Award-winning Hardrock Gopher makes the (steep) grade
Don’t underestimate the ingenuity of the gopher.
That’s in part the message behind an inaugural award for industry innovation from an international mining organization based in Saskatchewan.
In April, the International Minerals Innovation Institute (IMII) gave its first-ever Innovation Award to a Saskatoon-based company, recognizing its achievement in designing and manufacturing a plug-in electric vehicle for mining called the Hardrock Gopher.
Built by Prairie Machine and Parts (PMP), the prototype is designed for tough mining conditions where space is tight, grades are very steep and clean air is at a premium.
“For our first year of the award, we felt it is important to give it to a company that is ready to bring a product to market,” says Al Shpyth, executive director of IMII, also based in Saskatoon. “After all, an innovation is not really innovative unless it’s put into use.”
The IMII itself is no slouch when it comes to thinking outside the box.
Founded in 2012, the organization supports Saskatchewan’s world-leading mining industry, renowned for innovations in potash and uranium mining. Among the IMII’s roles is funding new programs in research and development taking place in the province — from designing new products and processes to enhancing safety and training.
“Innovation is very important to the province’s mining industry,” Shpyth says.
He points to its two key mining resources.
“If we didn’t find a way to get through the Blairmore Aquifer, we wouldn’t have a potash industry,” he says. “And if we didn’t develop new technology to reach the McArthur River and Cigar Lake uranium deposits, we wouldn’t have a uranium mining industry either.”
While the award is international, Shpyth adds it is fitting the first one goes to a homegrown idea.
“It’s not just that the Hardrock Gopher can meet the needs of local industry,” he says. “It also meets the needs of the global industry.”
Indeed, the vehicle is drawing attention from around the world because it addresses a major challenge faced by underground mining operations.
“Everybody realizes mines have a problem and that problem is the use of fossil fuels to extract resource,” says William Hughes, engineering manager with PMP, who led the development team.
But it’s more than a climate change problem. It’s also a health and safety issue for miners. The traditional fuel source for mining vehicles underground is diesel, which causes major air quality problems for mines. Consequently, mining operations spend a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy — the hydrocarbon kind — to filter and ventilate the air.
Although electric vehicles have been on the radar of the industry for some time, they have always faced challenges regarding battery life in unforgiving terrain. In part, that’s because previous models by other manufacturers were often modified versions of dieselpowered vehicles. In contrast, the Hardrock Gopher is designed from start to finish as an electric vehicle.
“We did a lot of research with battery cell testing,” Hughes says. For example, the engineering team discovered that how each energy cell is connected to one another can affect the battery’s reliability, charge and lifespan.
With traditional designs, if one cell failed, the whole battery pack failed, too .
“But we found a way to combine cells in parallel to create redundancy so if any one given cell fails, the overall battery pack still has some life in it,” he says.
Moreover, the Gopher — which is designed to be a runabout vehicle that seats four and can also carry about 450 kilograms of equipment — has plenty of other innovative features. These include a regenerative braking system that recharges the battery using the energy generated from the brakes as the Gopher descends grades as steep as 20 per cent.
All these advances add up to a battery range of about 120 kilometres — more than enough for a 12-hour shift.
“Normally, you never drive more than 60 kilometres on any given shift,” Hughes says.
While the Gopher is a prototype, three are in use in potash mining in the province, and PMP recently sold four more to a Canadian mining company.
Interest is high, with potential customers from Australia and elsewhere inquiring about purchasing the Hardrock Gopher.
While the company has made electric vehicles before, the Gopher is the first one that is comparable with the performance of diesel vehicles.
“We designed it from the beginning to be a cost-effective vehicle,” Hughes says, adding that’s largely why the vehicle has been recognized for innovation with the award.
“But it’s not just the fact that we have made a product that will be profitable. It’s the fact that we have made something that will make the whole experience of working in a mine better.”
For the IMII, PMP’s Hardrock Gopher is the kind of innovation it wants to support and recognize.
“Going forward, industry will keep looking to innovate, not only to make them more productive, but to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to increase safety,” Shpyth says.
And the Hardrock Gopher, he adds, fits that description to a T.