MINE HOISTS
A long and winding road
Paul Moore looks at hoist projects , hoist control and hoist safety giving examples from the key technology players
While there is always a healthy market for smaller service hoists , there are actually relatively few really big mine production hoist projects being built currently – ABB supplied both the mechanical and electrical side for BHP ’ s Jansen potash mine , cementing its dominance in the Saskatchewan potash industry in hoisting systems . Jansen is set to start production of Stage 1 in 2026 . The friction hoists are 6 m in diameter with a total connected motor power of close to 14,000 kW .
Then there is Resolution Copper in Arizona ( 55 % Rio Tinto / 45 % BHP ) - even though the project has some way to go in terms of remaining permits and final approval . The existing No . 10 Shaft at Resolution is still the deepest in the US ( 28 ft diameter concrete line at a final depth of 6,943 ft ) and the No . 9 Shaft reached the same depth at completion of a blind sinking deepening project , completed in early 2021 . Resolution is now focused on the maintenance of Shaft 9 and 10 and continuing the underground characterisation study to increase ore-body knowledge . For Shaft 10 the current plans are to have a double drum hoist of nearly 7.6 m in diameter .
Another project worth watching is Ivanplats ’ Platreef in South Africa – its Shaft 1 is already using a winder for bulk sampling , ore delineation , Phase 1 mine development plus stoping and ventilation intake , bulk air cooling and as a secondary escape . It has a refurbished
Resolution Copper ' s Shaft 10 will have one of the largest mining hoists ever installed
Installation of SIEMAG TECBERG hoisting equipment at Sishanling iron ore mine near the city of Benxi in China
double drum hoist – 4.88 m diameter , 2,322 kW . The auxiliary is a single drum hoist – 3.75 m diameter , 475 kW . But Shaft 2 will ultimately serve as the production shaft and primary access to the mine . It is set to be equipped for hoisting in 2025 , allowing for first concentrate production in the latter half of that year .
It will be a 10 m diameter , 1,100 m deep concrete-lined shaft and will provide intake ventilation needs for the upper portion of the mine . Shaft 2 is planned to have three hoisting systems : ore handling and hoisting systems , the main personnel and materials transport cage , and an auxiliary personnel cage . There are additional provisions for primary mine services . Shaft 2 will feature two 40 t guided skips working in counterbalance . Total rock-hoisting capacity will be 6.4 Mt / y . It will be a 6 m double drum Koepe with 6.19 Mt / y capacity . DRA is now handling the hoist part of the project as part of its EPCM – FLSmidth did the early engineering for the auxiliary and service hoists which are going ahead as planned , but the final production hoist supplier for Shaft 2 has yet to be finalised .
SIEMAG progresses with Sishanling
However , one of the most impressive examples of ongoing hoist work today is in China . In early 2017 , Tianjin SIEMAG TECBERG Machinery Co Ltd , a subsidiary of SIEMAG TECBERG GmbH headquartered in Haiger , Germany , and Benxi Longxin Mining Co Ltd , a company forming part
of Jianlong Group China , signed a supply agreement for three sets of hoisting & conveying systems to be divided between two shafts in the Sishanling iron ore mine near the city of Benxi in the Province of Liaoning in China .
The Sishanling iron ore mine is one of the largest iron ore mines currently being opened up in China and has 2.5 billion tonnes of proven iron ore reserves with an average iron content of about 31 %. Because of the concentrated orebody and its even distribution these reserves are suitable for extraction on a large scale . They are the largest proven and registered iron ore deposits in China , having a long-term planned extraction capacity of 30 Mt / y . Initially 15 Mt / y will be achieved a year in the next five years .
The concept was optimised to two shafts each yielding 7.5 Mt / y . A service shaft equipped with a total of two service winders for the transport of personnel and machinery will also be sunk . The overall concept thus initially provides for a total of three hoisting systems : a double-skip production system in the production shaft in the form of a 6.75 m , six-rope machine and a cage counterweight system for personnel and machine transport in the form of a 6 m six-rope machine and a smaller cage counterweight system for emergencies in the form of a 4 m four-rope machine in the service shaft . Tianjin SIEMAG TECBERG says it won out against international and local competitors for the supply of all three hoisting systems , not least because of the company ’ s capacity for system integration of very large , deep and complex shaft hoisting systems .
System 1 is a double-skip hoisting system – a tower-based six-rope Koepe hoisting machine , diameter 6.75 m , for skip hoisting ( 55 t payload per hoisting skip ) at a depth of 1,500 m with an overall drive output of 16 MW ( 2 x 8 MW ), which is designed for a hoisting performance of 7.5 Mt / y . It will use split plain bearings with bearing lubrication , one set of six-rope rope sheaves for rope deflection , an ST3-F ( closed loop technology ) hydraulic braking system with 12 pairs of BE 250 brake elements , four sets of Siemens SM150 DC indirect converters ( IGCT ), plus automation equipment including machine control system , energy distribution system and a shaft signalling and loading and unloading control system complete this hoisting system package .
System 2 is a large-cage hoisting system . A ground-based six-rope Koepe hoisting machine , diameter 6 m , for large-cage hoisting with a drive output of 3 MW ( 2 x 8 MW ). Rolling bearings , two sets of six-rope rope sheaves for rope deflection , an ST3-F ( closed loop technology ) hydraulic braking system with 14 pairs of BE125 brake elements , two sets of Siemens SM150 indirect converters ( IGBT ), and again automation equipment including machine control system ,
20 International Mining | AUGUST 2022