IPCC
thyssenkrupp IPCC crushing station and
conveyor at YiminHe coal mine, China
Continuous efficiency
In-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC), and variations on the
theme, is back in contention as miners look at reducing
environmental impact long term, reports Paul Moore
here is more going on in in-pit crushing and
conveying in terms of project work than for
some years. This reflects some projects
planned for some time coming to fruition but also
mines planning for the long term with an reduced
environmental footprint in mind. In September
2019, Anglo American stated in a release titled
Mapping the Mine to Sustainable Development
Goals: “One way to reduce fuel consumption is
by combining in-pit crushing and conveying
(IPCC) with ore sorting. This operation will cut
energy consumption in mills by discarding waste
rock.” Anglo has already advanced the bulk
sorting side of things in the industry. At the Barro
Alto nickel operation in Brazil as an example, a
first MMD bulk sorting unit was installed last
November, which IM understands is handling 400
t/h; while another two units are set to be
installed there by 2021. IPCC is ultimately going
to be an important part of the Minas Rio iron ore
mine operations in Brazil due to the long strike
length of the deposit. In fact, the final pit
dimensions will be 12 km long by 4 km wide, with
the material at that point being fed by a series of
semi mobile crushers via conveyor back to the
processing plant.
Equally, operations that have had years of IPCC
experience and investment continue to invest as
the long term IPCC benefits have been proven.
South African coal major Exxaro now has four
semi-mobile crushing stations running from MMD
at its operations, while Mae Moh lignite mine in
Thailand now has eight MMD Sizer Stations and
two MMD Atlas Transporters in a relationship
dating back to 1993 (see detailed section on this
project).
The marked focus on dry stacked tailings in
the industry today is also driving companies to
look at mobile conveyor innovations, which
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International Mining | MAY 2020
arguably is a part of IPCC technology, exemplified
by the recent project announced by iron ore
miner Karara Mining. Mobile conveyors also play
an important part in heap leach projects, a
notable one being Nordgold’s Gross open pit
heap leach gold operation in southwest Yakutia,
which uses five overland conveyors, two mobile
trippers, an emergency bypass stacker, reclaim
hoppers and three mobile stacking/reclaim
systems all supplied by Terra Nova Technologies,
now part of Cementation.
IPCC in Russian iron ore
To take Russian iron ore as an example of IPCC
projects progressing, as previously outlined in
IM, Metalloinvest is putting in in-pit crushing and
conveying elements at the world class
Lebedinsky GOK and Mikahilovsky GOK
operations. At LGOK sister mine Mikhailovsky
(MGOK) a high angle conveyor similar in design
to the one at Navoi Mining & Metallurgy
Combinat (NGMK) in Uzbekistan has already
been installed. Like the Muruntau gold mine
example, the new one at Mikhailovsky was
designed by Ukraine’s NKMZ with input from
Metalloinvest and installed in a joint project with
Metalloinvest construction subsidiary Rudstroy.
Metalloinvest told IM that it is currently using it
only for iron ore transport but in the future may
also look to utilise it for waste as well. The HAC is
deployed in Mikhailovsky’s South pit and has an
angle of 37 degrees and a lift of 215 m. The
commissioning of the crushing and conveyor
facility in the southern part of Mikhailovsky GOK
open pit is scheduled for this year. It has a
capacity of 15 Mt of iron ore per year.
At both LGOK and MGOK, Tenova TAKRAF has
also been contracted to deliver IPCC solutions. At
LGOK this will include two truck loaded semi-
mobile in-pit crushers reducing material to
<1,200 mm size followed by a 4 km conveyor at a
17 degree angle. At MGOK the TAKRAF project will
involve constructing a crushing and conveyor
facility in the central part of the pit. The
production capacity of this conveyor will be 35 Mt
per year. The LGOK IPCC installation is slated for
2021 and will have a 55 Mt/y capacity and the
MGOK installation for 2022. Ultimately, IPCC will
mean the mine can remove many of its smaller
trucks and associated diesel costs, as well as
removing the added cost and inefficiency of the
railcar system compared to a direct conveyor
route.
Elsewhere in Russia, Severstal is readying an
investment in a new conveyor system at the
Karelsky Okatysh iron ore complex in northwest
Russia as part of a major project to reduce
haulage costs at the Tsentralniy open-pit mine. In
the company’s capital investment 2020
announcement at the end of January, it said one
of the major investment projects being run by its
Severstal Resources division was the
“construction of a conveyor belt for run-of-mine
transportation at the Tsentralniy pit”.
This conveyor system will help the complex
continue to process 20 Mt/y of iron ore and 45
Mt/y of overburden. Since this announcement,
IM received more detail about this planned
installation from a Severstal spokesperson. The
conveyor complex will consist of three production
lines, according to the spokesperson. The ore
production line includes a semi-mobile gyratory
crusher, with capacity of up to 3,500 t/h, a
conveyor that lifts the crushed ore to the pit
surface and transports it to a warehouse for
storage, a warehouse conveyor and a stacker.
The second production line is for overburden.
It has a more powerful semi-mobile gyratory
crusher with capacity of up to 7,300 t/h, lifting
and transmitting overburden conveyors and a
dump conveyor that feeds the overburden to the
spreader that forms the tailings heap.
The third production line is intended for
“contaminated ore”. It consists of an eccentric
crusher, a dry magnetic separation unit and a
conveyor system. After separation, refined ore
will be fed to the first ore line and the waste rock
will be fed to the second overburden line.
The total length of all the conveyors is 6.5 km,
with the largest single conveyor being 1.85 km.
The spokesperson said the height of the
overburden lift by the conveyor system is 320 m.
Severstal Resources says the goal of the
project, which should launch in 2023, is to reduce
haulage costs associated with transporting rock
using dump trucks. “Today the Tsentralniy pit is
350 m deep, 4 km long and 2.5 km wide,” the