Scania and Australian services provider Regroup are set to make history with the world’s first fleet of autonomous in-pit mining trucks in the Pilbara in 2025, with a rollout planned at Element 25’s Butcherbird Mine. This pioneering project is a testament to the innovative spirit of the industry.
Robert Taylor, Head of Mining Scania Australia, Christian Levin CEO Scania and Michael Still, MD Regroup celebrate the first Autonomous mining fleet purchase-1
Building on the recent announcement of the start of sales for commercially available autonomous trucks, Scania today announces it will supply its first fleet of autonomous trucks to Australian mining services supplier Regroup.
The world-first fleet of 11 autonomous rigid G 560 8×4 tippers, transporting manganese ore for Element 25 at their Butcherbird site, is the result of a collaborative effort between Scania, Regroup, and Element 25. This joint venture is a step towards the future of mining operations.
“Here in Australia, Scania has been working closely with several partners in the local mining industry over recent years to finesse our autonomous truck programme in advance of this announcement,” says Scania Australia Managing Director Manfred Streit.
“We are delighted that this historic event, the first global order for a fleet of Scania’s new autonomous trucks, has been made by a privately-owned Australian company, which will provide these trucks for use in an Australian mining environment.”
“With this fleet order, we bring to commercial reality the concept of an autonomous fleet working at scale in demanding real-world conditions. We anticipate the Regroup fleet deployment will be the first of many, as operators worldwide see the safety, productivity and ease-of-use benefits of Scania’s technology,” says Peter Hafmar, Head of Autonomous Solutions, Scania.
Regroup, a fully integrated civil, mining and bulk commodities haulage partner, sees the autonomous truck fleet as the first critical stage in its path towards a zero-tailpipe emissions mining fleet future. This commitment to sustainability reassures the audience about the environmental impact of the project.
Autonomous vehicle in production.
“Along with Scania, we are excited to be establishing our first fleet of autonomous vehicles in the Australian mining industry. It is not lost on us that we are able to collaborate with one of our key and long-standing partners in Element 25 as we look to roll this solution out across their site. We have always aligned our values in supporting industry innovation and the electrification of the global vehicle fleet. It is great that we can demonstrate this onsite,” Regroup Managing Director Michael Still says.
“Regroup has excelled at initiating and delivering sustainable and renewable practices, and these new autonomous trucks are just the first step in our transport plan. We look forward to adding Scania zero-emission autonomous mining trucks as the next step. In addition to the autonomous trucks coming next year, we have also ordered a driver-operated battery electric Scania rigid 8×4 truck that we will look to incorporate into the Element 25 Butcherbird operation, which will serve as a water cart, underlining our overall aim of decarbonising our mining activities,” Michael Still says.
“We’re investing eight figures with Scania to establish a fully autonomous onsite mining haulage fleet. Regroup has a track record in investing in innovative fleets,” he says.
“We see the autonomous Scania fleet also reducing our diesel consumption, as we’re moving from a larger capacity fleet of 100-200 tonne vehicles to a smaller class unit, and from a decarbonisation perspective, we’re burning less fuel on site, so we’re reducing our impact on the environment to achieve the same commercial result,” he says.
“We have built a relationship with Scania over the past 18 months to reach a point where we can really partner in this groundbreaking opportunity together. It’s also been good for us to have Element 25 on board. Our customer is heavily focused on battery technology. They are mining manganese, and this becomes a circular economy of sorts because the product being mined is a component in the batteries driving the electric vehicles,” Michael Still says.
Michael Still MD Regroup, Justin Brown MD Element 25 and Christian Levin President and CEO Scania Group sign the first fleet deal for autonomous mining truck
Regroup has experienced remarkable growth, expanding tenfold over the past four years. It now provides plant, people, and expertise across several construction and mining sectors, a testament to its capability and commitment to comprehensive service delivery.
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“We worked out early on that we needed to develop into a full-service offering,” Michael Still says.
