Greater Sudbury's two largest mining employers, Vale and Glencore, are working together to find ways to make the operation of underground battery electric vehicles (BEV) safer and more efficient.
The partnership, conceived with safety in mind, has been in place now for more than five years and it shows that people in the Canadian mining industry have a genuine safety sense, said Raphael "Raffy" Tiangco, Vale's superintendent of mobile fleet management.
Tiangco, together with Shawn Sauvé, a mobile equipment specialist and maintenance general foreman for Glencore in Sudbury, made a presentation Sept. 11 at the special symposium held by Workplace Safety North to focus on BEV (battery-electric vehicle) safety in underground mines.
Tiangco said the purpose of the partnership is to have mining companies work closely with the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and with industry to come up with the right specifications for battery electric mining vehicles that can operate safely in underground environments, such as the hardrock mines operated by Vale and Glencore.
Using a twist on the popular phrase, Tiangco said "it takes a village" to create the right type of safe and efficient battery-powered mining vehicle and to implement that new technology so it can operate in Northern Ontario. He said Vale and Glencore have purchased several identical BEV vehicles in the past few years that meet specifications set out by both companies as part of their mutual agreement.
He said he has seen the co-operative system work because mining companies across Northern Ontario have stepped up with behind-the-scenes information of how they have struggled with BEV problems, especially with fires.
Tiangco described a meeting where Vale and Glencore were joined by OEM companies, other mining companies and other stakeholders to discuss how to build vehicles more safely. He said it was a no-holds-barred session where everyone spoke openly about dealing with fires.
"Let's try to identify, what are the possible things that could happen, that could lead to a fire? And we came up with a long list; we had a really, really long list. Here are all the possible events that could lead to a fire, and then every other little chain or link that you see to each of those events at the end," said Tiangco.
"So we went through that process. We did it for fires, and then we did it for electrocution. Now that we had all the risks identified, we had a framework that we can start applying.”
He recalled another meeting where he and Sauvé met with battery design engineers from a major manufacturing company in Europe. Tiangco said this included top-level scientists who were part of a team that designed the original lithium-ion batteries. He said major companies are now co-operating with the Sudbury mining group to work on building better batteries.
"That's the level of commitment that the companies had towards making sure that they were designing safe equipment," said Tiangco.
"So again, we just wanted to give some credit to the people from the Epiroc team that pitched in and helped support this process, during our time in Sweden," said Sauvé.
It was the same story from a major manufacturer in North America, Sauvé said.
"And then, basically, Caterpillar approached us as well and they wanted to go through the same process. So, you know, went down to Peoria, Illinois, and did the same review with them," he said.
Also speaking at the conference was Mike Parent, president and CEO of Workplace Safety North. He remarked that the safety symposium, which has been held continuously for the past five years, is essential because technology is changing so quickly, and that means more needs to be learned.
Parent used the example that salt is now being studied as a chemical source for new industrial batteries. Parent said short of putting it on his food, he doesn't know a lot about salt.
"But in the context of a battery, what new risks are they going to bring? What operational challenges? We don't know, but I'm hoping by this time next year, at the sixth symposium, we'll be able to talk about salt and what risk it poses, and that's what this event is about," said Parent.
“”So a question was asked to me about two weeks ago: Do I believe we're at the peak of battery vehicles being introduced in mines? I said, it's just an opinion of mine; I think we are right now," said Parent.
"I think we're bringing in a lot of equipment and infrastructure, and we're going to learn over a couple years what are the pain points and the challenges, and we're going to look to improve on those, and then we're going to see a gradual increase of more battery electric vehicles," he added. “I could be very wrong, but I think that's where we're at.”
Len Gillis covers mining and health care for Sudbury.com.
