JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Transitioning oil, gas, fuels and lubricants company Shell has established a nine-member consortium to create electrification solutions for mining sites.

The electrification offers a shift away from reliance on diesel. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Coming together with Shell to introduce the mining electrification of off-road vehicles – with the pilot offering including ultrafast charging complemented with renewable electricity generation on-site or through the grid – are Skeleton, Microvast, Stäubli, Carnegie Robotics, Heliox, Spirae, Alliance Automation and Worley.

For hard-to-abate sectors like mining, Shell described the initiative as being critical owing to mobile equipment comprising up to 50% of mining’s carbon dioxide emissions.

By 2030, it is estimated that a battery-electric haulage truck will lower total cost of ownership, involve 20% lower maintenance costs, and incur 40% lower fuel costs than existing diesel trucks, Shell stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

“It is increasingly clear that no one single organisation can solve decarbonisation alone,” said Shell VP sectoral decarbonisation and innovation Grischa Sauerberg.

“The need for a collaborative effort is particularly evident within carbon-intensive industries like mining, where the challenges are great but the opportunities are even greater.

“To overcome these challenges and unlock these opportunities, Shell is helping to bring together some of the sector’s most innovative companies – with electrification proving an important first step towards the shaping of a clear decarbonisation pathway,” Sauerberg added.

The mining electrification solutions for off-road vehicles consist of:

• power provisioning and microgrids;
• ultrafast charging taking approximately 90 seconds; and
• in-vehicle energy storage through a combination of advanced battery and capacitor technologies.

“The challenge of decarbonisation is immense, but not impossible – providing collaboration and innovation go hand in hand at all times. Both of which were on show during the recent Charge On Innovation Challenge, which saw the Shell-led consortium of equipment manufacturers, technology partners, industry experts and Shell Energy – our in-house supplier of renewable power – push the boundaries of what is possible for hard-to-abate sectors like mining. Our winning solutions are proof of how, together, the industry can help power progress by realising the full potential of the technologies available to us – whether that is through electrification, digital tools or low-carbon fuels,” said Sauerberg.