Tag Archives: Caterpillar

National Group’s NMX to manage sales of CAT surplus parts

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , , , ,

One of Australia’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEM) has engaged National Machinery Xchange (NMX), part of the National Group, as the exclusive agency and preferred supplier to manage the sale of Caterpillar (CAT) surplus parts.

This open market tender from Caterpillar received a high level of applications from some of the biggest names in the industry, according to NMX, with the company securing the tender amid very strong competition.

NMX calls itself is a leading valuation and auction house for the mining, energy, construction, transport and agricultural industries. It regularly holds auctions that caters for buyer and sellers, offering valuation services and finance options such as monthly instalments.

Simon Brown, NMX General Manager, said: “We are very happy to have won this tender, it is a testament to the flexibility of our approach – we don’t just offer services, we work with our clients to devise dynamic and appropriate solutions.”

He added: “NMX developed an appropriate sales and remarketing strategy that included traditional and digital marketing approaches. After evaluating our clients’ needs, we recommended the sale of assets on an ‘as is where is’ basis with the utilisation of the National Group’s wider industry network and communication vehicles. With NMX being part of the National Group of companies, we were also able to offer various benefits, efficiencies and therefore cost savings through complementary entities such as National Heavy Haulage”.

NMX formally opened the tender campaign for the sale of CAT parts on March 8, with the call for offers ending on April 5. Around 3,500 CAT parts are currently for sale on an ‘as is where is’ basis, with offers being facilitated through the NMX website.

Cat 797F haul truck proves its worth in Tier 4 Final configuration

Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

Cat says its 797F large mining truck is now available in a fuel-efficient configuration that meets US EPA Tier 4 Final emissions standards.

Through more than 16,000 hours of successful pilot machine operation and 100,000 hours of production truck operation in Tier 4 configuration, the system has proven its ability to deliver strong performance and greater fuel efficiency compared to the Tier 2 797F in most applications, the company said.

The 797F Tier 4 Final is equipped with an exhaust aftertreatment system featuring selective catalytic reduction, which uses diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) to lower NOx emissions. This Cat emissions platform is proven through more than 20 million operating hours in the field, according to the company.

The 797F aftertreatment system uses less than 11% new content, improving reliability, while the modular aftertreatment system, with readily accessible components designed for serviceability, is aligned with truck preventive maintenance intervals to maintain high availability, Cat said.

The best-selling truck in the 400-ton (363-t) size class, according to Cat, the 797F is powered by a 4,000-hp (2 983-kW) Cat® C175-20 engine, available with optimised fuel maps for customers focused on the lowest fuel burn, Tier 2 equivalent rating, and now Tier 4 Final. It is renowned for delivering class-leading payload and speed-on-grade performance, Cat said, adding that the 797F delivers the same production performance in Tier 2 and Tier 4 Final configurations.

“Beyond offering similar performance, the Tier 4 Final 797F reduces total specific fluid consumption costs (fuel plus DEF) in most applications,” Cat said. “Lower fuel burn results in longer engine life and lower repair costs.”

Field evaluations of the 797F included a wide range of applications in oil sands, deep pit copper, iron ore and coal mines. The trucks exceeded production targets and demonstrated strong engine performance in all applications, including sites with extreme ambient temperatures as well as some with altitudes greater than 16,000 ft (4,877 m), according to Cat.

Hastings Deering tunes up New Acland coal mine’s Cat 793F fleet

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Caterpillar dealer Hastings Deering has recently completed a full component change out on five of New Hope Group’s Cat 793F haul trucks working at the New Acland coal mine in Queensland, Australia.

The miner used the local Hastings Deering workshop in Toowoomba, Queensland, for the six-month undertaking, New Hope said.

“At A$2.2 million ($1.6 million) per truck, it sounds an expensive exercise but, with each truck costing almost A$5.5 million new, it was worth the expense,” New Hope said.

New Acland Maintenance Supervisor, Rob Trapp, said it was the first time the company had sent an entire fleet to the Toowoomba workshop.

