WORLD PROSPECTS
pairs in total, with the bottom pair supporting the empty belt and the pair in the middle carrying the loaded belt. An inspection vehicle travelling on the third track rope pair at the top serves to provide easy and safe access to any point along the line. Almost all moving parts are attached to the belt and therefore pass through the stations at regular intervals. Service and maintenance works can thus be performed at one central point.
The El Limón RopeCon system generates about 1 MW of green energy from braking actions, which contributes to a reduction of the overall operating costs. This, and the fact that no fossil fuel( diesel) is required to operate the system is one of the significant differences between RopeCon and trucks, the
TERRATEC’ s TR3000 Raise Boring Machine has successfully completed two shafts in recent months in the copper mines in Sichuan Province in China. The two shafts completed so far were for ventilation purposes, and were 3.1 m in diameter. The rock encountered by the RBM in China on these projects has been of medium hardness, averaging 100 MPa of uniaxial simple compression. The first shaft reaming work was completed in 28 days and the second one in 16 days, which represents a record in the China for this size of shaft. The Raise Borer, which is owned and operated by leading Chinese underground contractor JCHX, has now been moved to another mining region in the north of the country to bore a 300 m deep inclined shaft of 2.4 m in diameter.
Earlier this year, JCHX won the EPCM contract for the First Phase Mining Project for the Pulang copper mine with a contract period of eight years. Pulang is located in the northeast part of Shangrila, Yunnan Province, and is owned by other means of transport under consideration for the transport of the ore. Apart from the positive effects on operating costs, resulting from straight-forward maintenance and regenerative operation due to downhill transport, the avoidance of dust and noise emissions is another argument which strongly supports the use of the RopeCon. The automatic transport system will also help to enhance operational safety and its controls can be integrated into the central control system of the mine.
The decision to use the RopeCon to transport the crushed ore from the pit to the stockpile in the valley also means that the access road to the pit does not have to be upgraded for truck transport. Access can now be narrower and
Yunnan Copper, itself part of Chinalco. JCHX says that a series of new technologies and techniques will be used, with main conveyor belt drift development, block caving, trackless equipment loading, and unmanned locomotive haulage. The designed capacity is 12.5 Mt / y, with two years to full scale production. It will be the largest underground non-ferrous metal mine in China once completed. The main scope of works for JCHX included in this contract are underground development, mining, installation, and maintenance.
To help with this and other projects, JCHX also recently bought five new CYBERMINE training simulators from ThoroughTec Simulation. In addition to their current simulators for Atlas Copco 282 drill rig and Normet 1050 shotcrete sprayer operator training, JCHX will be receiving
Vedanta Eureka to nuture innovation
steeper and can follow a different route. The footprint of the roads can thus be reduced. The RopeCon system as such operates off-ground and does not touch the ground between the loading station and the track rope anchoring point in the valley except with one tower structure. With a height of 44 m, this tower achieves the discharge height required for the stockpile. The span between the loading station and the tower structure is 1,200 m. The conveying angle comes up to 32 °. Viewed over the entire life of the mine of an estimated 10 years, the RopeCon will transport about 1,000 t / h of ore from the crusher to the stockpile, from where the material will then be taken to the processing plant. www. doppelmayr-mts. com
JCHX raise bore and other success in China
five additional, latest-generation CYBERMINE simulators for the training of Sandvik LH410 LHD and DS411 bolter operators; as well as Atlas Copco Simba 1354 long hole drill rig, MT2010 dump truck and Cabletec LC bolter operators. www. jchxmc. com; www. terratec. co; www. thoroughtec. com
Vedanta Ltd, India’ s largest diversified natural resources company, is creating a new web-based platform,‘ Eureka’, to nurture and incubate in-house innovation and technology.‘ Eureka’ is expected to go live on May 30, 2016. The platform is part of Vedanta’ s Innovation & Technology program, which has been created with INR200 crore in capital to fund in-house research and development opportunities.
Headed by Ajay Kumar Dixit, CEO, Power at Vedanta Ltd, the Innovation and Technology program is currently evaluating“ some of the most exciting prospects in the fields of mining, exploration, and production.” For instance, MAGMA, a new technology that allows conversion of red mud into pig iron is being evaluated. If successful, MAGMA would be instrumental in protecting the mining area from being filled with red mud and in turn be used for more productive purposes.
“ Innovation is crucial to business success and sustainability in the natural resources industry. From assessing mineral deposits, facilitating cost management, ensuring worker safety, addressing environmental imperatives, innovative practices hold the key to value creation. We recognise the power of ideas in driving innovation and believe crowd sourcing them through a common engagement platform is the most effective and efficient path to scale. I am confident that‘ Eureka’ will be the foundation of Vedanta’ s lead in innovation & technology in the years to come”, said Dixit.
Apart from MAGMA, Vedanta is also assessing the viability of recovering zinc and lead from slag, which is generated during the smelting of
zinc. The Black Mountain Mining( BMM) project in South Africa has submitted a technology named REFLEX, which facilitates the effective survey of mines. Developing processes to reduce water consumption, converting fly ash into geo-polymer cement, and cutting down on paper consumption are some of the other areas that are being developed to enhance sustainability. www. vedantaresources. com
6 International Mining | JUNE 2016