• OPERATIONS
Vermeer
GUINEA MINE BENEFITS FROM PRECISION MINING
Edited by Leon Louw
The Boke mine in Guinea holds some of the world ’ s highest-quality bauxite deposits .
To efficiently extract , process and transport the material
from the mine , located approximately 30km from the northern shores of the Rio Nuñez in Boké Prefecture , the mining company , SMB ( Société Minière de Boké ) was formed in 2014 . Today , SMB is one of the fastest growing members of the Guinean economic mining landscape .
SMB was established through a strategic alliance between Winning Shipping , UMS International , Shandong Weiqiao , and the State of Guinea , with each member of the consortium serving a vital role in the mining operation . SMB operates the mine , extracting bauxite ore , while UMS transports material from the mine via the only road to the specially built Port of Katougouma on the Rio Nuñez river . The port was constructed by Winning Shipping over a two-year period , and it has four wharves to accommodate the 178 000 metric tons ( 196.000 US tons ) barges that carry the bauxite to the Shandong Weiqiao facility in China .
Searching for a more efficient way The consortium is committed to optimising all aspects of their operations . A few years ago , the group started looking into alternative mining methods , and it was then that members of the consortium first visited a surface mine in Australia to learn about
20 • African
Mining • February 2021 precision surface mining methods . Onsite , the team got its first look at the Vermeer T1255 Commander 3 Terrain Leveler surface excavation machine ( SEM ).
“ We had several questions about the efficiency of surface excavation equipment ,” says Rui Shiliang , executive personal assistant to the president of the Winning International Group . “ It was clear then that using a machine like the Terrain Leveler SEM could help us reduce labour costs , but we needed to determine what the overall cost comparison would be for an operation like ours ,” says Shiliang .
In addition to visiting with several other mining operations and contractors using surface excavation machines for road construction , SMB invited the team from the Vermeer West Africa dealership to come out for a visit .
While there , the group gathered rock samples to ship back to the Vermeer Rock Lab located at the manufacturer ’ s headquarters in Pella , Iowa , US . The experts at the lab conducted unconfined compressive strength , indirect tension , abrasivity , density and energy index testing to help determine how the material would respond when being cut . Based on that information , the local
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