Fuelcell loader for mining sector to hit market in 5 years
Date: 20-Feb-01
Country: MEXICO
Author: Pav Jordan
The new loader, which cost about $12 million to develop, promises to help mining companies chop as much as 30 percent from mine ventilation costs as it reduces the need for expensive systems designed to expel emissions from diesel-operated vehicles.
"This new vehicle addresses ventilation problems that are experienced primarily in underground mines,"Arnold Miller, who leads the Fuelcell Propulsion project, told an international mining convention in the Pacific resort town of Puerto Vallarta.
The loader, powered by increasingly popular fuelcell technology and developed with the funding of a host of major mining corporations, will be tested in mines in Nevada, Canada and Mexico over coming months before developers consider putting it on the market.
Miller said further tests are needed to see how the fuelcell vehicles are affected by the diesel engines, which at first will probably be working alongside them.
"This technology would have to be phased in in existing mines," he said, adding that new mines would not have the same problem.
The Fuelcell Institute is in direct competition with other fuelcell developers like Canadas Ballard Power Systems, whose stock has soared since it announced the new technology, and car makers but is different in that it specializes in products for the mining industry.
Called the Loader STI 2000, the new loader is expected to cost about 25 percent more than conventional diesel loaders, which currently cost about $450,000 a piece, and provide a cost savings tool to mines that currently spend "many millions of dollars" in ventilation," Miller said.
"The highest commercialization potential for this product is in underground mining."
The Fuelcell Propulsion Institute is an arm of Fuelcell Propulsion, formed and funded by a consortium of major mining companies that include Barrick Gold Corp, Noranda Inc., Placer Dome Inc. and Newmont Mining .
In exchange for financial support, consortium members earn a right to the return on investment as well as first rights to the technology.
Placer Dome will be the first to test the technology, on its Nevada properties, followed by Canadas Noranda and a Mexican corporation, expected to be No. 1 Silver producer Industrias Penoles .
Mining analysts attending the Mexico Mining 2001 conference said that if the new technology takes off it could translate into gains for metals like titanium and nickel, both used in the production of the new fuel cells.
