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Mining industry and vehicle manufacturers join forces to develop cleaner and safer vehicles

An ambitious plan to make mining vehicles cleaner and safer has been announced by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and leading suppliers during the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Melbourne, Australia.

The Innovation for Cleaner Safer Vehicles (ICSV) programme brings together 27 of the world’s leading mining companies and some of the best-known truck and mining equipment suppliers to accelerate innovation to develop a new generation of mine vehicles.1

The ICSV programme aims to:

  • Introduce greenhouse gas emission-free surface mining vehicles by 2040
  • Minimise the operational impact of diesel exhaust by 2025
  • Make collision avoidance technology available to mining companies by 2025.

The initiative has CEO-level support within all participating mining companies and equipment manufacturers. The programme will benefit the entire mining sector, not just ICMM members and is open to other equipment manufacturers who would like to join.

Tom Butler, ICMM’s Chief Executive said, “This new collaboration between ICMM and the world’s leading mining equipment manufacturers will drive innovation to help us tackle global warming and improve mine safety. We hope that this ambitious programme will lead to the development of a new generation of cleaner safer vehicles, and we look forward to working with our new partners.

“ICMM is focused on improving the safety, social and environmental performance of the mining and metals industry. The launch of the ICSV programme is a practical example of how our members are mining with principles to tackle the major social and environmental issues that affect us all. This collaboration will deliver more together than any individual company could achieve on its own and shows how the metals and mining industry can act as a catalyst for change.”

Denise Johnson, Caterpillar Group President, Resource Industries said “From the outset we could see the ambition of the programme and are excited to be involved. The collaboration between such a range of mining companies and suppliers can further the safety and environmental performance of mobile mining equipment.”

This programme will be guided by a CEO advisory group comprising six representatives, three from ICMM company members:  Andrew Mackenzie (CEO, BHP), David Garofalo (CEO, Goldcorp) and Nick Holland (CEO, Gold Fields), and three from participating suppliers: Denise Johnson (Group President, Resource Industries, Caterpillar), Max Moriyama (President, Mining Business Division, Komatsu Ltd), and Lars Engström (President, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology).

Following the success of two innovation summits between ICMM members and suppliers, a governance model for collaboration has been designed and working groups have been established to prepare an innovation roadmap for the development of cleaner and safer mining vehicles.

The programme’s ambitions are to:

· Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: The programme will promote operational and technological innovation to reduce net GHG emissions from mobile mining equipment to increase energy efficiency and GHG reduction technologies with the ambition of achieving greenhouse gas-free surface mining vehicles by 2040.

· Reduce emissions of diesel particulate matter (DPM): The programme will promote operational and technological innovations to minimise the impacts to underground mining operations from emissions of diesel particulate matter by 2025.

· Vehicle interactions (VI): The programme aims to promote collision avoidance technology capable of eliminating fatalities from vehicle interactions and available to mining companies by 2025.

Transport and mobile equipment accidents accounted for 22 per cent of fatalities at ICMM operated mines in 2017 (11 fatalities), the second highest cause of fatalities after fall of ground accidents.

The Original Equipment Manufacturers currently involved are:

· Caterpillar

· Cummins

· Epiroc

· GE

· Hexagon Mining

· Hitachi Construction Machinery

· Komatsu Ltd

· Liebherr

· MacLean Engineering

· PBE Group

· Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology

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