Over 60 autonomous mining trucks drive onto the Roof of the World as EACON (07687) opens up a high-value market for physical AI.

Zijin Mining Group has partnered with EACON (07687) to achieve normalized operation of more than 60 battery-electric autonomous mining trucks at the Zhibula copper mine of Julong Copper, located at an altitude of over 5,400 meters. The project has become the world's first high-altitude battery-electric autonomous driving project to achieve scaled deployment, with unmanned coverage across the entire mine's haulage process, and has formed what is currently the largest single-mine autonomous fleet among domestic metal mines. From an investment perspective, the value of this progress lies in EACON further embedding autonomous driving capabilities into the actual production system of high-altitude metal mines, consolidating its core technical barriers through stable operation under extreme working conditions, and laying a first-mover foundation for expanding into the high-value metal mining market with complex processes and harsh terrain. **Full-mine haulage at high altitude proven, physical AI delivers on production** The commercialization of mining physical AI requires completing the closed loop from perception to decision-making to execution, and more importantly, solving safety, labor, and efficiency issues in continuous production. The Zhibula copper mine precisely magnifies these requirements: high altitude and oxygen deficiency increase the physical burden on workers, ice, snow, and strong light interfere with environmental perception, mountain occlusion affects positioning, and heavy-load downhill runs and narrow curves test vehicle control. In September 2025, EACON achieved safe-operator-free operation of its first batch of battery-electric autonomous mining trucks at the mine in less than two weeks. Now, with more than 60 vehicles in normalized operation, it means project validation has advanced from technical adaptation of the first batch of vehicles to continuous coordination across the entire mine's haulage process. Supporting this shift is system capability. The "Zhushan" autonomous driving system reduces reliance on single sensors and positioning signals through multi-source perception and positioning fusion; combined with adaptive vehicle control and multi-threaded decision planning, it handles freeze-thaw road surfaces, winding mountain curves, and some single-lane roads only 5.5 meters wide. Project data shows that heavy-load braking distance is shortened by 9.5%15.1% compared with manual driving, adding a safety margin for haulage operations in space-constrained and complex road conditions. More commercially meaningful metrics come from the production side. Zijin Mining Group's on-site operating data shows that the number of transport drivers at the mine has been reduced by 80%, daily effective operating hours have increased by 16%, and efficiency has reached 90% of manual driving. These figures suggest that the economics of autonomous haulage need to be assessed comprehensively in terms of staffing, operating hours, and transport efficiency. For high-altitude mines with limited labor supply, reducing exposure to high-risk positions and maintaining continuous production are themselves significant sources of value. Electrification further expands the project's value. Battery-electric drive is less affected by low air pressure at high altitude, and combined with dynamic charging scheduling, it can reduce the impact of centralized charging queues on haulage continuity. According to project estimates, 60 battery-electric autonomous mining trucks can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 12,000 tonnes per year. Autonomy and electrification thus work together within the same production system, providing a path for high-altitude mines to balance safety, operational stability, and low-carbon transition. **From high-altitude benchmark to cross-mine replication, opening up growth space** The strategic significance of the Zhibula project also lies in helping EACON broaden the boundaries of its capabilities in the metal mining market. Compared with some scenarios where operating conditions are more standardized, metal mining involves more complex extraction processes, road conditions, and operational organization. This requires solutions to undergo more thorough engineering validation, and also gives technologies tested in real production stronger persuasive power with customers. The benchmark formed through cooperation with Zijin Mining Group is expected to become an important case for the company when expanding into similar mining areas. Such replication already has a scale foundation. According to Fujian Daily, as of October this year, the company had more than 3,900 autonomous mining trucks in operation, with solutions covering 40 mines and 5 domestic metal mine projects. The value of Zhibula should be understood within this existing footprint: it further validates the operational maturity of the fleet under high-altitude and complex metal mining conditions. Replication capability also depends on the platform. The company's interim report shows that as of the end of June 2026, the company's "Yushi" platform had been adapted to more than 100 vehicle models from 16 OEMs. A unified drive-by-wire and algorithm architecture helps transfer existing engineering experience and scenario data to new vehicle models, reducing repeated adaptation. This provides the basis for converting experience from highly difficult projects into reusable capabilities. The business model determines the capital efficiency of capability expansion. The interim report shows that the customer-provided fleet model accounted for 65.6% of the group's total revenue, up from 62.7% in the same period last year, and the gross margin of this model reached 32.3%. Under this model, vehicle assets are held by customers, while the company focuses on providing autonomous driving software and hardware, management, and technical support, creating an expansion path that covers more fleets with technology and services. Whether the project's value can be further converted into financial growth still depends on subsequent order replication, delivery efficiency, and service revenue. As for this progress, the continuous operation of more than 60 battery-electric autonomous mining trucks on the Roof of the World has already provided EACON with a clear commercial proof: its technology can enter highly difficult production scenarios and create value around customers' actual needs. Expanding into metal mining and overseas markets along this direction will become an important path for the company to consolidate its leading position in the commercialization of mining physical AI.