Abstract:

BEV Research Problem

Little to no information, history, guidelines or specifications were available governing the specification of BEV equipment for use in U\G mining operations.

The GMG “Recommended practices for Battery Electric Vehicles in Underground Mining” released to industry in late 2018 was a good resource for operations wishing to enter into the U\G BEV world, but did not address specific requirements which the BEV equipment should meet in order to operate safely and efficiently in an underground environment.

Objectives

Glencore & Vale realized that there was an opportunity to jointly, help guide the industry & OEM’s to a common BEV specification addressing requirements for equipment operating in an underground environment.

Commonality would accelerate the development of safe, efficient and mining ready vehicles capable of operating safely in our mining environment by:

increasing economies of scale
Allow learnings across both companies to drive improvements in safety and technology

Method

Starting with the GMG Guideline, a small team of Vale and Glencore Subject Matter Experts created an initial draft of the spec which was used as a vehicle for discussion in a multi-pass review with the following stakeholder groups:

Internal Vale and Glencore Stakeholders
OEM Engineering Design teams
Other operations
3^rd Party Technical Authorities
Regulatory bodies
Final Internal Stakeholder review

Key Results

Common Specification between our two companies that

addresses a wider perspective than what we could have achieved individually.
Is achievable by our OEMs
Practically addresses the risks and challenges that allow us to implement a new technology in our operating environment
Has a built in forum allowing us to update the specification as technology evolves and as we learn more about operating BEVs in our environment
Recommendations from incidents from both companies, OEMs and other companies were incorporated into the Specification

Conclusion

The specification is continually evolving to keep pace with Technology and new learnings around operability

Key relationships have been established with our stakeholders and continual improvement of the specification can occur with previous stakeholder involvement/review

The specification has been used to support the procurement of BEVs for both Vale and Glencore since 2019

Biography of the presenter: Husband to Shelly Tiangco Father to Gabrielle and Noelle Tiangco Mechanical Engineer at Vale Current Role Superintendent – Mobile Fleet Management April 2018 – Present Mobile Fleet Management Services encompassing Surface and Mining Mobile equipment for a fleet of 1400+ vehicles across 21 plants in Ontario, Manitoba, NFLD and the UK. Services include: • Creating the most cost effective 5 year mobile S&D Capital Plan for North Atlantic aligned with the needs of Plant Ops, Plant Maintenance and the LOMP. • Executing the Mobile Capital Plan, while minimizing risk to the business by ensuring alignment with Plant Ops, Maintenance and Procurement (Local and Brazil) • developing the most effective and efficient maintenance plans that increase the reliability of our fleet to minimize risk to the production plan • Creating, Maintaining and Updating Equipment Specifications and Standards to ensure that our equipment: o can safely and efficiently operate within our context. (e.g. New BEV Specifications developed in conjunction with Glen Core) o is aligned with our LOMP and Technology Roadmap (e.g. Autonomy, Telemetric Reporting, Raiseboring, Resin Injection) o Participate in various panels established to update Canadian Standards, and Regulations governing the design and use of Mobile Underground equipment. • Ensure current and future equipment compliance to those requirements and develop solutions for achieving compliance where there are gaps. • Leveraging the knowledge, expertise and broad perspective of our OEMs to perform the above activities

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Mr. Steve Holmik