Zijin Longking Manufactures 25 Units of 230-Tonne Electric Mining Trucks for Ghana's Akyem Gold Mine

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 8, Ghana's Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, visited the Zijin Longking production base in Longyan, Fujian, China. Zijin Longking is currently manufacturing 25 pure electric mining dump trucks, each with a rated payload of 230 tonnes, for Zijin Mining's Akyem Gold Mine in Ghana. During the visit, some of the vehicles were still in the production stage, while others had already been completed and were awaiting shipment to Ghana.

This batch production corresponds to Zijin Longking's independently developed 230-tonne-class pure electric mining truck product. On August 10, the company completed the rollout of the ZL230E pure electric mining truck at the Longking Smart Environmental Protection Industrial Park. The model was originally designated LK350E, with a gross weight of 350 tonnes, a curb weight of 120 tonnes, a maximum payload of 230 tonnes, a body heaped capacity of 125 cubic meters, a multi-axle central distributed independent drive architecture, and two 800 kW drive motors.

The ZL230E is equipped with a 1,400 kWh power battery system, capable of recharging to 90% in approximately 25 minutes, with a peak power of 2,400 kW. The vehicle is developed for long-distance haulage, heavy-load climbing, and continuous transport operations at large open-pit mines. Zijin Longking had previously developed the 140-tonne-class ZL150E pure electric mining truck, which began batch delivery to Zijin Mining's mines in May 2026; this batch of 25 units of 230-tonne-class vehicles represents the company's larger-tonnage pure electric mining trucks entering batch application at overseas mines.

The vehicle user, the Akyem Gold Mine, is located near New Abirim in Ghana's Eastern Region and is one of the country's large operating open-pit gold mines. Zijin Mining completed the acquisition of the Akyem Gold Mine from Newmont on April 16, 2025, and currently holds an 85% interest in the mine through Zijin Gold International. The mine employs both open-pit and underground mining methods, uses a carbon-in-leach (CIL) process for ore processing, and has a processing plant with a designed annual capacity of 8.5 million tonnes. It is currently in a phase of stable production and debottlenecking.

As of the end of 2025, the Akyem Gold Mine's resources (including reserves) correspond to approximately 289 tonnes of gold, with an average grade of 1.88 g/t. The mine's existing production system is simultaneously undergoing further resource exploration and production optimization. From the completion of the acquisition by Zijin Mining to the end of 2025, the mine produced approximately 5.1 tonnes of gold on a 100% equity basis.

The Akyem Gold Mine was originally operated by Newmont. Zijin Mining paid US$888 million in cash upon completion of the acquisition transaction and paid the remaining US$100 million to Newmont in July 2025. The mine's gold production from 2021 to 2024 was 11.9 tonnes, 13.1 tonnes, 9.2 tonnes, and 6.4 tonnes, respectively.

Zijin Longking had previously deployed pure electric mining trucks at Zijin Mining's domestic mines. The first batch-produced 140-tonne-class LK220E mining trucks were delivered from the Longyan factory in May 2026 and applied at sites including the Zijinshan Gold-Copper Mine and the Tibet Julong Copper Mine. Operating data disclosed by the company shows that this model achieves a daily average haulage volume of over 2,000 tonnes at the relevant mining areas, with an availability rate exceeding 90%, and energy consumption per tonne-kilometer more than 17% lower than comparable electric mining trucks of the same class.

Huang Wei, President of Zijin Longking, stated during the Ghanaian delegation's visit that the company plans to ship the electric mining trucks to Ghana in the near future and put them into operation at local mines in 2027; the company also plans to establish a maintenance center in Ghana in 2027 to provide repair and technical support for vehicle operations. Personnel from Ghana's Akyem Gold Mine also visited the Longyan factory on this occasion to track the manufacturing progress of the 25 electric mining trucks.

According to the follow-up arrangements announced by Zijin Longking, the company will also evaluate the construction of local production facilities based on the scale of its business in Ghana and other African markets. The implementation milestones already confirmed at this stage include the manufacturing of 25 vehicles, shipment to Ghana, entry into operation in 2027, and the construction of a local maintenance center.