“We’ve grown quickly from 22 staff to 250. In that same time, we have spent and committed over $100 million on new assets. So, we’re very serious about a fresh fleet. We live by the principle in our business called ’A poor man pays twice’, meaning we don’t buy on the cheap. We purchase new ones for several reasons. I think it attracts good talent and operators, and it shows our innovation within our business. When new technology and opportunity comes along, we can invest,” he says. “Our aim longer term is to electrify the fleet fully.”
Regarding the new autonomous fleet, Mr Still says there will be no reduction in his driver cohort, because the new fleet will be operating as an expansion of a current programme, so no additional drivers will be sought.
“On the one hand, we will reduce our (notional) driver requirement by 21 people due to the autonomous trucks replacing three shifts of seven drivers, so there will be a saving on wages, flights, food, and accommodation. However, we will be creating control room jobs, which are safer environments, and eventually, we anticipate they can be remote sites, such as their hometowns.
“Our existing workforce is unaffected, but it allows us as we grow not to rely on new talent into the business as much as in the past. We’ll be able to take people out of the dirtier, more hazardous environment and deploy them into safer, cleaner, more appropriate, more attractive working environments,” he says.
“I think this has a much bigger impact on the family,” Michael Still says. “But I think the other point is that this is our road map to electrify our fleet and provide our customers with a road map, too. We will run these diesel vehicles initially with one BEV in there. Still, as technology develops – and we see Scania as a critical partner having demonstrated capability in this area – as the larger trucks become available and become an electric option, we would look to swapping out the fleet to the fully electric fleet on site as well.
“Regroup certainly wants to be an early adopter. That’s been a part of our vision as a business, but we’ve also been watching OEMs and some aftermarket providers attempting to automate and electrify their fleets. We always had a clear commitment within our business that the solution we’ll ultimately pick should be backed by the OEM.
“We have seen that Scania, as a business based out of Sweden, has already been working in the Pilbara in mining on autonomous trucks for a while, getting their hands dirty in the harshest of environments, and they back their product in this application to be the first commercial operation in the world,” Mr Still says.
“In discussions with Scania’s Head of Mining in Australia, Robert Taylor, he could see our vision. He could see where we were heading and see the growth trajectory, and he knew that the Scania product was what we needed.
“We’ve certainly done our homework regarding people who are using the Scania product. But a leap of faith is involved with commercialising an autonomous solution from Scania for the first time in the world. With anything that you do for the first time, there will be a leap of faith because there’s no baseline data, but one of our values is to think big,” Mr Still says.
“Looking at our data projections, against maybe a small site, autonomous is more expensive, but the more volume you’re required to move, the cheaper the solution becomes, because your operator numbers don’t increase.
“Yes, your trucks increase, but your operators don’t necessarily increase because you’ve got a control room with the same setup. Your setup costs are, in fact, locked. So, it’s then spread out over more trucks and more volume, and then the trucks make complete sense.
Autonomous vehicle in production.
“But even at the lower volumes, while it looked like on paper there was an increased cost to us providing the solution when you consider the cost of flights, the cost of transporting people to sites, and the cost of accommodating people, it almost reached a cost-neutral point, even with four trucks.
“But at 10 to 11 trucks running, there is a financial benefit to our client. And even while still a diesel truck, just in fuel economy and reduction in carbon emissions, there’s a benefit to our client,” he says.
“We’re expecting to see these new autonomous trucks arriving in the latter half of 2025. We are fortunate that our team has some people who have experience integrating autonomous equipment into the fleet in the Pilbara, so they know what to expect. They were involved with the early concept trials of the autonomous Scania solution in the Pilbara, so we’d rely on those guys and the Scania team. This is really where that partnership works,” Michael Still says.
“Regroup is a business on a rapid path to expansion, having been voted the top regional business of the year in WA,” says Robert Taylor, Head of Mining at Scania Australia.
“We can see that Regroup and Element 25 will benefit from reduced operating costs using our autonomous trucks, decarbonising their operations, and transferring labour requirements from the field to remote control room locations, which are also safer working environments. So, this fleet will provide a win-win for all parties,” Robert Taylor says.
Images supplied by Scania.
Ends
