Electrically driven mining equipment: http://www.hitachiconstruction.com/about/media-press-releases/hitachi-introduces-five-mining-electric-drive-shovels-ex190

Electrically driven mining equipment: http://www.hitachiconstruction.com/about/media-press-releases/hitachi-introduces-five-mining-electric-drive-shovels-ex1900e-6-ex2600e-6-ex3600e-6-ex5600e-6-and-ex8000e-6/ http://www.hitachiconstruction.com/about/media-press-release... http://www.oemoffhighway.com/article/11224086/electrification-of-underground-mining-equipment http://www.oemoffhighway.com/article/11224086/electrificatio... If you just mean that it's impractical to build the electrical grid out to a remote mining site, that's true. In the present day remote mining sites typically use diesel fueled generators, now being supplemented with photovoltaic arrays in sunny regions. If you imagine a world with approximately-1940-level technology (so PV is not yet an option) and no fossil fuel, then you'd need to use something like biodiesel or ethanol instead of fossil-derived diesel.