WORLD PROSPECTS
BELAZ unveils new LNG mining truck
t the International Industrial Trade Fair
INNOPROM 2017 from July 10-13, 2017 in
Ekaterinburg, Russia, BELAZ presented a
new modification on the 45 t capacity BELAZ-
75476 mining dump truck. The unique feature of
this model is that it is equipped with a gas
reciprocating engine of model Kungur-550, which
uses only LNG as engine fuel. The engine was
converted for gas operation on the basis of the
YaMZ-240NM2 diesel engine made by Yaroslavl in
Russia, by the engineering company Technology
1604 in Ekaterinburg. During the engine
conversion process for gas operation it was
possible to increase its rated power up to 550 hp
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(while the power of the original engine is 500 hp).
This mining dump truck is equipped with a
cryogenic tank for storage of LNG with a capacity
of 405 litres, which currently provides up to six
hours of operation without refuelling. It is also
possible to equip the dump truck with a larger
volume tank which will allow the dump truck to
work for up to 10 hours.
After the trade fair the BELAZ-75476 truck was
due to be delivered to a Russian mine for field
testing. BELAZ specialists believe that this truck
will be of strong interest to potential customers
around the world, not only as it represents one of
the ways to improve the environmental footprint of
mining operations by reducing emissions, but also
as an additional opportunity to reduce costs by
replacing more expensive diesel fuel with cheaper
methane, as well as by increasing engine life and
reducing oil consumption. www.belaz.by/en
Sandvik intelligent trucks automate haulage
andvik is introducing new intelligent
mining trucks for automated haulage,
delivering tangible benefits in safety,
productivity and profitability. Paired with
AutoMine ® Trucking, mines can increase
haulage production by as much as 30%.
The new Sandvik TH551i and Sandvik TH663i
trucks are designed for intelligent mine
production. The high-capacity trucks are safer,
efficient and easy to maintain with low cost per
tonne. An integrated weighing system helps
operators ensure a full payload every trip.
The new trucks essentially deliver increased
production with no increase in fixed costs.
Multi-machine control and improved operating
discipline can reduce operating costs by as
much as 50%. Better availability and improved
performance means that mines can achieve the
same production volume with fewer trucks.
The addition of four to eight productive hours
each day, which otherwise would be wasted for
blast clearance, can increase production by as
much as 30% compared with conventional
trucks.
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“By removing the operator from the truck and
running the entire trucking loop autonomously,
mines can achieve significant operational cost
savings and efficiency gains that are unheard of
using traditional current underground trucking
methods,” says Mark Ryan, Product Line
Manager Trucks at Sandvik Mining and Rock
Technology. “We’ve proven these benefits with
automation projects at mines from Canada to
South Africa.”
“Our focus areas in automating these trucks
were the safety of operators and other
personnel,” says Jarkko Ruokojärvi, Product Line Manager Equipment Automation at
Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology. “We’re
relocating operators from underground to the
surface and isolating the automation area, as
well as reducing decline safety hazards caused
by operator fatigue.”
The new evolution in AutoMine ® Trucking is
decline haulage, which enables high-level
utilisation and improved productivity also in
declines for underground hard rock miners who
use ramp haulage. This helps enable several
additional daily hours of haulage with
automation. Haulage-level automation has
been in operation since 2005 at Petra
Diamonds’ Finsch mine in South Africa, and now
the same proven technology is also available
for decline ramp applications.
The new intelligent trucks have inbuilt data
collection capabilities, ensuring all information
can be visualised at any time. Every load is
analysed and high speed continuous
production in autonomous mode enables
higher utilisation and extended equipment
lifetime. www.sandvik.com
Guardvant Australia’s Managing Director,
Sean Perry said: “It’s been a very thorough trial of our solutions, with significant developments
and improvements along the way at the request
Global growth for
Guardvant
uardvant, the global supplier of real-time
operator fatigue detection systems, has
been selected by Glencore Australia for
its Ravensworth open cut coal operation.
Guardvant’s OpGuard system will be installed on
a mixture of 54 Caterpillar 797 and 789 trucks.
Ravensworth’s Mine Manager, Murray
Gregson explained: “We selected Guardvant
after an extensive year-long trial of their system.
We wanted a reliable non-intrusive system that
assisted us in detecting and supporting our
operator’s fatigue management. We found the
Guardvant OpGuard system surpassed these
requirements and added additional benefit of
mobile phone detection and a forward-facing
camera.”
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4 International Mining | AUGUST 2017