H ydr o g en power has long been hailed as the ener gy of the futur e but alw ays seemingly a f e w y ears aw ay Despit e decades of r esear ch development and incr ement al g ains the use of h y dr og en ener gy is t oday still mainly limit ed t o a handful of niche industrial applications But the case f or h y dr o g en has str engthened and in the mining industry the piec es ar e f inally coming t o g ether Mining companies ar e trialling the t echnology including Anglo American which is cr eating it s own h y dr og enpower e d openpit haul truck Hydr og en t echnology companies ar e also int er est ed in the mining mark et D ynaCER T which pr oduc es a h y dr og eninjection s y st em f or diesel engines f or inst anc e has partner ed with Sudbury based mining equipment supplier T o t a l Equipment Servic es t o cr eat e a Spart abr anded under gr ound mining utility vehicle that is being t est ed at a curr ently unnamed northern Ont ario mine Also in anticipation of h y dr o g e n s eventual use at oper ations st andar ds ar e being writ t en t o r e gulat e saf ety and usag e best pr actic es and t o give miners enough conf idenc e in h y dr og en t o consider using it Mar c Bet ournay is one of the people writing those st andar ds As a principal r esear ch scientist at CanmetMINING part of N a t ur al Resour c es Canada NR Can he has been working sinc e 2000 t o mak e h y dr og en mainstr eam N o w he thinks it is r eady It s entir ely pos sible that within thr ee y ears ther e will be h y dr og en fuel c ell vehicles on the surf a c e at mine sit es he said T hat is wher e it s g oing t o begin While the h y dr og enpower r esear cher s enthusiasm is underst andable he isn t alone in seeing the pot ential of the fuel sour c e Hydr og en is the ener gy of the futur e said Dominique Beaudry corpor at e dir ect or f or innov a tion at Agnico Eagle explaining that h y dr og en power is one w a y mining can r espond t o climat e chang e W e ar e very int er est ed she said but added that her compan y has only just st art ed working on it s case study f or h y dr og en Glencor e Canada also sees a futur e with h y dr og en T he com pan y has trialled h y dr og en at the Raglan mine by using a h y dr o g en loop with electr olyser and fuel c ells t o st or e ex c e s s ener gy g ener at ed by a wind turbine f or lat er use and it is now explor ing under gr ound fuel c ell vehicles as well T he obst acles t o upt ak e expense saf ety and t echnological r eadines s ar e open questions T he oper ational chang es r equir ed and incomplet e or non exist ent guiding st andar ds and best pr ac tic es mak e adoption intimidating And wher e is the need On the surface T he pot ential ener gy sa ving s ar e at tr active enough t o Anglo American that it is sidest epping the tr aditional mining OEMs by doing it s own con v ersion of a 290 t onne diesel haul truck int o what the compan y said is the world s lar g est h y dr og enpower e d mining vehicle Anglo American st aff ers along with engineer ing support fr om U K based W illiams A d v anc ed Engineering 32 CIM Magazine V ol 15 No 3 Courtesy of Anglo American The elements of hydr ogen power ed mining W ith r egulations being written trials underway and companies considering adoption strategies hydr ogen s time may finally be her e By Ian Ewing Anglo American plans to add a hydrogenpowered haul truck to its existing fleet at the Mogalakwena Central Pit platinum mine