Two iron ore miners, one in West Africa and the other in Canada, are looking to increase their plant efficiency with high capacity bulk material handling solutions from FLSmidth. Execution of the projects is well underway with the large stockyard machines scheduled to arrive at both customer sites in 2022. FLSmidth will deliver a bucket-wheel reclaimer, including the yard conveyor system, with handing capacity of more than 6,000 t/h and one combined stacker-reclaimer with up to 10,000 t/h. For the stacker-reclaimer a special scissor-type tripper car, allowing for two different by-pass options for material transfer, is part of the delivery.

The two orders extend FLSmidth large installed base of mobile balanced machines, supporting our position as a leading provider in this area of mining industry. The solutions will deliver multiple efficiency benefits to the customers, through energy efficient drives for smooth machine control on both machines, high throughput and an optimised maintainability. The transfer chutes are designed as retractable modules for simple and quick maintenance. Whole drive assemblies, including the motor, can be changed as single units to increase the uptime of the machines.

The Canadian order also included BulkExpert™, a specialised automation system designed to optimise stacking and reclaiming operations and allow for unmanned operations. It consists of a highly accurate positioning and laser scanning application that creates a model of the stockpiles combined with a unique software solution for intelligent machine control. The BulkExpert “delivers optimised throughput, reduced time for operations and cuts employee risk when it comes to health and safety.”