MINING HOISTS
Taking the strain
WireCo ’ s Union and Casar brands are designed especially for the mining industry
For this year ’ s hoisting article Paul Moore goes in depth on mining ropes , with input from three of the market leaders ; as well as our usual coverage of hoisting systems & safety
Wire ropes for mining hoists is a huge industry but one that is not often discussed in detail outside of that world . To get some insight , IM caught up recently with Matteo Bruzzone , Underground Mining Business Development Manager - Western Hemisphere and Surface Mining Business Development Manager , Canada , for WireCo . He has more than a decade of experience in the mining ropes market working closely with the end users but also the engineering houses such as Hatch , WSP , Stantec and others , including its distributors .
Hoist ropes are at the heart of any mine hoisting operation for obvious reasons , and WireCo ’ s Union and Casar brands are designed especially for the mining industry . Bruzzone : “ My role helps the end users with the specific application , selecting the proper ropes in the first place , and of course servicing .”
Globally , WireCo makes mining ropes at various locations but primarily in Maia , Portugal ; Wloclawek , Poland ; and two factories in the US including Sedalia , Missouri .
Bruzzone continues : " The Casar product is our main underground mining product – this is a premium solution for production hoisting – once you get into shaft sinking or service hoists then we must look at more competitive options and must remain competitive in that space as it is market sensitive . Not all suppliers in the industry make that distinction between products but it allows us a degree of flexibility in several different applications .”
So how does the market work in terms of who specifies the hoisting rope that will be used on a particular project ? Is it the mine or the hoisting project EPCM or can both be involved in tendering for the ropes ? “ The initial hoisting project will go through a pre-feasibility stage – and normally at this point the engineering company will specify the diameter , length and braking load plus any wire coating requirements . We will then put together a package and say this is the solution and product we are offering to meet those specifications which will include all of the technical details and background – even to the packaging , reel design , cradle design for transport , what the lagging is – this together is
the all-encompassing product or package .” Bruzzone said that normally several players will offer a solution and the engineering company will then decide how they want to proceed and at that point make further specifications such as whether to opt for a certain construction of rope , that will provide them the best results for their hoist – they will then submit that to the customer . “ Then a more in-depth feasibility study will come out which will detail more exactly which hoisting system is to be used , with more narrowed down parameters . Finally , there will be an official bid with the finalised specifications and required lead times .”
What are the attributes of Casar rope that makes it especially suited to mining , and within mining the most challenging and highest capacity hoisting projects ? Are strength and safety the key priorities ? “ There are multiple aspects involved . Obviously , everyone is looking for the lightest rope but with the highest braking load possible on a rope because this means safety factors are higher and that you can also go deeper with bigger skips and bigger loads . Weight is crucial – a big hoisting project might require 7,000 or 9,000 ft of rope , and that adds a lot of weight especially when combined with the skip weights and the sockets . So the rope is a critical component as you are trying to use a lighter rope to allow you to get more weight capacity and must still perform the required cycles .”
Casar variants include Turboplast , Mineplast , Starplast , Turbofit and Stratoplast – all with different configurations of wire rope with variation in the number of wires in each strand from 26 ( more abrasion resistant ) up to 36 ( more fatigue resistant ) plus the configuration / geometry of the wire strands and the filler plastic between the inner and outer strands which protects against inner wear and protects the core from corrosion .
Bruzzone said the typical life of a mining rope in an underground mine has a range depending on the production setting . The first set of production ropes that go into operation are the baseline test for future modification – not to the rope itself but things like correcting misalignment with the sheaves . So the second set really becomes the benchmark set . Often customer relationships built up by WireCo to this stage means it will keep supplying ropes to the same site for many years . And if there are any issues its level of service means it is constantly available to its customers . WireCo is there to ensure that the rope does what it is required to do .
Another one of WireCo ’ s selling points is customisation . “ We can customise the rope literally down to minute details – tensile strengths of the wires , diameters of the wires , etc . We can look at how concentric a rope is
82 International Mining | AUGUST 2024