Major savings, better future for workers in new mine electrification era

The sector is advancing down the modern electrification road, but knowledge gap must be addressed if the full benefits are to be realised. 

Industry leaders say mining’s ‘modern’ electrification course is set.

However, critical knowledge about new equipment, operating systems and a shifting regulatory environment is a vital gap to be filled as the industry seeks to accelerate toward major potential operating and environmental benefits.

Sarah de Vries MAusIMM, Principal Consultant at Snowden Optiro, says miners currently have a range of options available to them to cut scope 1 carbon emissions and start making a bigger dent in the estimated eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions generated by the mining industry. McKinsey & Co says 40-50 per cent of this comes from diesel combustion in mobile equipment at the more than 15,000 mines the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has listed on a new database.

de Vries says mines can:

• Replace fossil fuel power generation with solar, wind and hydropower, and utilise short-term and long-term battery energy storage systems (BESS).
• Eliminate or slash diesel use from truck haulage by adopting in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC), rope-conveyor, Railveyor, trolley-assist and other electrification technologies.
• Use cable-electric surface face shovels and excavators, and tethered underground loaders, instead of diesel machines.
• Replace diesel trucks and loaders with diesel-electric trucks and loaders, reducing fuel consumption by up to 30%.
• Use electric drills instead of diesel drills.
• Reduce diesel consumption by replacing diesel with biofuel and renewable diesel.
• Adopt modern vehicle remote health monitoring, fleet management and mine planning systems and AI to optimise efficiencies and slash diesel fuel burn.

Parts of the industry have adopted some of these measures in the pursuit of aggressive carbon emission reduction goals and net zero targets.

Newmont’s Borden mine in Ontario became the first underground gold mine in Canada to transition to a fully battery electric fleet in 2019. Australia’s Bellevue Gold has just produced the world’s first ‘net zero gold’. Major surface iron ore and underground copper and base metal mines have placed record orders for battery-electric equipment in 2024 and 2025.

Major Swedish mining equipment manufacturer Epiroc, which has supplied more than 600 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) at over 30 sites, aims to have a battery-electric version of every machine in its current portfolio available by 2030. Peer Sandvik is targeting 50 per cent BEV sales in the 2030s.

Canada’s MacLean Engineering, which has supplied more than 100 underground BEVs to North American mines since 2015, says nearly half the companies based in the region doing new project feasibility studies are requesting BEV quotes.

A 2024 State of Play industry report said the evolution of battery technology had been central to advances driving the 'modern electrification' of mines.

"This leap in technology reduces operational downtime and maintenance costs, making electric alternatives not just a sustainable choice, but also an economically sensible one." (State of Play, 2024)

Illustrating the shift, lithium-ion battery prices had fallen from US$780 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2013 down to $139/ kWh by 2023. The 82 per cent reduction reflected significant technological advancements and economies of scale, according to the report.

Ultra-fast charging stations and wireless charging solutions able to keep electric mining vehicles operating continuously with minimal interruptions were also being commercialised.

'Moreover, the cost of electric mining equipment is becoming more competitive. Although electric vehicles are characterised by higher capital hurdles, their long-term benefits in terms of fuel savings and reduced maintenance are undeniable' (State of Play, 2024). 

'Electricity is cheaper than diesel,' says Snowden Optiro’s de Vries. She says electric motors are significantly more efficient than diesel engines. Electric vehicles are faster, particularly on inclined ramps, and have lower maintenance costs. Underground, electric vehicles can slash ventilation and cooling costs. Electric vehicles are quieter and don’t emit noxious fumes and diesel particulate matter.

In open cut mines diesel-electric trucks are already reducing fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent.

Despite progress, challenges remain with battery technology, says a 2025 report from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE). 

“While urban freight and certain mining equipment are amenable to electrification, longer distance freight and some heavy machinery face challenges related to battery range and charging infrastructure." (ATSE, 2025)

The report continues: “Current technology barriers include energy density limitations of diesel alternatives, which are required to operate at high power outputs over long duty cycles, making performance constraints a key issue; weight of battery systems in electric vehicles affecting freight and mining payloads; and storage and transportation of compressed hydrogen over long distances.”

