Mining company Anglo American has unveiled a prototype of what is claimed to be the world’s largest hydrogen-powered mine haul truck, designed to operate in everyday mining conditions at the company’s Mogalakwena PGMs mine in South Africa.
The 2MW hydrogen-battery hybrid truck, generating more power than its diesel predecessor and capable of carrying a 290-tonne payload, is part of Anglo American’s nuGen Zero Emission Haulage Solution (ZEHS). The concept of nuGen is to provide a fully integrated green hydrogen system, consisting of production, fueling and haulage system, with green hydrogen to be produced at the mine site. The truck integrates a 1.2MWh battery pack combined with multiple fuel cells that deliver up to 800kW of power, giving a total output of 2MW.
Duncan Wanblad, chief executive of Anglo American, said, “nuGen is a tangible demonstration of our FutureSmart Mining program changing the future of our industry. With diesel emissions from our haul truck fleet accounting for around 10-15% of our total Scope 1 emissions, this is an important step on our pathway to carbon-neutral operations by 2040. The mining industry is playing a considerable role in helping the world decarbonize, both through our own emissions footprint and the metals and minerals that we produce that are critical to low carbon energy and transport systems.
“Over the next several years, we envisage converting or replacing our current fleet of diesel-powered trucks with this zero-emission haulage system, fueled with green hydrogen. If this pilot is successful, we could remove up to 80% of diesel emissions at our open pit mines by rolling this technology across our global fleet.”