Plant Equipment and Hire November 2019 | страница 22

INDUSTRY EQUIPMENT: MINING
A HANDLE ON
STACKS OF STOCKPILES
Stackers remain a critical component of effective stockyard management, writes Leon Louw.
A
much over the last fifty odd years. They’ve
continued stockpiling and reclaiming
material of different shapes and sizes in
stockyards around the world unabated,
while the world around them moved into
the next century at breakneck speed.
What has changed though, is that they are
no longer controlled manually, but from
a remote office, often not even close to
site. Some older machines may still be
manually operated or controlled however,
most modern stackers and reclaimers
are either fully or semi-automated. A vast
amount of integrated input data allows for
a completely automated stockyard system.
Relooking at old methods
According to Jacques Steyn, general
manager materials handling at
thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (tkIS)
Africa, one of the leading manufacturers
of stackers and other stockyard machines
in the world, the concept of how these
machines operate has remained the
same throughout the years, as has the
mechanics of stacking and reclaiming.
“What has changed significantly though,
is the control systems and the way of
feeding information to and from the
equipment. Automating the entire process
and knowing exactly where the stackers
and or reclaimers are, how they move,
what quality and quantity of material
they process and the grade of material
that is conveyed, has altered the way
stockyard managers think about stockpiles,
and enabled them to plan better,” says
Steyn. Minor technological additions have
pumped new blood into old veins and
made sure that these stockpiling systems
remain cost effective and efficient, forcing
modern managers to revisit old methods.
Stockyard systems can be autonomously
managed where the current status of each
s the world enters the fourth
industrial revolution, we need to
review the way things are done,
and how that will change in the future.
Even the simplest of operations are
bound to be altered by more efficient
methods of production. Automation,
mechanisation, artificial intelligence and
the Internet of Things (IoT) have become
more than just buzzwords.
Drastically cutting carbon emissions
and reducing our environmental footprint
is now almost as important as being
profitable. This ‘great leap forward’,
however, does not necessarily mean we
have to re-invent the wheel. Adding new
technology to old equipment can be as
effective as designing a brand-new robotic
machine.
Take stackers and reclaimers, for
example. These large, creaking stalwarts
of bulk material handling have not changed
Blending material on coal mines is important, and stockpiling without stackers, as in
this case, can have an adverse effect on later reclaiming.
20
NOVEMBER 2019
www.equipmentandhire.co.za