David Francis Lyon , founder and president of engineering company Zero Nexus , spoke about the gaps in specialized training needed to prepare the mining workforce for electrification at the Battery Electric Vehicle Safety in Mines Symposium in Sudbury on Feb. Lyon said the research showed that there is a need to develop a collective base of knowledge on best practices for operationalizing BEVs.
Some of the training opportunities identified included general BEV safety, as well as charging and maintenance safety. In a follow-up statement to CIM Magazine , Lyon wrote that while visiting mine sites to conduct the research, the Zero Nexus team found that a mining company trialling BEV equipment is usually forced to develop its own training program for its workers, which is a process that takes several years; BEVs are not generally a plug-and-play solution.
Lyon stated that a recurring theme from participants was a desire to learn more about battery chemistry and the full life cycle analysis of BEVs from a third-party, unbiased source.
He said that while there are some institutions in Canada that offer training programs, they tend to focus on skilled trades or are part of engineering programs that focus on the development of BEVs.
I think that gap exists globally. Zero Nexus is currently working on designing and developing courses that cover battery technology fundamentals, safety principles, fleet management and the broader landscape of BEV integration in mining for CIM Academy. The workforce research is segmented into mine maintenance, operations and planning, and mine management, and Zero Nexus will soon release a white paper publicly sharing the results of the research.
