Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill launches battery-powered heavy-haul locomotive in a mining world first

Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill is moving full steam ahead on its decarbonisation plans, celebrating the launch of a fully battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive for mainline service, representing a world-first in the mining industry.

The FLXdrive battery locomotive was launched at manufacturer Wabtec’s design and development centre in the US.

The electric locomotive — which features an energy capacity of 7 megawatt hours — will be shipped to the Pilbara next year before being commissioned at Roy Hill’s iron ore operations. Roy Hill announced its order for the FLXdrive in September 2021.

In a joint statement, Roy Hill and Wabtec said the FLXdrive was anticipated to provide a double-digit percentage reduction in fuel costs and emissions per train. The addition of the FLXdrive will form a hybrid locomotive consist with Wabtec diesel-electric locomotives.

Hancock Prospecting’s Roy Hill currently uses four Wabtec diesel-electric locomotives with pull trains — that are typically 2.7 kilometres in length — carrying more than 33,000 tonnes of iron ore.

Hancock chief executive Gerhard Veldsman said the FLXdrive locomotive represents not only a first for the Pilbara, but a first for the mining industry as a whole.

“The technological smarts that have gone into the development of the loco makes it well suited for our rail network,” Mr Veldsman said.

“By using regenerative braking, it will charge its battery on the 344 kilometers downhill run from our mine to port facility and use that stored energy to return to the mine, starting the cycle all over again.

“This will not only enable us to realise energy efficiencies but also lower operating costs.”

Roy Hill said the locomotive’s iconic pink livery symbolises the company’s commitment to assisting research and those suffering from breast cancer.

Last week Roy Hill revealed it injected a total of $808m of new capital into its operations during the 2023 financial year. The operation produced iron ore shipments of 63.3 million tonnes for FY23 — a record figure — and the second year in a row it surpassed the 60mt milestone.