mining

What happens when you deploy 100 massive, driverless, and fully electric heavy haul trucks at a working mine? After nearly a year of continuous operation, one mining company is already finding out. Here’s how their great experiment is going.

Engineering startups Astroport Space Technologies and Astrolab have successfully completed a real-world demonstration for their UTIPA Excavator – an all-electric machine designed to become the cornerstone of lunar construction solutions and pave the way for autonomous construction projects on the Moon.

XCMG celebrated the launch of its new, massive XC9260BEWL and XC9260BEWD lines by delivering one of each to Australian mining giant, Fortescue – part of a record-setting $400 million electric equipment order meant to help slash the company’s carbon emissions.

Chinese equipment brand Boonray has developed an autonomous, battery-swapping electric mining truck that it hopes will revolutionize the global mining industry – and global EV leader BYD just gave it a multimillion dollar vote of confidence.

Canadian mining firm Eldorado Gold is taking a big step towards decarbonizing its operations with a fresh order for ten fully electric equipment assets from the experts at Sandvik set to be deployed later this year.

Scania is calling its first-ever, fully-electric 8×4 heavy-duty mining tipper Sleipner after the Norse god Odin’s famously powerful eight-legged ride – and it’s being put to work at Sweden’s Malmberget iron ore mine.

Fortescue has taken the wraps off a prototype of its proposed “Infinity Train” electric locomotive, making the 1,100 km (about 685 miles) trip from Perth to the Pilbara and marking a major milestone in the decarbonization of the company’s heavy haul operations.

UPDATE 15DEC2025: now there are two!

The Cat 793 XE Early Learner battery-electric haul trucks deliver all the performance of its diesel-powered siblings without the noise, vibrations, and harmful emissions – and now, they’re being put to the test at BHP’s iron ore mine in Australia.

The mining equipment experts at Sandvik have been developing next-generation electric equipment options for years – largely on their own. Now, with a €500 million capital injection from the EIB, the company is ready to get serious about its next-generation machinery.

A pair of new Volvo ECR25 Electric mini excavators are busy breaking up oversize rocks in crushing operations at this Ontario-based mine – and the transition from diesel has been as smooth as their electric motors!

Government researchers in the US and abroad believe we could help decarbonize and electrify the transportation sector with hardy, fast-growing plants that collect the metals needed to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in their roots, then harvest those metals later with a process that’s cleaner and cheaper than traditional mineral mining.

Heavy mineral and metals mining is one of the dirtiest industries on the planet, but Chinese equipment giant XCMG doesn’t think it has to stay that way. To prove it, the company has unveiled a sweeping pledge to electrify and decarbonize mining — and they’re dragging over 100 global partners with them.

An Africa copper mine is taking big steps towards modernizing and decarbonizing its copper mining operations and strengthening its partnerships with Beijing through the purchase and deployment of fully 31 electric haul trucks.

The McDermitt Caldera is an extinct supervolcano on the Oregon-Nevada border that, depending on who you believe, is loaded with enough lithium to power 600 million electric cars. It begs the question: who will control the $1.5 trillion dollar mineral deposit?

Construction and mining giant Caterpillar has reached a major milestone for its autonomous haulage system (AHS), reaching one million tons (!) of aggregate hauled by the company’s massive self-driving trucks.

Barrick Mining Corp. and Komatsu have formalized a $440 million deal that will see the Japanese construction giant begin delivering electric and electrified mining equipment assets to the company’s Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan.

The iron-mining giants at BHP have big plans to decarbonize their mining operations, and they’re turning to the Chinese heavy equipment electrification and automation experts at XCMG to help make it happen.

With global demand for battery minerals continuing to rise, tech giants ABB, Hitachi, Komatsu, and Sumitomo are working together, developing a clever tech strategy that’s slashed emissions across Japanese mining operations.

Powered by tech giant Huawei 5G-Advanced network, a fleet of over 100 Huaneng Ruichi all-electric autonomous haul trucks and heavy equipment assets have been deployed at the Yimin open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia.

Swedish equipment manufacturer Sandvik has scored a record order for electric mining equipment at South32’s greenfield Hermosa critical minerals project in Arizona – the deal is being valued at over $100 million.

The mining equipment experts at Epiroc will supply a fleet of autonomous, zero-emission electric Pit Viper 271E and SmartROC D65 BE drill rigs at a number of Australian mines operated by multinational metals firm, Fortescue.