UNDERGROUND LOAD & HAUL
and specifications to Russia standards, organised
the technological process: in-house production of
the structural frame, arms and dippers, assembly
of body parts, installation of components, start-up
and commissioning of machines. Our next step
will be the localisation of the production of
lithium-ion batteries and the expansion of the
product line with other types of underground
equipment.”
The first serial vehicles have already passed
factory tests, according to ARMZ, and were sent to
the uranium mines of PIMCU, PJSC in April 2020.
In 2021, the ARGO LHD 140B will enter the Russia
market and will then gradually become available
in other countries within the customs union, it
said.
Fambition LHDs making waves in Chile
and Peru
China’s Qingdao Fambition Heavy Machinery Ltd,
often referred to just as Fambition, has been one
of the best known names among the country’s
underground mining equipment OEMs for some
years, but the company really took a step forward
late last year when it delivered four 10 t (4 m 3
bucket) class FL10V LHDs to Codelco in Chile. Two
of these machines have gone to work in the El
Teniente Division underground copper mine and
the other two at the Salvador Division
underground copper mine. They arrived in October
and November of 2019 and are the first Chinese
LHDs to be used by Codelco. The FL10V is an LHD
using FAMBITION™ technology that is designed
for large scale underground metallic mine
production, requiring a minimum drift width of 4.2
m. All key components are international wellknown
brands including an DEUTZ engine, Kessler
drivetrain, Dana converter drives and Parker
hydraulic system which uses load sensing variable
piston pump for higher efficiency and lower
energy consumption. It applies CAN-bus
technology with an onboard display to show real
time operating parameters with self-diagnostics
and troubleshooting. Peru-based Chao Zhang
who heads up Americas sales for the company
told IM that Fambition was chosen against other
manufacturers, including other Chinese
manufacturers, as it could offer the size class
needed that matched the performance of the
traditional major manufacturers but at a more
competitive price and at the same time properly
supported on the ground. Fambition has set up a
new warehouse and office in Rancagua and has a
team of ten people in the country including full
time technicians at the mine. El Teniente's
Maintenance Superintendent, Hernán Figueroa,
pointed out at the handover ceremony of the first
two machines that Codelco is very interested in
generating business with China, as at the end of
the day China is also the main client for its copper
metal. From a machine point of view he said
Codelco made this
purchase because it
believes that “they are
quite competitive from the
technical and economic
point of view in our tasks.
We have good
expectations. The
components are of good
quality, the engine, the
transmission, the axle,
and we believe that it can
be a reliable machine and
that it can give a good result.” b Rodrigo Quiroz,
Superintendent of Mine Engineering said: “This
equipment on average is 20% cheaper in
investment and what we want to prove is the
added lower cost of maintenance and operation,
where thanks to the agreements and
commitments made we expect attractive results.”
He also wants progress in terms of technology
from Fambition going forward. “The arrival of the
Chinese LHDs is the first step in a path that in
the future should focus on electrical technology.
It is part of a range of initiatives to move there
and we have asked Fambition that if you want to
continue with us you must push automation and
electromobility. Thus, these machines in the
future will be electric and autonomous, operated
from Rancagua or from an office outside of the
underground mine.” And a final note is that
Fambition is not limited to Chile in the region, it
has also recently set up an office in Lima, Peru in
late 2019 with its own support team. Fambition
has already had some LHD sales in Peru and says
it looks forward to further building relationships
with customers in the country as well as in the
wider Americas region. IM
China’s Alpha developing new remote control LHD
It is estimated that there are now at least ten OEM agnostic companies in China offering levels of
automation of underground load and haul equipment from teleremote up to full automation. One of
them is Alpha Industrial Intelligence Holding Co Ltd, a Chengdu-headquartered group with an
additional location in Kunming plus a base in Sydney, Australia. As an example of its projects, as
early as 2011 it deployed a line of sight teleremote system at the Caijiaying gold and zinc mine on
two SINOME ACY-3L LHDs. The mine used backstoping blasting starting with a slot raise at one end
of the stope, and retreating blasting at both ends. For safety reasons, a significant part of the ore
remained in the most distant part of the blasted areas could not be removed, which was resolved
with this solution.
Moving to the present, Alpha now offers autonomous solutions across all machine brands but
also told IM that it is also developing its own TLHD-WJ-2D diesel LHD, which it says adopts the most
advanced manufacturing standards. It has two operation modes of vehicle local control and remote
control, which are flexible and optional to ensure operation safety in dangerous areas. Through the
built-in sensor, the operation status data of the LHD is also uploaded to the Alpha Cloud Intelligent
Maintenance cloud to enable data fault diagnosis and predictive maintenance of the LHD. The LHD
is being assembled at the Techgart Tianjin factory (Techgart is a shareholder of Alpha) and it is
expected to be launched in July 2020. It is powered by a reliable Deutz engine and the bucket was
produced with full machine automatic welding and is made of NM500 wear-resistant steel in the
high wear parts, extending the service life. The gearbox has four gears for forward and reverse
operation, which can efficiently
adjust the power requirements.
Various sensors are installed
on the equipment to monitor
the running status in real time.
An LCD screen on the remote
transmitter can display signals and
feedback with error alerts as well. Sensors
follow engine parameters: oil pressure, engine temperature,
engine speed; hydraulic parameters: hydraulic oil pressure, brake
pressure, hydraulic oil; as well as fuel tank level, travel time, engine
operating status, braking state etc.
Fambition delivered four 10 t (4 m 3 bucket)
class FL10V LHDs to Codelco in Chile in late
2019
Alpha's new TLHD-WJ-2D
diesel LHD offers remote
control and IoT condition
monitoring
18 International Mining | JUNE 2020