African Mining November 2019 | Page 20

 GLOBAL NEWS of confi dence in the company’s ability to deliver well into the future and believed Atlas Iron’s senior team had recognised BGC Contracting’s commitment to work in alignment with its brand pillars of project delivery, strong relationships and great people. CANADA: A COLOSSUS FOR MARY RIVER thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions is developing and building a new materials handling system for one of the most remote and challenging locations in the world: an iron ore port in northern Canada. Recently, the fi rst plants were shipped completely pre- assembled from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Baffi n Island. Baffi nland Iron Ore Mines Corporation's Mary River mine is one of the world's richest iron ore deposits with iron contents more than 65%. At the same time, the port on Baffi n Island is one of the most demanding locations in the world. It is only free of ice and accessible to shipping between the end of July and the beginning of October. With thyssenkrupp's new material handling system Baffi nland aims to triple its material handling capacity to 12 million tons (Mt) of iron ore per year. thyssenkrupp supplies a complete system for the processing, storage and transport of iron ore. This includes a complete railcar unloading station, a crushing and screening plant, a stockpile system including a combined stacker/reclaimer, a ship loader as well a conveyor plant connecting all components. Due to the diffi cult logistical and climatic conditions on site, the plants are pre-assembled at a total of four locations in Europe, Canada and the Middle East. The fi rst delivery including a crusher, a screening system and a railcar unloading station was shipped from Bremerhaven to Canada in July 2019. While the railcar unloading station was preassembled in Stettin and transported to Bremerhaven, the crushing and screening system was assembled in Bremerhaven. The crusher building is 23.5m wide, 33m high and weighs about 1 470 tons. The screen building is 30m wide, 34m high and weighs close to 1 800 tons. The BigLift Barentsz reached port on Baffi n Island with its roughly 5 500t freight in the beginning of August. Two more cargo ships are scheduled to deliver conveyors during the current shipping season. The remaining units will be delivered in 2020. When it goes into operation in 2021, the system will crush, According to Christof Brewka, head of materials handling at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, ambitious projects like these require a deep understanding of local conditions, close collaboration with the client and effi cient global project management. “One of our strengths is that we can bring together our experts at diff erent locations around the world. Teams from Germany, Canada and the USA have pooled their know-how to develop the best solution for Baffi nland. At the same time, our proven technologies will guarantee the highest productivity even under extreme climatic conditions,” says Brewka. The port on Baffi n Island is one of the most demanding locations in the world. It is only free of ice and accessible to shipping between the end of July and the beginning of October. 18  African Mining  November 2019 www. africanmining.co.za