On May 8, mining contracting major JCHX began its underground high-end intelligent heavy mining equipment project when it broke ground on a major new factory in the Daye Lake High-Tech Zone in Huangshi City, Hubei Province.
The equipment arm of JCHX is subsidiary JCHX (Hubei) Intelligent Equipment Co Ltd, which has supplied many machines in China plus has exported machines, mainly LHDs, to Chinese owned mines in the DRC, Serbia, and Zambia. The customer list includes Zijin Mining, Chinalco, China Gold, Hainan Mining, SD-Gold, Western Mining, Jinchuan and Chihong Zn&Ge.
While JCHX is a major buyer of underground mining equipment for its contracting services globally, especially from Sandvik which whom it just signed a major new strategic cooperation agreement – it has long sought to build up its own market position in equipment. JCHX (Hubei) Intelligent Equipment was established in 2021 but JCHX had been developing designs before this since 2015, also in Daye, under its King Ant brand, including a 4 t class battery electric LHD which was successfully tested in 2019 at Anhui Jinniu Lujiang pyrite mine, where JCHX is a contractor and which also serves as a test mine. It is located near Hefei City in Anhui Province.
In 2021, JCHX (Hubei) launched a 25 t class wet brake underground mining truck (the UQ-25, sometimes called KAT25) which was independently developed and it says successfully passed appraisal by China Nonferrous Metals (CNMC). It is currently in production and has been successfully used at major mines. JCHX has also successfully registered the King Ant brand trademark and applied for and had approved more than ten patents. The UQ-25 is an ADT design, but JCHX also offers a low profile underground 35 t class truck, the KATUK-35.
In the future, the company intents to mainly produce underground wet brake trucks, LHDs and small mining auxiliary vehicles (water sprayer trucks, cranes scalers, shotcrete sprayers, concrete transport trucks) and other mining equipment, providing customers – including its parent company JCHX – with full-scenario mining development solutions.
The JCHX King Ant range includes diesel LHDs like the 14 t class WJ-6 (KAT614), successfully tested at Chinalco’s Pulang copper mine at over 3,700 m in Yunnan Province; the 10 t class WJ-4 (KAT41) and 7 t class WJ-3 (KAT307). The battery electric range of machines use LFP batteries and include the 14 t class KAT614; 10 t class KAT410; 7 t class KAT307-EV; and the 4 t class KAT204-EV, which is also available as an autonomous ready version. JCHX says the machines use high-energy-density liquid-cooled lithium batteries as the power source, with ultra-high-efficiency switched reluctance motors and hydraulic control gearboxes.
JCHX (Hubei) is also working towards showcasing its equipment at MINExpo 2028 in Las Vegas, currently set for September 26-28. While it has had equipment at numerous events in China, this will be its first major overseas event appearance. It is aiming to become a key player in Chinese underground equipment supply along with Fambition, Jiangxi Siton and LGMRT, the latter being a Chinese brand but a 50/50 JV between Lingong and Sandvik.
JCHX Chairman of the Board Wang Qinghai said that Daye as a location has a profound industrial heritage and a superior business environment, which is not only an ideal place for JCHX to build up this business, but also a broad stage for win-win cooperation with partners and customers. The company he said will adhere to first-class standards and quality, and make every effort to build an industry-leading intelligent mining equipment base, contributing to the development of the global mining industry with the power of ‘Made in China.’
The high-end intelligent heavy mining equipment processing project is positioned as “high-end, intelligent and green” and the factory layout is being benchmarked against international first-class standards, integrating high-power laser cutting, robot welding, precision CNC machining and digital management and control platforms, with a full-chain intelligent manufacturing system. After completion and commissioning, it is expected to have an annual production capacity of 500 sets of heavy mining equipment, and at the same time drive the coordinated development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains.
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