LKAB Minerals has invested in a Cat 980 XE wheel loader to assist with the transition to HVO in a move to reduce fuel usage and cut its carbon footprint.
Finning has been supplying machines and providing fleet support to the international state-owned Swedish mining firm for several years.
Now LKAB Minerals is aiming to take the lead within the sector in minimising its impact on the environment by investing in a model that will run wholly on HVO fuel.
Reuben Bentham, Finning territory account manager, said, “We have supplied several Cat machines to LKAB over the years, and proactively supported them in their fleet management with full repair and maintenance contracts to give them complete peace of mind as every minute of downtime in a 24-hour operation can cost thousands of pounds. They have always been pleased with the efficiency performance of Cat machines, so when they had their latest Cat 980 delivered to their Scunthorpe site, they quickly went ahead and pre ordered a Cat 980 XE with a hybrid technology specification which will be up and running on site for 2024.
“The Cat Continuously Variable Transmission delivers smooth shifts, fast acceleration and speed on grade. Deep system integration of the transmission, engine system, hydraulic system and cooling system results in significantly high performance and fuel efficiency.
“As an extremely environmentally conscious company they are always looking at ways to continuously improve their carbon footprint. The amount of CO2 discharged from your fleet plays an important part of that as we know the total production cycle is up to 85% less greenhouse reduction. The fact that all Cat machines have the ability to run on HVO that meets standard EN15940, means you get the same power – just with less overall CO2 emissions over the lifecycle of HVO fuel production.”
Paul Wilson, group plant manager at LKAB Minerals Scunthorpe, said the company takes a proactive approach to managing the environmental footprint of operations and fleet, which is monitored through the Finning CUBIQ data platform.
He added, “Having worked with Finning over a long period of time we have developed confidence in both their machines and product support, so having begun discussions internally around the increased use of HVO in our fleet it made sense to bring them to the table to discuss the solutions they could offer. This has now opened up further conversations with the team at Finning to see how they could support us in optimising our fleet operations further and improving our fuel and carbon emissions which is essential in our drive towards fuel reduction.”