“The guys and Hastings Deering have done work for us before, but this was by far the biggest job they have done for us,” he said. “It was a huge job, replacing basically every component on the truck. The fleet is only six years old but each had done about 24,000 h of work at the New Acland site. That’s slightly above industry standard so they were due for a tune-up.”

Service Manager at Hastings Deering Toowoomba, Justin Butcher, said: “This was a great win for us. We have around 100 workers at the Toowoomba Service centre and, of that, about 12 worked on this project basically around the clock.

“Each truck took three weeks and we had a week break in between each truck. We did what is known as a certified power train rebuild, which means we effectively stripped the trucks bare and replaced all the drive train components including the engine.

“In fact, apart from the cabin, tray and tyres, there isn’t much we didn’t either remove or replace.”

To get the 170 t trucks from Acland to Toowoomba, the company took off the cab, tray and wheels and loaded it into another big truck, according to Trapp.

Cat’s DGB dual-fuel technology cuts costs, emissions at La Herradura gold mine

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Caterpillar has been showing one of Mexico’s biggest gold mining operations that its Dynamic Gas Blending™ (DGB) technology can provide savings on fuel costs and emissions while maintaining the same performance, payload and productivity of its diesel haul trucks.

The mining OEM and its Mexico-based dealer, Matco Cat, have been working with Fresnillo’s Penmont division to convert its entire fleet of large mining trucks at the La Herradura open-pit mine, in Sonora.

Caterpillar’s dual-fuel DGB technology, which has accumulated 10 million hours in the oil and gas industry since 2013, works by blending lower cost liquefied natural gas (LNG) with diesel fuel, according to Cat.

The resultant improvements in fuel, emissions and maintenance can add up to millions of dollars each year in cost savings, Cat said.

La Herradura, since 2016, has acted as a great case study for the technology given it has more than 250 Cat trucks and the operation hauls at least 25 Mt of volume per quarter (based on Fresnillo’s most recent Q4 production results).

In addition, the company has been looking for ways to “produce (gold) in a sustainable manner”, Fresnillo’s Abel Villa said in a recent Cat customer story.

According to Steve Igoe, Commercial Manager for Caterpillar’s Gas Engine Business, the benefits of DGB technology include, primarily, a lower cost per tonne, realised through a lower fuel cost. “DGB truck operation with LNG has proven very beneficial to La Herradura, and this is why they have decided to convert their entire fleet,” he said.

“Typically, LNG is 30% lower than the price of diesel. And, on a typical fleet at a mine, that adds up to millions of dollars a year,” he said. “And the trucks maintain the ability to operate 100% on diesel.”

Cat estimates a fleet of 100 trucks spends approximately $60-70 million/y on diesel fuel. With 65% displacement to LNG using DGB, that fleet could save $13 million/y on fuel alone.

DGB can also bring about a 30% cut in emissions compared with diesel-only operation – another important saving for mining companies looking at sustainability.

Trials during 2016 and 2017 of the technology at a gold mine in Turkey and a phosphate mine in the US have proven these claims.

For instance, the Turkey gold mine has retrofitted DGB technology on Cat 150-ton (136-t) 785C haul trucks and, since installation, has reached an average 70% average fuel displacement in addition to an operating cost reduction of $30/h.

Fresnillo’s Villa said La Herradura had gone further than this in terms of displacement.

“Initially when we started the project, the substitution rate was 70:30. We evaluated the results and changed the substitution to 85:15,” he said. This is close to the peak substitution rate Cat typically recommends.

Villa continued: “We have an average reduction of 70% in diesel consumption. We also considerably reduced the amount of emissions. When we compare both diesel and gas, the operation is the same.”

Cat said it observed a less than 1% difference in speed, payload and gear shifting, plus a 30% reduction in fuel cost, during one customer’s 5,000-h DGB trial.

La Herradura has also seen no unexpected maintenance issues during the trials, according to Fresnillo’s Enrique Leal. This is in keeping with Cat’s focus on reliability and productivity, with the company saying it has tallied zero hours of unplanned downtime.

