Canada's First All-Electric Mine Goes 8,500 Feet Deep

Glencore Canada just became the first mining company to access deep underground ore using an entirely electric fleet, and they're doing it more than a mile beneath the surface.

The company celebrated reaching new nickel and copper deposits at its Craig Mine in Sudbury, Ontario, marking the official start of production at its Onaping Depth project. What makes this different from every other mine? The entire operation runs on batteries, not diesel fuel.

Twenty-three battery-powered machines now work the underground tunnels, handling everything from drilling to hauling. The fleet includes loaders that move broken ore, trucks that carry 42 tonnes at a time, and drills that bore into rock faces to extract precious metals.

Peter Xavier, Glencore Canada's chief operating officer, explains the hidden benefit most people miss. "Eliminating diesel emissions means less ventilation and cooling requirements, which are traditionally among the largest energy demands in underground mining," he says.

That's the clever part. Diesel engines produce heat and fumes that require massive ventilation systems to keep miners safe. Electric equipment runs cooler and cleaner, slashing the energy needed just to make the workspace breathable.

The Ripple Effect

This project does more than prove electric mining works at depth. It secures 400 permanent jobs in Northern Ontario and extends the region's mining future beyond 2040.

Sudbury sits on some of the richest nickel and copper deposits in North America, metals essential for building the batteries that power electric vehicles and store renewable energy. Mining them with electric equipment creates a full circle: clean technology extracting the materials needed to build more clean technology.

The $2 billion investment shows mining companies see a profitable future in going electric, not just a regulatory checkbox. When heavy industry makes changes this big, it's because the math works, not just the marketing.

Other mining operations worldwide are watching Sudbury closely, and equipment maker Epiroc now has a working showcase for its battery-powered machines in real production conditions.

Clean mining once sounded like an oxymoron, but 8,500 feet below an Ontario town, it's now just how the work gets done.