Mining Mirror April 2019 | Page 12

Global news and projects Peru Gearless conveyors for Quellaveco cts pr oje thyssenkrupp will supply a 4 700m-long, 1 830mm-wide overland conveyor featuring dual 5.5MW gearless drives operating at a design tonnage of nearly 11 000 tons per hour at the Las Bambas mine in Peru. One of the world’s largest copper reserves will soon be accessed with the help of high-capacity overland conveyors from thyssenkrupp. The Industrial Solutions business area recently won a contract to supply a material handling system for Anglo American’s new Quellaveco copper mine in the Moquegua region of Peru. thyssenkrupp will supply a 4 700m-long, 1 830mm-wide overland conveyor featuring dual 5.5MW gearless drives operating at a design tonnage of nearly 11 000 tons per hour. The scope of supply also includes the complete material handling system for the concentration plant, including eight in-plant conveyors and 11 belt feeders. First production from the new mine is expected in 2022. Due to their proven track record of high reliability and efficient use of energy, gearless drives were selected to power the new overland conveyor. The elimination of a whole series of mechanical and electrical components increases the reliability and improves the efficiency of the overall system by three to four per cent. The maintenance requirements of gearless drives are also substantially lower compared to other drive systems. According to Torsten Gerlach, CEO of the Mining Technologies business unit at thyssenkrupp, it is the seventh overland conveyor project using gearless drives that has been awarded to the company and its partner Siemens since 2010. The new conveyor system will initially move 127 500 tons of primary crushed ore per day from the pit to the stockpile adjacent to the copper concentrator. Quellaveco contains approximately 7.5 million tons of copper in ore reserves — enough to wire 80 million homes or to equip 90 million electric vehicles. Vast sections of the overland conveyor will traverse from one valley to another through a 3.2km-long tunnel. After exiting the tunnel, the conveyor will pass over hilly terrain before terminating at the stockpile. The stacker will feature a structure designed to replace the discharge pulley without the need to clear out the stockpile for crane access. thyssenkrupp has designed similar systems for both the Antapaccay and Las Bambas mines in Peru. Russia Mining in extremes The new conveyor system will initially move 127 500 tons of primary crushed ore per day from the pit to the stockpile adjacent to the copper concentrator. [10] MINING MIRROR APRIL 2019 The Grib Mine, located in Russia’s Mezensky District in the Arkhangelsk Oblast, is one of the largest diamond deposits in the world. During winter, temperatures can reach −25°C (sometimes even up to −37°C). The Arhangelskgeolrazvedka exploration crew bores wells and monitors underground water levels and temperature. Keller, represented in South Africa by Instrotech, has equipped the wells with water-level monitoring systems. The use of automatic water-level monitoring www.miningmirror.co.za