The iron-mining giants at BHP have big plans to decarbonize their mining operations, and they’re turning to the Chinese heavy equipment electrification and automation experts at XCMG to help make it happen.

BHP counts itself among the world’s top resource companies, and this new Agreement signed at XCMG headquarters in Xuzhou, China aims to pair their mining expertise and operations with XCMG’s innovative line-up of electric heavy equipment options to usher in, “a new era of strategic cooperation in the field of green and smart mines.”

International Mining reports that the Agreement between XCMG and BHP will deepen the companies’ cooperation in multiple dimensions, including joint equipment research and development ventures and localized (to Australia) service system construction.​

“Our cooperation with XCMG is a key initiative for BHP to work with strategic suppliers to promote the future development of mining technology,” explains Rashpal Bhatti, BHP Group Procurement Officer. “Combining our operational experience with XCMG’s innovative capabilities to provide strong support for a safer and more sustainable mining fleet solution is an important step in BHP’s overall drive to reduce emissions from its operational assets.”

Both groups are quick to underscore the fact that this Agreement is being seen as a starting point, not a complete definition of their new relationships. Talks are already underway to see more cooperation in key areas of technological innovation and industry standard-setting, which builds on the latest, massive $400 million deal XCMG scored with Fortescue last year.

More standardization across mining operations means lower costs, which means even higher ROI and lower TCO metrics. And, of course, That’s all that matters in this space: if something makes cents, it makes sense.

Why choose XCMG

It should come as no surprise that BHP is tapping XCMG to help it decarbonize. At the 9th Annual Energy and Mine Australia Summit held last month Perth, Australia, the battery electric heavy equipment deal XCMG (“XCMG”, SHE: 000425) signed with Fortescue received the Innovation In Decarbonizing Material Movement award. Its proposed autonomous vehicles, too — like the XDR80TE-AT Autonomous Electric Mining Truck concept (shown, at top) — are winning prestigious international industrial design awards.

That deal pairs low-carbon manufacturing with carbon offsetting to build its machinery as XCMG works towards a net-zero emissions goal. Once the equipment is operational, it’s expected to reduce fossil fuel consumption by millions of gallons of diesel annually, setting another industry benchmark for decarbonization in the mining sector.

SOURCES | IMAGES: XCMG, via International Mining, PR Newswire.

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