So far, La Herradura has retrofitted 31 of its 785C haul trucks and a significant number of 240-ton (218-t) 793D trucks with the DGB technology.

Fresnillo’s Villa said the operation also plans to partner with a third party to build an LNG plant near the mine to ensure a sustainable supply.

MineSense front and centre in bulk ore sorting game

Automation, Base metals, Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, IoT, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Having just commercialised its bulk ore sorting technology at Teck Resources’ Highland Valley Copper (HVC) operations in British Columbia, Canada, MineSense is looking to show the wider industry just how effective this pre-concentration process can be.

IM spoke with President and CEO, Jeff More, to find out more about the company’s ShovelSense and BeltSense technologies and how the Vancouver-based startup has been able to secure investment from the likes of ABB, Caterpillar and Mitsubishi.

IM: Can you explain in a little more detail how your ShovelSense and BeltSense solutions work?

JM: The base technology for both is X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) – a technology that has been around for some time. What we have done to this existing technology, which is quite unique, is three things:

  • One, we have extended dramatically the range of XRF. Traditionally XRF would almost have to be held to the surface of a rock to get accurate measurements. The range extension allows us to work in the shovel environment where we are working across metres of volume;
  • Second is speed. Our system is extremely fast. High speed analysis is required on our conveyor belt applications, but this is even more important in the shovel, where we’re measuring dynamically; as the material is flowing into the shovel, to get a representative reading, you have to be able to take very fast readings of the material as it is moving past the sensors;
  • The third is robustness. On a shovel, you are in a nasty environment from a shock and vibration perspective. We developed a system with sensitive components – the XRF itself, as well as the computing devices around it – that can stand up to that very high shock- and vibration-type environment.

IM: The most high-profile examples of the application of your ShovelSense technology have been at copper mines (HVC, in particular); is the detection technology particularly effective in these ores? Is it being trialled elsewhere?

JM: The current sensing we have with the XRF is very effective in a certain section of the periodic table, which nicely covers the major base metals. We’re focused on copper, nickel, zinc and polymetallic versions of those three. The fourth area of focus is iron ore.

We’ve selected copper as our first focus because of the size of the market and the geography. We have done most of our work in copper, but we now also have operating systems in nickel and zinc.

On a lab scale, the technology has been very effective in iron ore, but iron ore is a very different flow sheet, so we have purposely set it as our fourth market in what we call our primary clusters.

We have five mine site customers at the moment – three copper, one zinc-lead and one nickel-polymetallic.

We were very much focused on North America and, in particular, British Columbia for our first pilots and trials as it was quite easy for us to service in our back yard. The first international market was Chile, for obvious reasons in terms of copper production, and we now have a full MineSense entity and team operating in Chile and Peru.

We’re staggering the rest of our global expansion. We’re now quite active from a business development perspective in southern Africa – South Africa, Zambia, DRC – and have activity in Australia.

We have Systems installed at two different copper mines in British Columbia, one at a very large nickel-polymetallic complex in Sudbury, Ontario, and will have a fourth system operating in Alaska. We also have two mines, but four systems, operating in Chile. By the end of Q2, we will have another three systems operating in Chile.

We did all our development work for the system at Teck’s HVC operation and we’re now completely commercial there. We officially commissioned our first system in December, the second system is being commissioned as we speak and the third and fourth will be installed and commissioned in late-March. This will completely equip their fleet.

IM: Teck has previously said the use of ShovelSense has resulted in “a net measurable increase in the amount of ore (and the associated head grade)” it has available to feed its mill at HVC. Are these results in keeping with your expectations for the technology?

JM: Yes, absolutely. We base everything on, what we call, our value model. Very early in our engagement process, we set out a detailed model that calculates the profit improvement that mine will see – we did the same for Teck HVC.

We agreed on a target at HVC and are actually exceeding that estimate. Most importantly, Teck is also seeing that value and is estimating a great overall impact at that mine.

This is an abridged version of a Q&A to be published in the ore sorting feature in the March issue of International Mining.

