EACON AHS project in Australia ramps up; rapid growth in China continues
EACON says it has now begun commissioning of a fleet of six Komatsu HD1500 trucks retrofitted with its autonomous haulage technology in the Havana Pit of Norton Gold Fields, which is owned by Zijin Mining.
The fleet has been completing autonomous load-haul-dump cycles within the active pit environment of this Australian gold operation – marking EACON says an important operational step as the project moves closer to the production trial phase. EACON stated: “Moving from controlled validation into live pit operations is where autonomous systems begin proving performance under real mining conditions.”
In a wider sense, eight years into its journey, EACON adds that autonomous haulage is now moving beyond pilots and into scaled mining production. Today, its rapid progress has brought the leader in mining fleet AHS to a total of 2,500+ autonomous trucks deployed; with 30+ active projects across multiple commodities; and 120 million+ autonomous kilometres travelled.
The company continues: “We are strengthening our presence in Australia through local teams, product capability, and on-site support. At the same time, our deployments are expanding further into metal mining, particularly across copper and gold operations. Eight years is a milestone. But more importantly, it reflects a shift from proving autonomy works, to scaling it where it matters most.”
Looking at projects in China, which remains EACON’s largest market – the growth of autonomous haulage in mining remains very rapid, even looking at recent months.
On April 1, five unmanned wide-body trucks with EACON AHS installed officially started testing at the Zhanihe open-pit coal mine of Yanbao Guoneng Energy (part of CHN Energy) in the Hulunbuir region of Inner Mongolia, helping the mine promote the intelligent upgrading of transportation links and further improve safety and efficiency.
On April 22, 50 autonomous mining trucks using EACON’s AHS in the Yankuang Qineng No. 4 open-pit coal mine of Shandong Energy Group were officially put into operation, and are now integrated into the modern mine operation system with intelligent scheduling.
At Shitoumei No. 1 open-pit coal mine, using a 5G private network and intelligent scheduling, and with the support of EACON’s AHS, more than 90 unmanned mining trucks have achieved large-scale normal operation, including efficient coordination at coal unloading stations.
As of May 7, more than 100 unmanned mining trucks empowered by EACON’s AHS have helped the Zhahanaoer open-pit coal mine of SPIC in Inner Mongolia achieve an output of more than 21,323,800 cubic metres of soil and waste rock stripping, with safe operation for 685 days.
During the 2025/2026 winter, in the face of low temperatures and extreme weather challenges, SPIC alone as a company has put into operation nearly 400 wide-body unmanned mining trucks – more than 300 of which are using EACON’s system and these have seen stable operation in extremely cold environments, providing reliable transportation guarantees in a period of peak thermal coal demand for energy supply.
Finally, for iron ore miner Xichang Mining, a subsidiary of China Baowu Group, 18 battery electric unmanned mining trucks with EACON AHS have achieved normal operation, fully coordinated with mining and digital management and control systems.
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