ABB is collaborating with four other companies, LKAB, Epiroc, Combitech and Sandvik, to develop deep-underground mining solutions that are digitalized, safe, carbon-dioxide-free and autonomous, and study them using their Sustainable Underground Mining (SUM) testbed in the orefields of northern Sweden. It will be located in LKAB’s underground mines in Kiruna and Malmberget, Sweden, as well as in a virtual mine.
"We're proud of this collaboration between companies at SUM. ABB supplies products that assist electrification of Epiroc's powertrain with motors and drive systems, as well as charging infrastructure for electric vehicles," says Björn Jonsson, head of industrial automation division Sweden, ABB. “We're working together to find new methods and smarter solutions for the sustainable mining of the future. With our knowledge of automation and electrification of underground mines, we're contributing to immediate measures to fight climate change.”
ABB will contribute solutions for underground electrification and an integrated automation platform and operations management system that connects workforce and equipment in real time to perform predictive production scheduling, automated execution and react to disturbances in seconds. As a result, the SUM project will lay the foundation for making decisions into the mid-2020s for one of Sweden’s largest industrial investments. SUM has already received financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency. After 2030, for example, LKAB will be ready to break into deeper ironstone in the Kiruna and Malmberget mines.
