Metalloinvest continues advanced construction of a major in pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) facility at its Mikhailovsky GOK iron ore operation. Active installation of the NKMZ crushing and conveyor facility is ongoing with commissioning expected soon. Its body is located 200 m underground and it will receive iron ore from heavy trucks, crush it to 150 mm pieces and deliver it through an underground gallery to the NKMZ high angle conveyor.
Due to its size and characteristics, the steeply inclined conveyor of the crushing and conveyor facility will be unique in Russia; its incline angle is 37 degrees with a lifting range of 215 m. The sandwich angle conveyor with load carrying and clamping belts will be used to transport iron ore. Eight sections out of thirteen had already been installed by end May 2019. The storage complex is also currently being constructed and installation of the stacker and external power supply lines is ongoing.
In total, construction workers will have laid 35.5 million cubic metres of concrete, installed over 2,000 metal structures and assembled over 4,000 t of equipment. This major construction work is being carried out by Rudstroy LLC, a subsidiary of Metalloinvest. The commissioning of the crushing and conveyor facility in the southern part of Mikhailovsky GOK open pit is scheduled for 2020. It has a capacity of 15 Mt of iron ore per year.
The crushing and conveyor facility being constructed in the southern part of the pit will deliver iron ore without transportation from the deepest underground points to the surface. Using the facility will reduce iron ore transportation costs by optimising the pit transportation scheme. The number of loading points and amount of loading equipment will be reduced, and the distance required for rail transportation will be shortened.
The second part of the project will involve constructing a crushing and conveyor facility in the central part of the pit. The production capacity of the conveyor will be 35 Mt per year. Engineering surveys and document processing for the equipment supply from Tenova TAKRAF is already underway.
Metalloinvest will allocate 11.5 billion roubles for the construction of two crushing and conveyor facilities at Mikhailovsky GOK. This is expected to result in the creation of 280 jobs.
Sergey Kretov, Managing Director of Mikhailovsky GOK, commented: “Metalloinvest implements important investment programmes at Mikhailovsky GOK aimed at enhancing production quality and industrial processes. By using conveyor technology, we will be able to develop additional high-quality iron ore reserves and boost the efficiency of our mountainous transportation facility.”