Top Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Group will collaborate on testing large battery-powered electric haul truck technology in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Rio Tinto announced on Monday.
With both companies targeting net zero operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Rio and BHP will partner with manufacturers Caterpillar and Komatsu to independently trial their respective battery-electric haul trucks, as per Rio’s statement.
These trials aim to assess the performance and productivity of the electric haul trucks in the Pilbara environment, representing the initial stage of electric haul truck testing at BHP and Rio’s Pilbara operations.
Under the collaboration, two Caterpillar 793 haul trucks will undergo trials from the second half of 2024, while two Komatsu 930 haul trucks will be tested starting in 2026.
“As we work to repower our Pilbara operations with renewable energy, collaborations like this move us closer to solving the shared challenge of decarbonising our operations, and meeting our net zero commitments,” Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive Simon Trott said.
Ongoing testing, development, and refinement of the truck and battery designs are anticipated with each manufacturer. This process will inform the approach for testing a larger fleet of haul trucks and the potential deployment of battery-electric haul truck fleets into each company’s operations.
Simon Trott, Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive, stated, “This collaboration brings together two leading global miners with two of the world’s biggest manufacturers of haul trucks to work on solving the critical challenge of zero-emissions haulage.”
In 2021, Rio Tinto and BHP collaborated with both Caterpillar and Komatsu to support the development and validation of their prototype battery-electric haul trucks. The trucks included in these trials are based on these prototypes.
Carbon emissions from diesel consumption in mining equipment and rail fleet accounted for 12 per cent of Rio Tinto’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2023. For BHP, carbon emissions from the combustion of diesel accounted for around 40 per cent of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions in the fiscal year 2020.