Chile's CMP commits to four Yutong electric trucks for filtered tailings transport

The first battery-powered haul truck at the operations of Chilean iron ore miner Compañía Minera del Pacífico (CMP), a CAP Group company, recently arrived at its pellet plant facilities in Huasco and successfully completed a series of pilot tests which were carried out to assess its suitability for future operation at the site. The truck is a 55 ton capacity Chinese made Yutong YTK90E.

The main driver is a commitment to maximise energy efficiency and reduce emissions. The vehicle is the first of a total fleet of four that are to be used by CMP. Their main function will be to transport filtered tailings from the filtration plant to the final disposal area in the Filtered Tailings Deposit (DRF). The tests simulated the transfer of the filtered tailings, which is an easy to handle, solid material with a low percentage of humidity. As a result of the successful results obtained, CMP opted to purchase of the fleet of four trucks.

“Given our goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, it is very important to announce the arrival of the first all electric truck at our facilities, which is also the first Yutong mining vehicle in mining operations in Chile. The use of this technology helps us to have more sustainable processes, thus helping to fulfil our purpose of creating a different type of mining for the development of the territory and its people,” said the General Manager of CMP, Francisco Carvajal. A 28 t Yutong battery truck has already been used in Chile by SQM but for potassium nitrate haulage.

Regarding the characteristics of the vehicle, the head of CMP’s Filtered Tailings Deposit project, Isabel Morales, explained: “We are going to go down with the truck loaded and that will act as an electricity generator, which will allow us to charge the batteries of the vehicle while we descend. Then, we will go up empty using the energy we have generated during the descent. The arrival of this type of transport represents a step towards a new concept of electromobility in mining, optimising energy efficiency in our operations.”

To this, Yutong Group Sales Manager Joyce Ren added: “If we compare it with a diesel truck, the energy efficiency is more than 60% and the protection levels are higher than IP68, which is the highest level.”

According to the company, the filtered tailings project provides a sustainable solution for the final disposal of the tailings generated in the processes of the pellet plant in Huasco. These are inert and harmless, since no polluting or toxic elements are used in iron recovery, but rather physical and magnetic processes.

The tailings will be arranged in five terraces, 10 m high each, which will be progressively closed by covering them with granular material and sand, which will allow the native vegetation of the area to be replenished through an innovative phytotechnology program that is being developed currently in conjunction with the Pontifical Catholic University, the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, the University of Santiago and the University of Atacama.

CMP will process the tailings with three vertical plate-type filter presses, which will unload the material with less than 20% humidity in a confined transport belt that will take it from the filtering plant to the unloading building, to then be transferred in electric trucks to its final disposal at the site of the deposit.

Meanwhile, the recovered water will return to the process, reducing the consumption of fresh water in the pellet plant by approximately 5,200 m3 per day. All this is possible thanks to the filtering technology applied to the tailings with which a drier and much safer material is achieved to be collected.

Specifically, the project involves three Diemme Filtration filter presses of model GHT2500F with membrane plates, capable of treating 6,000 t of solids per day with a minimum residual moisture. The units are equipped with feeding pumps, feeders for material handling, and a double washing system (rinse and high pressure).