Eldorado Gold’s Lamaque BEVs: ventilation and haulage design notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Eldorado Gold is expanding electrified underground load-and-haul at the Lamaque Complex in Val-d’Or, Québec, with an order for 10 Sandvik battery-electric vehicles and 10 charging systems, including five TH550B 50‑t trucks and five Toro LH518iB loaders. The first two TH550B trucks were delivered in October, with the remaining three trucks and five loaders to follow, supporting a fully electric primary haulage fleet in key production areas. For mine planners and ventilation engineers, the BEVs are expected to cut diesel emissions and heat load, enabling tighter development in deeper zones.
Technical Brief
- Sandvik package includes 10 BEVs matched with 10 dedicated charging systems for fleet availability.
- TH550B units are 50‑t class trucks, suited to high‑tonnage primary haulage in narrow Quebec headings.
- Toro LH518iB loaders are 18‑t payload class, enabling fewer passes per truck fill underground.
- October delivery of the first two TH550B units enables early ramp‑up and on-site performance validation.
- Remaining three trucks and five loaders will be phased in, allowing staged conversion of diesel circuits.
- Sandvik’s BEV–charger integration reduces interface risk versus mixed-vendor charging infrastructure underground.
- For Lamaque’s deeper zones, reduced diesel heat load directly eases ventilation and refrigeration design constraints.
- Similar Canadian underground mines adopting BEVs are using them to defer major ventilation shaft upgrades.
Our Take
Sandvik’s role at Eldorado Gold’s Lamaque Complex aligns with its wider push into Canadian electrified mining infrastructure, as seen in the C$85 million Greater Sudbury facility build, which signals long-term local support capacity for BEV fleets in Québec and Ontario.
Within our 396 Mining stories, Sandvik appears frequently on both conventional and electrified load-and-haul, and the combination of Toro LH518iB loaders and TH550B trucks at a Canadian gold mine mirrors its recent large fleet orders for Northern Star’s Australian gold operations, suggesting a standardised BEV offering emerging across major gold jurisdictions.
Deploying 10 Sandvik BEVs with matching charging systems at Lamaque positions Eldorado Gold among the earlier large-scale adopters of full-electric underground fleets in our gold-focused coverage, which is likely to sharpen expectations on ventilation cost reductions and decarbonisation performance for comparable Canadian gold projects.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Mining
Geotechnical software solutions for mining operations including CMRR analysis, hydrogeological testing, and data management.
Construction
Quality control software for construction companies with material testing, batch tracking, and compliance management.
CMRR-io
Streamline coal mine roof stability assessments with our cloud-based CMRR software featuring automated calculations, multi-scenario analysis, and collaborative workflows.
HYDROGEO-io
Comprehensive hydrogeological testing platform for managing, analysing, and reporting on packer tests, lugeon values, and hydraulic conductivity assessments.
GEODB-io
Centralised geotechnical data management solution for storing, accessing, and analysing all your site investigation and material testing data.