Sandvik has received a circa-US$17 million order for more underground battery-electric mining vehicles from Eldorado Gold for deployment at its Lamaque gold mine in Val-d’Or, Quebec. It follows an earlier $7 million sale and will bring Lamaque’s BEV truck and loader fleet to 12 units.
Lamaque produces about 195,000 ounces of gold a year and has a current mine life through to 2033. Eldorado says deep drilling has shown the mine’s mineralised system extends to at least 2km below surface.
“We see electrification as a long-term enabler of safer, more efficient and more productive mining,” Eldorado Gold Quebec vice president Sylvain Lehoux said.
“Expanding the fleet lets us move more tonnes with less energy and heat.”
Sandvik delivered two battery-electric trucks to Lamaque in 2023 and 2024.
The mine is using 50-tonne-payload battery-electric trucks and 18-tonne loaders. It has also ordered 10 Sandvik charging systems.
Sandvik expects to deliver the new BEVs from the middle of next year into 2027. It says the units feature its patented self-swapping battery system.
“Sandvik offers the industry’s fastest BEV pit stop, enabling its equipment to return to operation significantly sooner than fast-charge mining BEVs,” the Swedish manufacturer said.
CEO Stefan Widing said in July this year mining BEV orders had slowed this year and the company was seeing a “more gradual shift” in the market from diesel to BEV than what it had envisaged in 2022 and 2023. This was despite mid-tier miner South32 placing the largest ever mining BEV equipment order for its new zinc mine in Arizona, USA, and another major deal with a contractor in Mexico.
Widing said mining load and haul BE equipment contributed more than 10% of Sandvik’s total machine orders in 2022-2023. “Now we’re back to sort of high single digits,” he said. “2024 was less than that. I think we will see a gradual increase going forward. We definitely see interest. I met one of our key customers in Mexico just a few weeks ago. They went with BEVs. They see the benefits. They are saying, for our expansions, we’ll continue with BEVs; we’re not going back to diesel.
“There are many customers that have not seen that light yet.
“And there are, of course, still challenges with total cost of ownership or mining infrastructure in many mines.
“I think this [large South32 order] was a good sign in that the trend is still there, but I think we will see a slower and more gradual shift than we thought a few years ago.”
