Agnico Eagle recognizes that climate change is one of the most pressing global issues facing our society. An important step towards decarbonization is the expansion and testing of battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
BEVs have three key benefits specific to underground mining:
1. No direct carbon emissions, which keeps the air cleaner within the mine
2. Less heat, which helps manage the temperature underground, and
3. Less noise and vibration, which improve working conditions for drivers and underground miners working near the vehicles.
Our Macassa Mine in Kirkland Lake, Ontario was an early adopter of battery electric scoops and now utilizes 22 scoops and six battery electric trucks including, the Z50, a 50-tonne battery-powered haul truck. The mine has the largest fleet of BEVs within the new Agnico Eagle creating a unique opportunity to better understand the opportunities and challenges BEVs present to our decarbonatization pathway.
Our Kittilä Mine in Northern Finland, participated in the Sustainable Intelligent Mining Systems (SIMS) project, under the European Union’s most extensive research and innovation program, Horizon 2020. Partners in this project included manufacturers of mining equipment and systems, mining companies, and universities. Our role in the project was to offer a testing environment for three battery-powered mining machines, developed and manufactured by Epiroc, a Boomer E2 Battery drill rig, a MT42 Battery mine truck and a ST14 Battery scooptram. Since then, the mine has continued integrating electrification into its operations by adding two drilling units to its electric fleet. The mine will also serve as a demonstration site for some of the technologies being developed under the NEXGEN SIMS project – a new three-year EU-funded project that will support new technologies, methods, and processes to enable more sustainable and efficient carbon neutral mining operations.
Our Fosterville Mine is trialing one of the first four Sandvik Battery Electric Loaders operating in the world. This trial is the first step towards a gradual transition to a fully battery electric loader fleet.
Being an early adopter of BEVs, our batteries are ahead of the curve in reaching their end of life. However, batteries aren’t dead when they come to the end of their useful life. BEV batteries are typically replaced after they lose around 20% of their capacity, which means that there’s still up to 80% capacity remaining that can be used for stationary storage applications. At Macassa Mine, Electrical Engineering staff, tested and built an energy storage system from entirely recycled components including the battery case and batteries from our Z40s. Lovingly dubbed “Frankenbattery” by the team, this energy storage system was commissioned underground in February 2021, and it has a long life ahead of it. The team continues to look for innovative secondary life applications for our BEV batteries.