Australia-based Bis has put its innovation portfolio up for sale, a company spokesperson has confirmed.
The company, which serves numerous mining houses across Australia, handles, hauls and processes millions of tonnes of raw materials and commodities every year.
On the logistics side, it has a fleet for out-of-pit, on-road and off-pit applications. When it comes to material handling, it refers to itself as an expert in production input management, including inbound supply chain, out of pit, run of mine, processing, ship and train loading. And its underground services cover the hire of equipment, maintenance services and contract mining, and labour hire.
In the last decade or so, the company has leveraged this position and tight client relationships to develop innovative products aimed at solving a number of challenges mining companies experience – on surface and underground.
In the former category is the Bis Rexx hauler (pictured), a 160-t-payload mining truck with multiple steering and driving axles, enabling it to handle gradients of up to 12% when fully loaded while reducing fuel consumption by up to 40%. Rexx has already been widely trialled, including at Griffin Coal’s Ewington mine, Gold Fields’ Granny Smith mine and Glencore’s Murrin Murrin nickel operation, all in Western Australia. Both hybrid and electric power options have been discussed in the past, in addition to the potential for retrofitted automation.
Underground, Bis has developed a specialised grader for the coal market called Razor. The key features of Razor include high engine power and grader mass that has been optimised to increase tractive effort by over 30% and the use of four gears (as opposed to three) for greater flexibility on difficult ground. Whitehaven Coal secured one of the first units after launch in 2020.
The most recent innovation to come out of Bis is the HUGO (Hybrid Underground Operations) underground mining truck. Offering payloads of up to 80 tonnes, HUGO comes with a diesel-electric hybrid power train that, the company says, meets the current need for lower emission solutions, while providing a platform for decarbonisation and development in using alternative energy sources. The truck brings a 40% increase in productivity compared with today’s largest available 60-65 t trucks and a 50% increase in speed-on-grade capability, Bis says. Late last year, the company said it had reached the next stage in the commissioning process of HUGO with Proof of Concept testing.