Australia’s Future Battery Industries CRC (FBICRC), part of the country’s publicly-funded Co-operative Research Centres program, says its Mine Operational Vehicle Electrification (MOVE) project highlighted the complexity of mining’s new electrification transition.

Investment in infrastructure, technologies and hardware, and changes to processes and operations are all vital. Perhaps most critical of all, though, is investment in people. The future workforce must be trained and upskilled to work safely in electric mines. 

Skills and insight are gold in decarbonisation era

Starting and ramping up a new mine can throw up plenty of challenges and Bellevue Gold did not make the task any easier by setting itself the goal of becoming the world’s first “green gold” producer by 2025. Another Western Australia-based miner, Byrnecut, has notched up loads of impressive milestones around the world over the past 10 years. But producing a non-diesel underground mining truck of the future isn’t one of them. It has not been for want of trying. 

For leaders of both companies, though, the trials are a necessary part of what they see as an inevitable and very necessary transition for the industry.

Bellevue Gold has achieved its aim of net-zero gold and has buyers in Australia and Europe paying a premium for the metal at a time of record bullion prices. Managing director Darren Stralow FAusIMM, a mining engineer with more than 20 years in the industry, says green gold has also drawn people to work at a new underground mine more than 400km from a regional city. That is something he has found invaluable in an extremely tight labour market.

Pat Boniwell FAusIMM, managing director Australia at Byrnecut, is also a mining engineer who has risen up the management ranks at one of the world’s largest mining contractors over 30 years. Byrnecut, with its international arm, is a major buyer of underground primary and ancillary equipment and will be among the first to trial the industry’s biggest diesel-electric and battery-powered trucks and loaders as they make their way into the commercial arena. It is already integrating smaller non-diesel machines into its enormous fleet.

With its depth of technical and engineering expertise the contractor also sought to accelerate delivery of new non-diesel truck options through an internal program. Boniwell says it absorbed heavy investment over a decade and returned “a lot of technical success without the commercial success”. What it did expand, though, was institutional knowledge integral to Byrnecut’s future. With the steady growth of its commercial battery-electric fleet, the company is building “internal capability to operate, maintain and implement” new generation equipment.

“We do know as a result of it all that electric drive systems are fundamentally what we want,” Boniwell says.

“We’ve had some fantastic success with electric drive and we’ve got some very real challenges at the moment with some of the battery systems. It doesn’t mean we’re going to stop, it just means that certain equipment is not right at the moment for certain applications and we’ve got to adjust.

“It’s about changing the conversation and most people – and they’re what companies are made of – are receptive to that conversation.”

David Lyon, president of Canadian consulting firm, Zero Nexus, says there is “lots to learn” from the sites and enterprises at the forefront of the industry’s energy and mobility transition.

“While there’s been plenty of progress and a lot of announcements about underground fleets and trials in the open pits, the reality is no mine today is electric and the transition is taking time,” he says.

“It’s complex. Every site faces different hurdles. That said, some of the most advanced efforts are happening in Canada … where a lot of the mine electrification has been taking place over the past 10 years. There is lots to learn from those sites.”

Lyon says conveying this knowledge to people at all levels of the industry is a crucial part of speeding the transition underway.

Through Zero Nexus, he has delivered education and training courses to organisations around the world. He will be joined by associate partner Edward Fagan in presenting AusIMM’s Associate Certificate in Mine Electrification, which comprehensively explores today’s mine electrification landscape, examining electrification drivers, battery-electric vehicle systems and infrastructure, battery safety, change management and business case development.

Lyon says the course is about preparing leaders, not just operators and maintenance technicians. However, it was built for all mining professionals who wanted to take the lead on moving to successful BEV fleet implementation.

“Successful implementations require much broader system thinking than just one-to-one diesel-for- electric vehicles swaps. Effective change management and getting your workforce onboard is also critical." - David Lyon

“What excites me the most about the future of mine electrification is really how it’s reshaping mining for the better. Lower emissions, quieter work environments, safer conditions and just smarter systems overall. Anyone who’s worked in a heading next to one of these battery electric vehicles can attest to how much that’s improved their work environment.

“This course equips professionals to be part of that future. Not just reacting to it but actually leading it. Let’s help build the skills and strategies to make meaningful change. That’s the most rewarding part of it.”