MINE HOISTS
significant saving for the mine. A further
advantage of this approach to hoist technology
allows for reduced technical support on site and
enables ABB to support the end user with its
offsite monitoring facility.
SIEMAG TECBERG hoist for South
Korean iron ore
On March 20, 2019, the Samra Midas Group-
Handuk Iron Ore Corp celebrated the official
opening of its new Shaft #2 hoisting plant at
Handuk Iron Ore Mine in the Gangwon-do
province in South Korea. The Chairman of Samra
Midas Group Woo Ohyeon, complimented the
outstanding performance of everyone involved in
the project including SIEMAG TECBERG. With the
official commissioning of the new hoisting plant,
the Handuk Iron Ore Mine is now the biggest ore-
producing mine in South Korea.
The new Shaft #2 is replacing the old
uneconomical Shaft #1. This investment ensures
the mine’s continuity for the next decades.
SIEMAG TECBERG was the leading contractor for
the entire shaft hoisting equipment, including
the engineering, production, assembling and
commissioning of two winders and braking
systems, loading and unloading equipment, shaft
and guide-rope installations as well as for the
engineering of the headframe. This was carried
out as a group-order with intercompany
deliveries and performances from the SIEMAG
TECBERG group locations in Germany and China.
A special feature in the new Shaft #2, next to
the four rope winder with an intended yearly
output of up to 1.7 Mt of ore, is the arrangement
of a single-rope drum winder, which will be used
as a man riding winder for the underground
particle physics laboratory of the Korean
Institute of Basic Science.
Agnico Eagle chooses ABB for Kittila
As part of the development of its mining
processes, Agnico Eagle’s Kittilä gold mine in the
far north of Finland has invested
in ABB’s production and personnel hoists. This
investment will contribute to increasing the
capacity of the mine and reducing the use of
fossil fuels.
The delivery is part of the $186 million
expansion investment in the Kittilä mine by
mining company Agnico Eagle Finland Oy, which
started in the spring of 2018. A mine shaft over a
kilometre deep will be built at the mine, from
which ore will be lifted with hoisting equipment
supplied by ABB. The shaft will make it possible
to utilise the deeper parts of the gold deposit in
an economically viable way. This will also
improve the energy efficiency of the mine and
reduce the use of fossil fuels, as it will replace
the truck and off-road vehicle transport of ore
and personnel. The processing capacity of the
14 International Mining | AUGUST 2019
mine's concentrating plant will increase from the
current 1.6 Mt to 2.0 Mt per year.
The ABB delivery includes one friction type
production hoist with 2.5 MW of motor power as
well as a 1.2 MW single drum personnel hoist.
These are the first hoists in the Kittilä gold mine.
ABB will also deliver online remote support
services for real-time hoist condition monitoring.
With ABB Ability, ABB will provide the best
availability and expert support for the customer
for this project.
“ABB has proven to be a reliable and capable
partner in mining projects. In addition, ABB has a
comprehensive service network in the area,
which is indispensable for ensuring production.
The hoisting machine is a new critical factor in
the mine production chain, where all of the above
things are emphasised," said Seppo Voutilainen,
Project Manager at Agnico Eagle Finland Oy.
The Kittilä mine is the largest gold mine in
Europe. The mine already utilises a varied range
of ABB technology, including motors, an
automation system, frequency converters and
instruments. The current life cycle of the mine is
estimated to last at least until 2035. The
personnel and the production hoists will be
installed and introduced at the Kittilä mine
during 2020-2021.
Siemens applies cloud tech for mine
hoists in China
To increase outputs while reducing shutdown
times, YanZhou Coal Mine Co Ltd in China is for
the first time establishing a cloud concept for
mine hoisting, enabling it to centrally monitor
production, analyse, and respond to insights
from real-time data. Drawing on Siemens
longstanding expertise in the mining industry
and Industry 4.0, the solution will be based on
the advanced architecture and performance of
Siemens WinCC Open Architecture. As part of the
contract, Siemens will also provide inter process
communication (IPC), accessories, plus software
engineering and site commissioning services.
“Falling commodity prices and increasing
trade tariffs, alternative energy sources, rising
safety and security risks: the global coal mining
industry faces major challenges while needing to
meet mounting stakeholder expectations. To stay
competitive, companies need to become more
innovative: digitisation plays a crucial role by
offering new ways to maximise productivity. For
this purpose, YanZhou Coal Mine Co Ltd is
establishing a cloud concept for mine hoisting.”
The project is underway this year, initially
drawing data from four mine hoist systems at the
customer’s DongTan Coal Mine, located in the
central eastern portion of YanZhou coalfield. To
benefit from enterprise-wide insights, YanZhou
Coal Mine Co Ltd intends later to extend the
concept to cover up to 20 mine hoists located
hundreds of miles apart from each other at this
and its other five coal mines.”
For 24/7 transparency, the cloud platform can
be accessed by users on local PCs in the
enterprise network, or using remote PC or smart
phone/tablets via the Internet. This enables
engineers and managers to monitor machine
status, trace fault by historical trend, while
managing service routines and the knowledge
library – anytime, anywhere.
YanZhou Coal Mine Co Ltd is headquartered in
Zoucheng, Jining, Shandong in eastern mainland
China. The company is principally engaged in
underground coal mining, preparation and
processing, sales, and railway transportation of
coal.
The most recent update to Siemens mine
winder portfolio will see this infrastructure
equipment benefit from not only the latest
digitalisation tools, but also the highest safety
standards, Roland Gebhard says.
This update, on the one hand, brings its
Winder Technological Controller (WTC) fully in
line with the latest digitalisation standards using
the Simatic S7-1500 digitalisation platform. On
the other hand, it ensures the solution adheres
to safety integrity level (SIL) 3, Gebhard, the
company’s Product Manager for mine winders,
said in the company’s Minerals Focus publication.
Gebhard said Siemens is the first company
worldwide to integrate this safety standard in a
mine hoist. “The new controllers are compliant
with most international safety standards,
including the German TAS and the Chinese MA,”
he said. “The safety system is used primarily for
speed and position monitoring, depending on the
operating mode and conveyance position in the
shaft.”
Additional functions of the WTC include the
continuous acquisition and collection of motor,
converter, brake system and mine winder data.
This accumulated data is downloaded to one of
the Siemens Winder Competence Centers and
analysed as the basis for recommended
preventive maintenance.
Among the first installations to benefit from
the new WTC is the already mentioned
Woodsmith polyhalite mine in the UK.
Hepburn Engineering acquires
DavyMarkham IP
Sadly the UK’s DavyMarkham, a long standing
big name in hoisting and winder technology,
entered administration in May 2018 but its
designs live on as on February 15, 2019 Hepburn
Engineering Inc (Hepburn) announced it had
acquired all of the DavyMarkham’s Intellectual
Property assets. The company stated:
“DavyMarkham Limited was a UK-based
engineering firm that designed, manufactured
and serviced hoists, winches, compensating