Mining field-trials pave way for fuel cell power.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Energy & Environment

Within a couple of years, all the pieces will be in place for the North American mining industry to begin converting its underground diesel and battery-power mining vehicles to fuel-cell technology. Positive future benefits could be in store for Northern Ontario.

Successful field trials conducted last year at Placer Dome's Campbell mine in Red Lake, using a fuel-cell powered locomotive, outperformed a conventional battery-powered locomotive "at every opportunity," says a federal researcher overseeing an international effort to evaluate the technology's productivity and efficiency in mining.

Dr. Marc Betournay, a senior scientist with CANMET, the research arm of Natural Resources Canada, says the fuel-cell-powered locomotive proved "very dependable and productive" during underground trials at the mine in October 2002.

During the testing, the vehicle ran five, eight-hour shifts at the mine site, pulling drags of six and seven fully-loaded ore cars compared to just five cars from a conventional battery-powered locomotive.

CANMET is part of an international effort headed by the U.S Fuel-cell Propulsion Institute, which is participating in a collaborative research project to investigate new fuel-cell technology in the mining industry.

Various research and academic institutions, mining equipment manufacturers and mining companies are involved. Among those are Placer Dome Inc. and R. A. Warren Equipment of North Bay, who provided the four-tonne underground locomotive used as a prototype to test the fuel cell.

Compared to the battery vehicle, the locomotive in the Red Lake test provided equal acceleration, twice the power, much shorter recharge time, and is likely capable of operating for two labour shifts before re-fuelling. The battery-powered locomotive barely lasted one shift.

Project designers are confident a tele-operated fuel-cell vehicle can eventually run non-stop for 24 to 36 hours without re-fuelling.

That is positive news for the global mining industry faced with ongoing high capital production costs and always looking for ways to address health and safety deficiencies with conventionally-powered equipment.

He estimates by 2005, with the project's proof-of-concept phase complete, all the necessary regulatory and risk issues will be addressed, as well as the re-fuelling and performance aspects for the mining industry to consider changing over to fuel-cell technology.

"Personally, I'm looking at 2007 for equipment manufacturers to come...