bauma 2025: showcasing mining innovation

Credit: Messe München GmbH

Mining was a focus area at bauma 2025, the trade fair for construction machinery, vehicles and equipment, which took place in Munich from 7-13 April.

Andrew Forrest, founder and executive chairman of iron ore giant Fortescue delivered a keynote speech at the event opening, calling on the construction and mining sector to embrace ‘real zero’ initiatives on a global scale.

Fortescue is leading the race to net zero among the 20 major mining companies, with its commitment to achieving real zero—without relying on carbon offsets—by 2030, setting an industry-leading benchmark.

“I can see clearly a future now that we can switch every machine on Earth to battery-electric,” stated Forrest, whose company plans to roll out a fleet of Liebherr T 264 battery-electric haul trucks at its Australian iron ore operations by 2030.

Additionally, bauma's “mining challenge” forum programme on 8 April saw industry leaders exploring topics such as decarbonisation, automation and digitalisation solutions.

Alongside this, many of the mining equipment manufacturers among the 3,601 exhibitors from 57 nations, showcased new products or launched new services.

Many of the major OEMs used the trade fair, which only comes around once every three years, to demonstrate their latest offerings for mining and construction.

Equipment giant Liebherr had its battery-electric T 264 mining truck (being co-developed with Fortescue) and the R 9400 E 350-tonne electric excavator on display - two machines it says exemplify the company’s commitment to providing a range of zero emission solutions for mining operations.

Fortescue’s Australian operations are scheduled to receive 360 units of the T 264 before the end of 2030, with Forrest confirming during his event presentation that a prototype is now operating. Testing of a fully autonomous version is expected to begin in 2026, according to Liebherr.

Liebherr also unveiled its battery-powered S1 Vision haulage truck, a single-axle vehicle that transports payloads of between 220kg and 131t autonomously.

Caterpillar showcased its new Cat^® 775 off-highway truck at bauma, a 65-tonne payload hauler engineered to enable fully autonomous capabilities in the future.

Based on the company’s Autonomous Hauling Systems, Cat^® MineStar ^TM  Command, already in use at mine sites around the world, Caterpillar is scaling the system’s processes and technology to meet the specific needs for quarry operations that do not need to haul material around the clock.

The Next Gen 775 truck is expected to be introduced in 2026. However, autonomous capabilities for hauling remain under development, according to the company, with a release date to be announced in future.

Komatsu, meanwhile, showcased 34 machines, premiering 13 new models at bauma. Notably, it offered live demonstrations of its electrically powered PC7000-11E hydraulic mining excavator. The machine, it says, “merges the powerful digging force of high-performance diesel machines with the lower carbon footprint of an electrically powered machine”.

Various deals were inked at bauma 2025, with many of the smaller suppliers also demonstrating or unveiling new products. For example:

• ABB signed a memorandum of understanding with the construction and mining systems business unit of Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to collaborate on net-zero emissions solutions for mining equipment.
• Sandvik unveiled its new Pantera™ DP1510i top hammer drill rig anchors as part of a full launch with updated components.
• Conductix-Wampfler showcased its cutting-edge electrification and data transmission solutions for mobile mining machinery.
• Tru-Trac launched an intelligent belt scale system, which uses AI to identify anomalies on conveyer belts.
• Aramine presented its L440B underground load haul dump truck, which it claims is the only battery-powered loader that does not require a fixed infrastructure for charging in the mine.
• Volvo CE unveiled a never-before-seen A30 Electric articulated hauler, which will be available to rent for select customers in some European markets in 2026.
• Paus showcased Universa 55 – its next smart generation compact carrier machine for various mining tasks.
• Epiroc shared its latest digital solution for tunnel construction projects: Underground Manager 2.0.

Visitor numbers at bauma 2025 were up from the previous fair in 2022. The event recorded significant increases in visitors from Brazil, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Turkey and Spain. The numbers from China also increased, beating the record from bauma 2019.

The next bauma will be held from 3-9 April 2028 in Munich, Germany.