UNDERGROUND RAIL
Keeping progress on track
With future underground mining looking more automated and electrified , rail operations will inevitably find favour , Dan Gleeson estimates
The themes of automation and electrification are highly prevalent in the underground rail sector , with the ability to mount units on uniform rail infrastructure following defined paths making the proposition an easy sell when compared with the more dynamic environments load & haul and drilling equipment have to deal with .
One company that has been leading the way with this is Rail-Veyor ® Technologies Global Inc .
A Railveyor system is a fully electric and autonomous bulk material handling system that delivers mined ore to processing facilities via a narrow-gauge light rail system propelled by lowhorsepower drive stations adjacent to the rail route .
“ Designed from first principles leveraging the best of 21st century technology , Railveyor is now beating traditional haulage systems around the world – transporting material with less emissions , enhanced safety and strikingly improved profitability ,” the company says .
Railveyor has a number of installations across the globe that are exhibiting these traits , including at Agnico Eagle Mines ’ Goldex mine in Val d ’ Or , Quebec , where , in May 2022 , the Railveyor solution set a monthly record for haulage when 248,290 t of ore was hauled .
The technology continues to get mentioned across the project space , with AngloGold Ashanti weighing up its use at the Expanded Silicon project in Nevada , Gold Fields examining options for at least one of its underground mines in Western Australia and Ivanhoe Electric including a mention of it in the results of an initial assessment on its Santa Cruz copper project , in Arizona .
The latest company to reference Railveyor ’ s potential benefits in an underground mining context is Optimize Group Inc , which recently delivered a scoping study for NioCorp on the proposed Elk Creek critical minerals mine in Nebraska .
In this study , Optimize Group flagged that Niocorp could cut capital and operating costs , reach full commercial production sooner and operate with a lower carbon footprint by electrifying Elk Creek with the Railveyor system instead of using its currently planned vertical mining shafts .
The study by Optimize Group examined the impacts of the following : removing the Elk Creek mine ’ s currently planned two vertical mining shafts and all required shaft infrastructure ; creating a new twin ramp design to be used by the Railveyor system ; determining the suitability for a Railveyor haulage system ; making considerations for electrification of the underground mobile equipment fleet ; and carry out a conceptual portal cut design to provide
Optimize Group says Niocorp could cut capital and operating costs , reach full commercial production sooner , and operate with a lower carbon footprint by electrifying Elk Creek with the Railveyor system instead of using its currently planned vertical mining shafts
mobile equipment access through the upper soil layer from ground surface to the start of the ramp system in the underlying limestone .
This study was restricted to initial mine design , cost modelling and scheduling , with no work completed on the geotechnical considerations for the portal boxcut , the updated mine electrical distribution system , or modification to surface ventilation infrastructure .
The initial findings from the study by Optimize suggested this new design could result in the following benefits : n Potential reduction in initial capital expenditure requirements of $ 188.9 million ( from $ 356 million ) due to reduced predevelopment time and reduced infrastructure complexity ; n Total capital expenditure reduction of 31 % to $ 381.8 million ; n Increased schedule flexibility allowing for exploitation of stopes in an economically advantageous sequence ; and n Overall reduction in operating cost-per-tonne of ore of 1.5 %. NioCorp ’ s existing feasibility study showed full
72 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2024