Pon brings 26 t battery-electric excavator to Norway construction site

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Pon Equipment, together with Caterpillar, has developed the world’s first battery-electric 26 t excavator, according to Norway-based construction company Veidekke.

After extensive testing with a prototype, eight machines are now in production, with the very first in use by Veidekke.

While not in the same class as mining excavators, this battery-electric machine is another example of OEMs manufacturing diesel alternatives with increasingly larger payloads and batteries.

Veidekke’s Knut Egge said in a press release (translated from Norwegian) that the company wanted to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, increase its competitiveness, adding that the new excavator would save some 52 t/y of CO2 emissions compared with the diesel alternative.

The rechargeable battery-powered excavator is a remodeled Caterpillar 323F Z-line used for the loading of trucks, Veidekke said.

The excavator is enabled by Danfoss’ EDITRON drivetrain, according to Tomi Ristimäki, OEM Sales Director at Danfoss EDITRON.

The machine is able to operate for up to seven hours on a single battery charge under nominal load, according to Danfoss. “The electric excavator is zero emission, and significantly quieter than the former diesel machine, which makes it ideal for use in urban areas with noise restrictions,” the company added.

EDITRON powertrain systems are rugged and compact, with smart software controls suitable for hybrid and electric applications within the power range of 30-2,000 kW, according to Danfoss.

Pon Equipment CEO, Erik Sollerud, said the company’s mechanics have been rebuilding, adapting and testing the battery-electric machines for over a year together with specialists from Caterpillar. Among other things, the engine, diesel tank, and some equipment have been replaced with electric motors, motor controllers and heavy-duty lithium batteries, he added.

Construction machinery in Norway, according to Statistics Norway, accounts for a total of 650,000 t/y of CO2 emissions.

Cat hits record profit per share metric in 2018

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Caterpillar has delivered the best full-year profit per share in its history, while registering higher sales volume and improved demand across all regions and three primary market segments in the December quarter.

At $10.26/share, its profit for 2018 was way up on the $1.26/share it posted for 2017. On top of that, the company is predicting this number will increase again in 2019, with an outlook range of $11.75-$12.75/share.

Cat’s 2018 sales and revenue came in at $54.7 billion, compared with $45.5 billion in 2017, while adjusted profit was up at $11.22/share (2017: $6.88/share).

Caterpillar Chairman and CEO, Jim Umpleby, said: “In 2018, Caterpillar achieved record profit per share and returned significant levels of capital to shareholders. Our global team remained focused on serving our customers, executing our strategy and investing for future profitable growth.”

Total sales and revenue was $14.342 billion in the December quarter of 2018, a $1.446 billion year-on-year increase, with higher sales volume driven by improved demand across all regions and in the company’s three primary segments, Cat said.

In the company’s resource industries segment, total sales were $2.797 billion in the December quarter, up $489 million on higher demand for both mining and heavy construction equipment, including quarry and aggregate, the company said.

“Mining activities were robust as commodity market fundamentals remained positive, and increased non-residential construction activities drove higher sales,” Caterpillar said.

Resource industries’ profit was $400 million in the most recent quarter of 2018, compared with $210 million a year earlier. The improvement was mostly due to higher sales volume and favourable price realisation, partially offset by higher material and freight costs, the company explained.

Despite the company predicting another record profit per share in 2019, Umpleby said its outlook assumed only a “modest sales increase” based on the fundamentals of its end markets as well as “the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment”.

“We will continue to focus on operational excellence, including cost discipline, while investing in expanded offerings and services to drive long-term profitable growth,” he added.

Wood Mackenzie poses mine electrification and automation question

Automation, Base metals, Environmental, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Electrification and automation will be key priorities for mining companies in 2019, new research from Wood Mackenzie has claimed.

In reviewing the research firm’s ‘Global trends: what to look for in 2019’ report, Wood Mackenzie Research Director, Prakash Sharma, said: “Building a world-class low-cost mining business seems to be the mantra.

“Major players, such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale, are increasing the share of electricity and automation in mining operations. The objective is to not only reduce scope 1 emissions (from their own activities) and air pollution, but also to lower human involvement and operating expenditure.

