Copper Mountain Mining selected ABB to deliver a complete open-pit haul truck trolley assist solution, which includes engineering, supply and construction management for a DC substation and an overhead catenary system (OCS), to its Copper Mountain mine near Princeton, British Columbia, Canada. The company estimated that the initial phase of the trolley assist system, which will be installed in late 2021, will reduce carbon emissions at the site by up to 7%. Copper Mountain Mining has advised that overall, the mine will reduce carbon intensity by more than 50% in five to seven years through electrification and capacity increase.
The company’s sustainable development journey has a final target of zero by 2035 and the project, using electric-drive haul trucks, is indicative of the move toward mine electrification in the region.
“From initial feasibility study onward, ABB has been aligned with our commitments to develop our mining operations in a way that fits with energy conservation and emissions reduction goals,” said Walt Halipchuk, Copper Mountain Mining’s director of energy management. “The trolley assist infrastructure is an essential part of our plans to reach our bold medium to long-term targets, and ABB has proven the results it can have in terms of helping reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We trust their expertise and have achieved past successes together, notably with grinding and automation systems already in operation in the mine.”
Each truck will be fitted with a pantograph to receive external electric power. ABB will take responsibility for the off-truck trolley assist infrastructure and provide engineering, project management, equipment supply, system commissioning and construction management. ABB will design the overhead catenary system (OCS) infrastructure and deliver a rectifier substation providing in excess of 12 MW of DC power to the trolley assist system. The trolley control system can provide connectivity to the existing distributed control system (DCS) automation platform for seamless integration and monitoring of trolley operations and energy consumption. ABB is also providing OCS components customized for mining applications.
