Tomago firm BME is retrofitting diesel-powered underground mining machinery with lithium-ion batteries and electric motors

Operations manager Ryan Lehman said yesterday that BME and affiliated company CME employed about 120 people at Tomago and 30 at Emerald in Queensland.

A crew of about 10 at BME were working on a batch of 10 diesel tool carriers - machines that could be kitted out for various uses including front-end loaders, forklifts and work platforms.

Mr Lehman said lithium-ion battery power was increasingly popular in mining.

He said the machines were being used in various places around the country, including a NSW copper mine and a WA gold mine.

He said BME, through its partner 3ME Technology, was working with government regulators in NSW and Queensland on having their battery-powered vehicles certified for use in underground coal, where the risk of explosions from from coal-gas made safety the main priority.

Mr Lehman said progress had been made since the Newcastle Herald reported on the first battery truck a year ago.

He said the International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified diesel in 2012 from a probable to actual human carcinogen.

Mining was under pressure to change its practices, especially underground, where exhaust exposures were high.

Mr Lehman said emissions from mining operations accounted for about 4 per cent to 7 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, about one-third of it from diesel machinery.

He said ventilation to dilute diesel fumes used between a quarter and a half of an underground mine's energy needs.

He said battery conversion was not cheap, but it saved substantially in fuel costs and had health and environmental advantages.

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