“By employing data analytics, companies are chasing productivity and efficiency and lowering costs as a result. The aim is to stay at the lower end of the cost curve should demand for traditional mining commodities fall.”

In 2017, BHP set a long-term goal of achieving net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions in the second half of this century, while, in 2018, Rio Tinto announced successful deployment of AutoHaulTM (pictured), “establishing the world’s largest robot and first automated heavy-haul long-distance rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia”, Sharma said.

“The key question will be whether other mining majors follow this trend in 2019.”

In terms of adopting automated technologies, BHP and Rio are far from being alone.

Vale’s Brucutu iron ore mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, is set to go fully-autonomous this year – as a fleet of seven new Caterpillar 240 ton (218 t) 793F CMD fully autonomous trucks is expanded to 13 – Fortescue Metals is continuing its manual-to-automation fleet conversion at Christmas Creek, in Australia, and Norilsk Nickel recently told IM it was looking to introduce a “fully-automated mine”.

This is only the start.

NGEx Resources and Filo Mining, which are looking to develop open-pit copper operations in South America, confirmed in the past few months they were looking to incorporate autonomous haul truck technology from the off. These admissions came in their prefeasibility studies, which are likely to pre-date mining operations by three to five years.

And, underground, Resolute Mining and Sandvik plan to fully-automate the Syama block cave mine in Mali this year. The mine started commissioning at the back end of last year, hit the first production stopes in December and is expected to ramp up to steady-state output of over 300,000 oz/y by June.

This is but a handful of trials and projects going on in the automated mining space, with the process plant end also seeing a number of innovative trials or installations to move away from manual mode.

On the electrification question, specifically, Sharma told IM that grid-connected mines were acting faster when it came to adoption compared with those operating remotely. “Shovels and drilling machines at surface mines are already using electricity. Up to 100 t dump trucks are using electric-motors (battery-operated) at some mines in China,” he said.

“At underground mines, electric machines are increasingly used but batteries are yet to take off.”

The latter isn’t the case in Ontario, Canada, where Goldcorp (Borden) and Kirkland Lake Gold (Macassa) are using battery-powered equipment underground in their load and haul and utility fleets. In Sudbury, Canada, too there have been a number of deliveries of such machinery to some of its world-renowned base metal mines. (You can hear more about this at the inaugural Electric Mine conference in April).

As with the majority of technology projects, finance is the biggest hurdle for widespread adoption, according to Sharma.

“Another issue is around the financial health of the mining companies. Some are not willing to re-invest due to uncertainty around the commodities they mine. Some are focused on diversification of portfolios. There are others who want to act quickly, consolidate and take first mover advantage to decarbonise,” he said.

“We believe the electrification and automation in mining will continue to expand and tightening environmental policies will drive the shift. But a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach will not work,” he concluded.

Genrec Engineering keeps downtime to a minimum at South Africa coal mine

Coal technology, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

Genrec Engineering has demonstrated its skills and capabilities in steel fabrication and engineering, successfully repairing a damaged dragline excavator boom in record time for one of South Africa’s leading coal mines.

This project also marks another important milestone in the company’s drive to diversify into specialist and niche markets since it was acquired by the Southern Palace Group (SPG) in 2016, the company said.

Genrec Engineering completed the project in around 10 weeks, helping reduce downtime at the mine in the Mpumalanga coalfields.

Producing coal for domestic thermal energy production and for export to global markets, the dragline excavator is an essential component of the mine’s open-pit mining. It is used in combination with drilling and blasting and dozers to expose the seam before wheel loaders and dump trucks are deployed in extensive load and haul operations.

Genrec Engineering’s involvement in this project commenced with a full-scale investigation into the damaged boom structure at the site in August 2017.

Managing Director of CMTI Consulting, Dr Danie Burger, was part of the team that participated in the investigation with various insurance companies.

Burger said a decision to award the boom repair contract to Genrec Engineering was based on the company’s long legacy in the South African and international steel engineering and fabrication industry.

