WORLD PROSPECTS
throughout the mine. The readers are connected
through the mines’ network to the central
control room where software displays the
location of each team member together with any
important associated emergency information.
“Man down” situations (when a worker is no
longer moving) are detected immediately by the
on-board sensors integrated in the tag modules
and transmitted to the Mine’s Central Sever. A
panic button, and emergency LED are also
provided to alert the team of any accident or
critical conditions occurring in the mine, so that
evacuation conditions can be managed and
organised efficiently and safely from the central
control room. The battery health is also
continuously monitored and transmitted to the
server to ensure continuous 24/7 operation.
The mine operator, Minera Tizapa is at the
forefront of safety with the implementation of
state-of-the-art solutions to comply with NOM-
023-STPS-2012 and today it is one of the few
mines in Mexico and worldwide that has
implemented tracking and identification of all
personnel entering the mine.
The next step in the agenda of Lasec is the
implementation of a mineral handling system,
traffic control, and environmental monitoring,
elements that will be a part of the mine’s
intelligent integral operational system.
Location Running by nanotron – the
availability of location information 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week – has enabled new standards
in safety and productivity. Becker Lasec’s
solution has been extremely well received since
both Group Penoles and its workforce benefit
from it. www.lasec.com.mx; www.nanotron.com
Caterpillar progressing well with Rock Header
aterpillar is continuing development of its
Rock Header through testing of its RH55
prototype in the Hagerbach Test Gallery in
Switzerland. The RH55 is designed for fast,
mechanised roadway development in
underground hard rock mines – to help mining
companies accelerate return on investment.
“As part of the rigorous Caterpillar New
Product Introduction process, our engineering
team is working to validate and optimise the
performance of the RH55 prototype to ensure
that we deliver the machine required by
customers,” Jens Steinberg, Commercial
Manager of Caterpillar’s Hard Rock Cutting
group, told International Mining. “When this
phase is completed, we will move on to pilot
machines to be evaluated in customers’ mines.”
The prototype validation process has included
gathering detailed input from Caterpillar
customers in many different mining districts
around the world. The engineering team
continues to tune performance objectives and to
test in different scenarios to ensure that the
RH55 will meet customers’ production
C
expectations while
meeting Caterpillar’s
high standards for
quality, reliability and
serviceability.
The Rock Header
uses Caterpillar’s
Activated
Undercutting
Technology for
efficient hard rock
cutting. The design of
the cutting head
enables the picks to
attack the rock from
an optimum angle to
exploit its tensile
strength, which is
only 10 to 20% of its
compressive
strength. The
activation movement optimises velocity,
momentum and impact of each pick – while
moving the pick away quickly to minimise wear
S11D truckless operations advance
ll of Vale’s S11D truckless iron ore mining
systems are operating, with their start-ups
ahead of schedule. The four systems are
already operating at over 80% capacity. The four
systems each utilise the Sandvik PF200 fully
mobile crushing station, each loaded by
Caterpillar 7495 rope shovels. The IPCC systems
are being used in the Serra Sul (S11D) block, a
ridge of land 30 km long and around 1.8 km
wide.
Sandvik’s Mining Systems business was
recently acquired by FLSmidth, and when that
deal closed, the Sandvik statement said: “The
projects to be finalised during 2017-2019 by
Sandvik, through an operational agreement with
FLSmidth, will, however, remain reported in
discontinued operations.” FLSmidth stated
before this: “FLSmidth to provide project
management and aftermarket services to
Sandvik on the majority of ongoing projects to
A
6 International Mining | JANUARY 2018
be delivered during 2017-2019.”
Vale’s overall iron ore production achieved a
quarterly record of
95.1 Mt in 3Q17, 3.3
Mt higher than in
2Q17, mainly due to
the better
operational
performance in the
Northern System and
the S11D ramp-up.
The Northern
System, which
comprises Carajás,
Serra Leste and S11D,
achieved a quarterly
record of 45.0 Mt in
3Q17, 8.5% and
16.4% higher than in
2Q17 and 3Q16,
and heating. The result is reduced energy
consumption and replacement cost of cutting
tools. www.cat.com
respectively, mainly due to the ramp-up of S11D,
which is advancing according to plan, plus
better operational performance in the mine and
plant at Carajás and the weather-related
seasonality. www.vale.com