UNDERGROUND MINING RAIL
Paul Moore spoke to Jens Steinberg, Director Sales and
Marketing at SMT Scharf, about the potential for
EMTS in metallic mining worldwide
Q Monorails are already widely used in coal mining for people and
equipment transport. Why have you now taken the decision to widely
market this EMTS solution to metallic and other non-coal mines and what
are the key benefits?
A The EMTS has initially been developed for platinum and gold mining
customers in South Africa who needed a flexible transport system that
was able to cope with the steep gradients in the inclined shafts and the
limited crosscuts of the drifts and that would operate with no local
emissions. Just like our diesel monorails, the EMTS is also freely
configurable according to customer requirements. The train consists of a
driver's cab at each end of the train, one or more drive units and a variable
number of lifting beams. This allows EMTS units to be assembled for a
wide payload range and different gradients and travel speeds. If you
compare the EMTS with a rubber-tyred vehicle, the lower rolling resistance
is noticeable because the load runs with steel rollers on steel rails. The
forced guidance ensures safety against derailing. With the matching
number of friction wheel drives, EMTS can master gradients of over 20°
under certain conditions, negotiate tight bends and feed energy back into
the grid through the electric drive when driving downhill. In many cases,
not only reduction of emissions but also using cheap electrical energy
instead of diesel is another interesting aspect for customers.
Q Specifically what safety attributes does it bring?
fuel cell charges the battery to power the loco.
LOHC is liquid fuelling at atmospheric pressure
that is much safer to use underground. The plan
is to commercialise this system as soon as we
have a stable, proven product.”
One LOHC powered loco is in the production
A The forced guidance provides safety against derailing, the safe guidance
on the rails prevents bumping against the side walls of the roadway. A
built-in emergency brake always stops the train safely while the payload
of the train is constantly recorded and the maximum speed is
automatically adjusted when driving downhill.
Q Where do its applications lie in terms of typical metallic mines? What
extra infrastructure is needed?
A As far as the mines in South Africa are concerned, it is the transport of
personnel, material and occasionally muck between the sub-bases and to
the site. As a heavy transporter it can also be used to bring heavy
conventional mining machines underground via the inclined shaft. The
possibility of developing a complete mine with EMTS via inclined shafts
and thereby benefiting from the smaller required road cross-sections (3 x
3 m) and shortening the distances, because they can be steeper, enables
projects with smaller deposits at shallow depths to benefit. Infrastructure
wise it’s just the insulated 3-phase plus neutral conductor lines that
supply 525V for EMTS that need to be installed plus a power booster at a
certain distance.
Q What’s next for EMTS? Is EMTS being considered for any new or existing
mines currently?
A We had a number of customers that have carried out studies on this and
who have concluded that EMTS can be a superior concept in the case of
smaller deposits at shallow depths. We’re talking to customers that have
cases as described above but also to customers that operate larger
existing mines and that are searching for alternative means of transport.
test trial phase at the moment. The fuel cell unit
is manufactured by Hydrogetics and Anglo
American Platinum and is not commercially
available. Anglo told IM that it is in the material
development and production stage of
development.
The fuel cell locos perform at the same level
as the battery units, but the ‘charge’ lasts 3 to 4
times longer due to the amount of energy
storage on board. This means the locos only
need to be refuelled once in 24 hours. This takes
about 10-15 minutes to refuel with the LOHC. The
13th June, 14:30
Jens-Michael Bergmann is holding a speech about…
Latest Developments and experience on TOMRA
X-Ray Sorting Machines with a focus on coal
J.-M. Bergmann (TOMRA Sorting GmbH, Germany)