Gold Fields to trial Sandvik 66 tonne diesel-electric underground truck at St Ives
Gold Fields, in its just released Sustainability Report 2025, has confirmed plans to introduce a prototype Sandvik 66-tonne diesel-electric underground truck to its St Ives operation, in Western Australia, for pilot testing.
The trial will take place with support from the operations’ “business partner”, Gold Fields says, indicating its mining contractor Byrnecut will be involved.
It follows testing with the OEM that involved a Sandvik LH518B battery-electric loader at St Ives, which kicked off in late 2021.
In a case study within the report, Gold Fields stated: “Building on our vast experience and collaborations within the mining value chain, we are framing our material movement decarbonisation journey around three key OEM partnerships and associated electric vehicle trials.”
At its Agnew and Granny Smith mines, the company completed pilot studies of Caterpillar diesel-electric loaders (R2900 XEs), with these units now in full production. Site data confirms an average circa-35% reduction in diesel burn compared with equivalent conventional diesel loaders, broadly in line with Caterpillar’s original expectations, the company noted. “This outcome validates diesel-electric loaders as a lower-emission, lower-fuel-use option and demonstrates clear potential for operating cost and total cost of ownership benefits over time,” it added.
Gold Fields’ partnership with Epiroc, meanwhile, has progressed to the mobilisation of the MT66 S eDrive diesel-electric underground haul truck to Granny Smith, with a proof-of-concept pilot having now commenced.
It stated: “Gold Fields was closely involved in the design process, providing input and agreeing key performance indicators focused on emissions reduction, fuel efficiency, performance, reliability and cost. As this is the first truck of its type produced by Epiroc, the trial is aimed at understanding technology readiness and establishing whether such trucks can ultimately replace parts of our diesel fleet.
“Outcomes will be reported once sufficient operating data have been gathered.”
Gold Fields says testing of the Sandvik 66-tonne diesel-electric underground truck will enable a side-by-side comparison of diesel-electric truck performance with the Epiroc MT66 S eDrive under similar conditions, complementing the battery-electric vehicle loader trial it ran several years ago.
It added: “Together, these Sandvik pilots are designed to test reduced-emission options across both loading and hauling, while continuing to highlight the trade-offs between emissions, productivity, reliability and cost at our required equipment sizes.”
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