HEAVY ENGINEERING
Watching the wear
In February, the first parts of one
CITIC CENSA ball mill for Russian
Copper Co’s Tominskiy copper
project was delivered
Dan Gleeson looks at mill shells,
heavy-duty buckets and service
expansions in the field of heavy
engineering
s mining companies venture into more
remote places to mine ore from dwindling
high-grade deposits, the stress placed on
the equipment they use to extract this material
grows.
This has resulted in the development of an
increasing number of customised solutions that
are now being employed on mine sites around
the globe; solutions that are robust, offer long
life and are cost effective over the life of mine.
Whether it is a mid-life crusher
rebuild/conversion, a tailored casting on an
excavator bucket, or the addition of a ground
engaging tool (GET), the engineering that goes
into these products is gaining in importance.
A
Tooling up
One of the big stories in the heavy engineering
sector over the past few years has been Weir
Group’s acquisition of GET specialist ESCO Corp.
IM covered the announcement in this feature
last year, but it is worth reviewing just how well
the two companies have integrated since the
$1.285 billion deal completed in July.
All the noises out of Weir HQ have, so far,
been positive.
In March, Weir announced that it was
investing an additional $15 million in its Newton
manufacturing facility, in Mississippi, US, as
part of a total $50 million plan to support an
additional 150 jobs at the ESCO division plant.
The Newton facility, one of Weir’s largest
manufacturing operations, produces GETs for
both the mining and infrastructure sectors, and
the expansion is slated for completion by
August 2019, according to Weir.
Weir CEO, Jon Stanton, said: “The equipment
we make in Mississippi is exported around the
world and the increased demand from our
mining and infrastructure customers gives us
great confidence in the future.”
It’s easy to see why Weir Group is making
such an investment after reviewing its latest
financial results.
In the March quarter, Weir’s orders from
continuing operations increased 18% year-on-
year, including those from its ESCO division. It
was a different story when ESCO was excluded
from this calculation, with the same metric
falling 7% year-on-year, reflecting reduced oil
and gas refurbishment activity, the company
said.
On a pro-forma reported basis, the ESCO
division’s orders rose 5% compared with the
same time in 2018, as it benefited from positive
mining end markets and its aftermarket focus.
Stanton said: “ESCO’s performance remained
ahead of initial expectations with good demand
for its premium technology.”
Detection and protection
Speaking of premium technology, Australia’s
Mining3 said recently that its team was working
alongside ESCO to commercialise an innovative
tramp metal detection system that is built into
the bucket of mining equipment.
Mining3 has been working on the new
technology over the past few years subsequent
to safety concerns and crusher damage caused
by tramp metal such as bucket teeth, drill bits,
tools and more, often remaining in mined
material, it said. This can cause a loss of
production and pose a significant safety threat
to operators and maintainers.
The two are now looking to incorporate the
“uncrushables” technology into ESCO’s bucket
design, which will help facilitate the
commercialisation of the technology, Mining3
said.
“With the new patented uncrushables
detection system, obstructive tramp metal can
be identified and diverted before reaching the
processing plant,” Mining3 said. “A pulse
induction metal detector embedded inside the
large steel bucket of a digging machine takes on
the difficult task of detecting metal items
scattered throughout the material. The system’s
variable sensitivity is tuned for an object’s
target size, focusing on larger, more obstructive
uncrushables and allowing for the removal of
smaller items further down the processing line.
Further, the detection algorithm accommodates
changes in ore grade and identifies the type of
object.”
When metal is detected, the operator is
alerted in real time, allowing for the necessary
next steps – usually the dumping and diverting
of the material, Mining3 said. In addition to the
operator alert, the system integrates into a
control centre interface and allows remote
management and monitoring of the process.
Successful site trials have led to the
integration with larger and more technical
machinery, according to Mining3. Current
prototypes are installed on Komatsu WA1200,
Cat 992K, 993K and 994K machines operating
on run-of-mine stockpiles in iron ore, gold and
copper mines across the globe. The firm’s
research is now focused on deployability,
robustness and optimisation, it said recently.
Mining3 and ESCO are not the only ones
aware of the damage tramp metal can cause.
At the recent Bauma fair, in Munich, Germany,
MTG offered a preview of its Digital Solutions
JUNE 2019 | International Mining 49