Electric Mine 2024 Turbocharged Interview – Nic Beutler, ABB

During The Electric Mine 2024, held May 21-23 at Crown Perth, Western Australia, we sat down with eight interviewees from Sandvik, ABB, Epiroc, Komatsu, Hitachi Energy, Cavotec and First Mode. The conversations focused on the industry’s route to net zero, plus the challenges and opportunities that come with mine electrification. Here, InvestMETS’ Richard Roberts sat down with Nic Beutler, Global Head of eMine™ Solutions at ABB, talking through the big picture of ABB’s eMine™ portfolio of solutions, which are empowering companies to convert fossil fuel-reliant mines to all-electric. And collaboration is at the heart of this – ABB’s work with Boliden is a good example, such as the battery trolley MT42 underground truck project at Kristineberg – a true grid to wheel solution involving dynamic charging. Working with Boliden and Komatsu plus another unnamed big mining company, ABB has also been accelerating the development of a robotic, automated, flexible and interoperable connection solution driven by the practicality and above all safety requirements when it comes to very high powered charging​. ABB lab tests were completed in Q2 2024 and in Q3/Q4 2024 work will move to site testing of an MCS charging solution at a Boliden minesite. On this note, ABB is also at the forefront of interoperability in high power mining fleet charging technology and was a founding member of CharIN’s Mining Taskforce and is working closely with Rio Tinto, BHP and others as part of that initiative. Roberts and Beutler also discussed the importance of conceptual and comparative design studies in mine electrification.