduct independent trials of battery-electric haul trucks, including testing of battery, static and dynamic charging systems, to assess performance and productivity in the Pilbara environment.
The companies said that the collaboration reflects the individual commitments made from BHP, Rio Tinto, Komatsu and Caterpillar to support Rio Tinto and BHP’s shared ambition of net zero operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
As part of the collaboration, two Cat 793 haul trucks will be trialled from the second half of 2024, and two Komatsu 930 haul trucks tested from 2026 at mine sites in the Pilbara.
Caterpillar and Komatsu will each provide one truck to both BHP and Rio Tinto for the trials. BHP is expected to trial the Caterpillar trucks, while Rio Tinto is expected to trial the Komatsu trucks. Outcomes of the trials will be shared between BHP and Rio Tinto.
The trials represent the first stage of battery-electric haul truck testing at BHP and Rio Tinto’s Pilbara operations.
Ongoing testing, development and refinement of truck and battery design is anticipated with each manufacturer. This is expected to inform the approach for testing a larger number of haul trucks and the potential deployment of battery-electric haul truck fleets into each company’s operations.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive, Simon Trott, said, “This collaboration brings together two leading global miners with two of the world’s biggest manufacturers of haul trucks to work on solving the critical challenge of zero-emissions haulage.
“There is no clear path to net zero without zero emissions haulage, so it’s important that we work together to get there as quickly and efficiently as we can. Testing two types of battery-electric haul trucks in Pilbara conditions will provide better data and by combining our efforts with BHP we will accelerate learning.
“As we work to repower our Pilbara operations with renewable energy, collaborations like this move us closer to solving the shared challenge of decarbonising our operations and meeting our net zero commitments.”
BHP President Australia, Geraldine Slattery, said, “Operational decarbonisation relies on breakthroughs in technology and partnerships like this will help drive our industry forward. We are thrilled to work with Rio Tinto, Caterpillar and Komatsu on these trials.
“Replacing diesel as a fuel source requires us to develop a whole new operational ecosystem to surround the fleet. We need to address the way we plan our mines, operate our haulage networks and consider the additional safety and operational considerations that these changes will bring. This is why trials are so critical to our success as we seek to test and learn how these new technologies will work in practice and integrate into our mines.
“We’ve already seen a step-change reduction in scope one and two operational greenhouse gas emissions through switching some of our supply to renewable electricity and we are looking to build on that progress through development of battery-electric technology to reduce diesel usage across our operations.”
In 2021, Rio Tinto and BHP worked with both Caterpillar and Komatsu to support the development and validation of prototype battery-electric haul trucks. The trucks included in these current trials are based on these prototypes.
Carbon emissions from diesel consumption in the mining equipment and rail fleet accounted for 12 per cent of Rio Tinto’s scope one and two emissions in 2023.
Carbon emissions from the combustion of diesel accounted for around 40 per cent of BHP’s scope one and two emissions in FY2020.
Image credit: ArYu Photography/Shutterstock.com.
