Page 66 Contd on pg 66 By Frank Giorno There are many reasons why mines are turning to battery electric equipment and vehicles in deep hardrock Some companies cite improvements to employee health and safety when diesel fumes are eliminated The elimination of diesel particles also helps to re duce heat and fumes which leads to reduced ventila tion costs Costs are also reduced because electric equipment has less moving parts than diesel and is more durable requiring less maintenance V ale V ale in Sudbury is converting to an all electric vehicle f eet at its Creighton deep zone mine and its future greenf eld operations will be allelectric As Creighton s deep zone f eet reached the end of their life they will be replaced with electric vehicles Personnel loaders and explosives carriers will be the f rst vehicles to switch A total of 1 1 new electric equipment will be added to the peration deep underground environment accord ing to Samantha Espley the general manager of the mining and mineral processing technical excellence centre at V ale The Creighton mine is V ale s deepest operation at 25 kilometre s in depth Use of an electric f eet reduces heat and diesel con taminants as well will reduce the mine s ventilation costs Borden Mine Newmont Goldcorp s Borden Mine near Chapleau Ontario is expected to come into production in the second half of 2019 It s believed to be Canada s f rst all electric mine underground mine The Borden operation will use not only electric bat tery vehicles but also heavy equipment The elimination of diesel engines replaced with bat tery electric in underground will produce mines will produce less heat noise and exhaust gases such as diesel particulate matter This will translate into cost savings from decreased ventilation needs which are a signif cant cost to underground mines Other benef ts that electrif cation and battery electric equipment bring for the Borden Lake Mine as well as any other operation planning to introduce new technology include reduced greenhouse gas emissions reduced diesel fuel consumption and re Page 64 Mining companies in Northern Ontario embrace electric vehicles equipment