The drivers for doing so are hard to argue with. The mining industry needs to reduce its hefty contribution to climate change - which is up to 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions - while still extracting the raw materials required for the green-technology revolution.

It's also incumbent to reduce the health impacts and costs associated with fossil fuels, especially for increasingly remote mine sites that do not have local grid access.

Electrification and renewable energy sources are the answer. But while this is clear, how to build the electric mine is less so. This is where ABB sees an opportunity to share its expertise.

Building fit-for-purpose solutions

The eMine™ portfolio draws upon ABB's extensive, decades-long experience in electrification and automation, offering ‘fit for purpose' solutions, using proven methods and a holistic approach , according to the company.

The eMine vision encompasses full integration of electrification and automation from ‘pit to port' to help the industry decarbonise not only its fleet, but the entire ecosystem.

"These are all elements we have used before in the mineral process area and have now extended to the mine, which is the last piece of the puzzle," said Mehrzad Ashnagaran, ABB global product line manager - electrification and composite plant.

It is also part of ABB's wider ambition to partner with its customers to reduce their annual CO2 emissions by 100 megatons by 2030. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 30 million internal combustion engine cars. It also plans to achieve carbon neutrality in its own operations by the same date.

And according to ABB, the eMine portfolio solutions are also proven to significantly reduce an operation's emissions while minimising capex and optimising opex.

These solutions include the eMine trolley system, in which haulage trucks transporting ores are converted to electric-diesel hybrids, cutting diesel usage by up to 90%, according to the company, thereby reducing emissions and saving money on fuel costs. The system, which includes an overhead catenary system and a rectifier substation, will eventually move to battery-trolley hybrids.

The trucks alone can have a huge impact on lowering a mine's carbon emissions, given that ABB estimates that electrifying a single one eliminates the same amount of CO2 emissions per year that it would take 46,000 trees to absorb.

As well as reducing costs and emissions, the trolley assist operation gives dump trucks under load an additional boost so they can cover gradients on the hauling route faster, according to the company.

Ensuring trucks and equipment can charge when and where needed is integral to keeping an all-electric mine operation running for 24 hours a day.

With this in mind, Ashnagaran says the eMine trolley system can't be separated from another element of the eMine portfolio - the pilot ABB eMine FastCharge system - which was unveiled in 2021.

"More and more customers are asking for such a combined solution - they are eager to understand how the trolley system works with the battery-equipped vehicle," he said.

ABB's pilot eMine FastCharge is the world's fastest and only fully automated charging system for mining trucks, offering up to 600kW of power, according to the company. The technology can be installed anywhere and can charge any truck without the need for human intervention. Additionally, once digitally connected, the system infrastructure can be monitored and controlled to optimise the charging process and energy usage in real time.

According to the company, charging points can be strategically placed throughout the mine so trucks remain charged for longer and so their use can be further optimised, boosting overall productivity, and avoiding the need for additional tramming routes and vehicles.

Tailoring solutions with automation, integration and interoperability

Ashnagaran was keen to stress that when ABB was developing the eMine approach of methods and solutions, the thought that no two mines are ever the same was very much front and centre in its approach. This is why being able to tailor the solutions to individual operations, specifically to match up to their unique challenges, was paramount. And, as such, so was ensuring interoperability and integration.

"Interoperability for us is extremely important," Ashnagaran said. "If a mine is running various types of fleets, it shouldn't need different chargers and connectors. Similarly, it was important that the connector convey the higher kilowatts of energy in a shorter time to vehicle. This is why a big focus for us is working with different OEMs, including the technology provider active on the connector system."

The FastCharge system, for example, follows open standards to remain vendor-agnostic, meaning it can be used across all vehicle types and OEMs. This allows the customer to make a one-off investment and maximise the uptime, productivity and return on investment of every piece of charging equipment, Ashnagaran notes.

For these purposes, ABB has a global agreement with Hitachi, Liebherr, and Hitachi Construction Machinery, as well as actively working with other OEMs.

In fact, Ashnagaran says that collaboration was one of the first steps ABB took when developing the portfolio and this approach was key to bringing the right solution to the market.

"We strongly believe in the Key Technical Supplier model, which is part of the DNA of ABB. We have not applied this concept only on eMine, but also previously in the mineral process area. It requires us to work closely with the other technological providers to build best solutions and take care of interfaces and other things," he explained.

It's also important for the next piece of the ‘pit to port' portfolio puzzle - automation. "One of the most important components in the electric mine is the automation system; without that we cannot do it," he explained. "This needs to be integrated into the whole system to create a full overview of what is happening through the operation; the customer needs to monitor and control and get data from the system to then fine tune their operations, and, at the same time, to understand what's required to do this."

For this, ABB has developed the Ability MineOptimize concept, a framework that integrates individual solutions and brings together the electrification, automation and digital elements to optimise capex, and maximise productivity, sustainability and safety throughout the whole ‘pit to port' process.

Optimising the mine of the future

ABB's eMine trolley system has already been successfully used in at least two mines: Copper Mountain in Canada and Boliden Aitik in Sweden.

At Copper Mountain, a conventional open pit, truck and shovel operation which produces approximately 100Mlb (45,000t) of copper equivalent per year, the haul truck trolley assist infrastructure was able to cut carbon emissions by 90% on the trolley segment. The operator has also reported that trucks are now running 80% more quickly overall.

At Aitik, Sweden's largest open-pit copper mine, located 100km above the Arctic Circle, the operator says the eMine trolley system is expected to save  830cu.m of fuel across two trucks running under a 700m trolley, resulting in an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emission.

Despite these advances, Ashnagaran is keen to stress that there is no silver bullet for building an electric mine. It is a process - one which, due to the technological complexities, still faces some challenges.

For example, one of the limitations ABB is working to overcome is managing the variability of renewable energy so that it can eventually support the mine through its 24/7 work cycle. Currently the variability of renewables and the uneconomic viability of most storage solutions present limitations. It's also looking to overcome challenges around the size of batteries and their energy density in trucks which have limited space.  The future mine will most likely have pure battery pack vehicles, notes Ashnagaran.

But while the fully electric mine cannot be achieved overnight, the process can begin today. And on this point, Ashnagaran says, because they are technologically different to traditional mines, the earlier in the journey after mine conception that the process can begin the easier implementation will be. And here ABB is keen to deploy its expertise.

"Before we did not physically exist in the mine fleets , but now we are here to electrify the fleet, to make the pit to port vision happen and we have a system that can cover the entire process with full implementation and integration between electrification and automation systems," Ashnagaran concluded.