“There is no other steel fabricator and engineering company in South Africa with the necessary infrastructure, as well as capacities and technical competence to take on such a complex project. Had the boom been sent to the original equipment manufacturer’s premises in Australia for repairs, it would have taken up to four times longer to return the dragline excavator back to service with obvious negative ramifications on the mine’s production,” Burger said.

Representatives of the mine’s management team visited Genrec Engineering’s factory in Wadeville, Gauteng, a week ahead of the commencement of the repairs.

Mark Prince, Divisional Director of Genrec Engineering, said: “The depth of experience and expertise of our team have allowed us to constantly innovate, which is a strategic differentiator in this industry and a trait that we proudly demonstrated on this complex design and build project.

“My team of professionals had to be able to think out of the box and on its feet to overcome a myriad of challenges to ensure the timely and quality completion of the project in an extremely short timeframe. The fact that we were able to complete this project in such a short timeframe speaks volumes of the capabilities housed here in Wadeville that have placed us firmly on our next growth path.”

The boom comprises a 37-ton (34-t) mid-section, which is 30 m long and 13 m wide, and the 43-ton (39-t), 32 m long and 13 m wide front portion. Both have a transportation height of 3.5 m.

It was completely remodelled by Genrec Engineering’s design team with assistance from CMTI Shared Services, in a process that took about a week-and-a-half to complete.

The original drawings of the Bucyrus dragline excavator were more than 30 years old and updated versions were later received from Caterpillar.

They were used to generate models to develop the manufacturing drawings and upgrades to the boom, in addition to the manufacturing sequence, work procedures and transport sections, according to Genrec.

The project also involved careful and complex logistical planning, considering that Genrec Engineering had to locate and source up to 34 tons (31 t) of chord material from various Australian mines to supplement insufficient supplies of the required specification.

“A comprehensive analysis was undertaken of all available material sources to ensure quality and, importantly, traceability in line with the stringent requirements of the OEM,” Genrec said.

The chords were buttered up and machined to specification and all lacing laser cut to fit assembly.

It took about three weeks of round-the-clock operations to complete the complex laser cutting by approved specialists located in Vanderbijlpark, with Genrec Engineering team members located permanently on site to advise, as well as monitor progress and quality.

They were delivered to the plant in the correct assembly sequence and welding was then undertaken in a 2,200 m² bay converted for specialised manufacturing projects.

Burger says: “The process commenced with pre-heating and the roots undertaken with tungsten-inert gas welding and CO2 used as a filler. Non-destructive testing was done using magnetic-particle, phased array ultrasonic, radiographic and ultrasonic testing. Personnel from NJM Heat Treatment & NDE Services, as well as NDT specialists, were stationed permanently on site to ensure that we were able to maintain sound productivity rates and adhere to exacting quality standards.”

A total of 2.3 tons (2.1 t) of weld material and eight weld feeders were also sourced from Australia to supplement available resources for this project.

One of the complexities of the welding operations was the varying diameters and positioning of the larger chords and smaller lacing, Genrec said.

A total of 129 welders were tested by Genrec Engineering and 52 metal inert gas, or gas metal arc, and tungsten inert gas welders employed to work on this project, together with 18 boiler makers and assistants. Ranks were bolstered with five specialist boom welders, as well as an expert boom weld engineer and project coordinator from Australia.

They also assisted in undertaking the four successful Procedure Qualification Records ahead of welding activities.

Genrec also highlighted the rotators designed and developed especially for this project. These complement the large investment already made by the company and SPG in acquiring the capital equipment needed to diversify into niche and specialist markets.

Among these are the computer-numerically controlled machines housed on the factory floor that have been fully integrated into the SolidWorks engineering programme to ensure high levels of precision and productivity, Genrec said.

These, alone, represent about a R50 million ($3.6 million) investment that is also being supported by continued skills development and training as Genrec Engineering builds up its skills base to cater to the high demand for its specialist services.

As part of the project, Genrec Engineering was also tasked with upgrading the dragline excavator’s boom-point box.

