CONVEYING
deployed a 5-stage splice design tested and proved prior to installation, plus provided certified splice supervision.
The belt was built to handle increased tension and throughput, designed for both current and future operational demands of a high-capacity mine. Sempertrans states:“ The high-quality design contributes to improvements in overall availability and throughput, supporting the Blue Creek project’ s goal of being a low-cost, state-ofthe-art operation. Expected benefits include lifetime improvements, leading to reduced maintenance and replacement costs. Other anticipated improvements include less carryback, reduced spillage, minimised mistracking, less wear, and enhanced safety within the conveyor operations.”
It adds that the project exemplified a high-quality design achieved through strong partnerships between the end-user, an engineering company, and Sempertrans, including collaboration with ICR for the sale and installation of the belt by Sempertrans qualified splicers.“ This project pushed the limits of conveyor belt engineering – and Sempertrans delivered. From custom splice design to the strongest belt we’ ve ever produced, our team worked hand-in-hand with Warrior Met to set a new benchmark for performance, safety, and reliability in North American mining.”
BOTON brings new partnerships
Attitudes to Chinese suppliers continue to change, with a growing number being seen as strategic long term partners providing agility in technology offerings, shorter lead times, plus logistical flexibility. But Chinese technology companies are also supplying sustainability and circularity solutions and options. A good example is in the case of conveyor belts and companies like BOTON.
Just looking at Rio Tinto as a customer – the Tier 1 miner sees significant opportunities in bringing together the scalability, rapid innovation and R & D capabilities of Chinese OEMs together with Rio Tinto’ s operational expertise and global standards – to the point of co-creating technology and equipment tailored for its future needs.
In June 2024, BOTON and Rio Tinto held a grand renewal signing ceremony, marking the official start of a new chapter of cooperation that spans eight years. This renewal BOTON said was not only an affirmation of the previous five years of collaborative achievements but also a firm commitment to future joint development. Up to that point, the total length of the conveyor belts supplied by BOTON to Rio Tinto exceeded 800 km.
The cooperation dates to 2018, when BOTON provided Rio Tinto’ s Dampier Port with its first trial conveyor belt, and since then supply has covered mines and new construction projects in various regions such as Australia, Canada, the United States, Mongolia, Guinea, and more. Moreover, the collaboration has expanded from single product supply to technological cooperation. In 2023, BOTON and Rio Tinto jointly developed a conveyor belt testing platform, optimising product design by simulating actual working conditions and jointly addressing early-stage conveyor belt damage issues.
BOTON says it is committed to technological innovation, driving the intelligent and unmanned transformation of the mining industry. During the 2024 visit, BOTON showcased its latest achievements in smart conveying, unmanned inspection, low-carbon materials, and circular recycling. Additionally, BOTON is actively exploring the recycling and reuse of worn conveyor belts, promoting the development of a circular economy.
In March 2024, BOTON officially began supplying SimFer – the Rio Tinto part of the Simandou iron ore mining project in Guinea which is mining Blocks 3 & 4 of the deposit. BOTON established BOTON Conveyor Services Guinea LLC and the BOTON Africa Technical Service Center in Guinea, providing 24 / 7 technical support to ensure project supply chain security and operational continuity. BOTON was already successfully supplying conveyor belt products to the Winning Consortium Simandou which is mining Blocks 1 & 2 of the deposit.
Following a fruitful business discussion, BOTON and BHP held a contract renewal ceremony in Wuxi in 2024. The initial contact between BOTON and BHP began in 2012, and the formal cooperation between the two sides has now spanned 11 years. To date, BOTON has engaged in
At NMDC’ s Donimalai iron ore mine, a Sandwich Belt high angle conveyor system will be used as the continuous elevating means from the in-pit crushing system along the mine slope to the surface level 100 m above in-depth cooperation with BHP’ s global mines, including iron ore mines in Western Australia, nickel mines, coal mines in eastern Australia, copper mines in South Australia, and copper mines in Chile. BOTON has provided BHP with a total length of conveyor belts exceeding 400 kilometres, and BOTON’ s intelligent monitoring equipment will soon be applied on-site. In 2022, the world’ s first‘ carbon-neutral’ conveyor belt co-developed by BOTON and BHP made a significant impact in the industry and was included in BHP’ s ESG report for that year in South America.
Dos Santos sees sandwich belt demand in Indian mining
Dos Santos International( DSI)’ s Sandwich Belt high angle conveyors offer a direct continuous bulk transport path from within the open pit to the surface. This system has the technical characteristics of conventional conveyors( unlimited capacity, ability to handle primary crushed ore and waste with conventional belts that can be scraped clean and utilisation of all conventional conveyor equipment subject to the rules of their design) but without any limitation on the conveying angle. As with conventional conveyor haulage many of the mining and bulk transport schemes require various degrees of portability and mobility. DSI says all of the portability and mobility schemes required have already been demonstrated repeatedly throughout the world at the mining operations that used only conventional open troughed belt conveyor haulage.
Joe Dos Santos is the Founder and President of DSI and says Sandwich Belt high angle conveyors are in particular now being embraced in India’ s mining
International Mining | FEBRUARY 2025