A special furnace was designed and developed around this box and soaked at 600°C for six hours and then cooled down to 37°C for five days. The furnace was heated with gas at a rate of 37°C/h to 600°C.

A canopy was also designed to allow sand blasting to continue apace in the workshop while welding progressed according to plan to maintain high productivity rates.

The components were transported to the mine site by Mammoet using a 13-wheel Nicolas trailer and resting on 11-ton (10-t) cradles specially designed and manufactured by Genrec.

It took three days to transport the two loads to site as part of the last phase of the project.

“This is the largest abnormal load to have ever travelled on the Gauteng road network, and Genrec Engineering was also involved in the extensive road survey, in addition to obtaining all necessary road permits from the Gauteng Department: Roads & Transport,” Genrec said.

The mid-section of the dragline excavator boom was dispatched to site at the end of November and the front end in early-December. It was successfully assembled by Caterpillar’s southern African dealer, Barloworld Equipment, on site in December over a period of four weeks.

Mine development ahead of schedule at Lundin Gold’s Fruta del Norte project

Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , ,

Lundin Gold has reached the orebody at its Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador, with mine development tracking ahead of schedule.

The Toronto and Stockholm-listed company said it has completed 4.5 km of underground mine development so far, with level development having now commenced.

In the construction update on the 3,500 t/d underground project, the company said overall engineering was 85% complete, with project construction at 45% completion.

Ron Hochstein, Lundin Gold’s President and CEO, said: “Our team has reached and, in some cases, exceeded the project’s targets, all while maintaining excellent safety standards. With 70% of our capital expenditure committed and detailed engineering nearly done, Fruta del Norte is on schedule to meet its target of producing first gold in the fourth (December) quarter of this year.”

Lundin Gold said the majority of large process plant mechanical equipment was now on site, while 22% of powerline infrastructure was finished. The company noted it had clocked up more than 3 million manhours without a lost time incident.

Development

Lundin Gold reported that the K’isa decline was completed on December 9, 2018, after 2.1 km of total development, and transitioned to production level 1170. Production level 1195 began on December 7, 2018 and a total of 330 m of level development on two levels has been completed. December average advance rates in K’isa were 9 m/d, versus a target of 7.1 m/d.

“The Kuri decline is at 2.07 km of total development and is progressing towards lower production levels in the mine. This decline was completed this month. December average advance rates in Kuri were 5 m/d, versus a target of 4.2 m/d,” Lundin said.

“Overall, advance rates in both declines exceeded the plan by 11% due to better than expected ground conditions and lower than anticipated water inflows.”

Lundin Gold said it is preparing the first stages of transition to owner operations and its mining fleet, which includes Epiroc drills and bolters and Cat scooptrams and trucks, has started to arrive at Fruta del Norte.

Process plant

Process plant concrete foundations (pictured) are 62% complete and structural steel erection is progressing as planned, the company said. The remaining mechanical equipment is expected to be on site this quarter and installation of the carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit and grinding mills has started. Commissioning of the process plant is still on track to begin in September quarter of this year.

In October 2017, Lundin Gold awarded the long-lead time grinding equipment packages, including the SAG and ball mills (complete with motors) and the flotation and filtration packages to Outotec Chile SA. The gravity mill, CIL and detox tanks, and ADR plant and gold room packages were awarded to FLSmidth USA Inc. TelSmith will provide the crushing packages for both the process plant and aggregate quarry crushers, while ABB has been awarded switchgear and substation equipment and transformers packages.

With process plant engineering substantially complete, engineering efforts are now focused on the paste plant – where concrete works have begun – and water treatment plant facilities, Lundin Gold said.

Tailings

The company successfully negotiated the Mountain Pass Quarry Exploitation Agreement with the local government in the December quarter of 2018, and extraction of aggregate materials began shortly after. Material from the quarry was necessary to move forward with the construction of the tailings storage facility (TSF).

Access roads and the polishing pond were completed in the December quarter, while construction advanced on the surface water perimeter diversion ditches around the TSF.

When fully ramped up, Fruta del Norte is expected to produce 325,000 oz/y of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $583/oz over a 15-year period.