Tag Archives: continuous miners

Komatsu on gaining control in room and pillar mining through automation

Komatsu has made automation headway in several different underground mining areas, with the room & pillar (R&P) space being another key market where it is making inroads to improve safety and increase productivity by moving operators away from harm’s way.

IM caught up with Toby Cressman, a Senior Product Manager for R&P Automation and Data Solutions at Komatsu, to gauge how advanced the market is with its automation transition, as well as where the focus areas are for the company going forward.

IM: Compared with both the underground longwall sector and underground hard-rock haulage and loading sector, how advanced is your automation offering for the R&P sector? What elements are yet to be automated within the R&P mining setup?

TC: Compared with the longwall (LW) sector and hard-rock (HR) sector, R&P automation is not as advanced. These reasons are market-, application- and regulatory-driven.

When it comes to market demand, we saw a much earlier push from the longwall side as customers were dependent on these high productivity systems. We have spent considerable time and focus on automating longwall faces over the years as they are critical to the success of our customers. We now see that demand trending into entry development machines and our continuous miners (CMs) as they become the limiting factor for our customers.

Regarding the application, as the LW sector operates in a more controlled and consistent environment, the act of automating the process becomes easier because the number of variables is reduced. Since this is a system, things like utility management have been designed into the system before automation – not to mention the lack of requirement to bolt as the roof is allowed to subside as the system advances.

On the HR side, their application has haulage routes that are similar for long periods of time and operate in an environment where regulatory controls around the types of sensors used are not as rigid when it comes to the approval process (ie explosive environment).

Currently when it comes to R&P automation, we have automated the CM to cut repeated sump and shear cycles in a straight line. We have the technology to keep the heading of the CM straight. In applications using our Flexible Conveyor Train (FCT), the FCT has been automated to follow the CM in and out of these cut cycles until the sequence is stopped by an operator. The FCT can make steering corrections to adapt to the direction of the CM.

IM: Do you tend to offer all new equipment as ‘automation ready’, or are many of these advances being made with hardware and software upgrades to existing equipment?

TC: This really depends on the market, product type and level of automation. Today, most of our original equipment CMs leave the factory automation ready, all the way up to our highest commercially available automation package. Even for our higher levels of automation that are currently being tested, those kits could easily be retrofitted in the field. When machines come in for rebuild, upgrading is an easy option that some customers take advantage of.

For our haulage products, the automation option we offer is on our FCTs. We have an option for FCT follow-me mode where the FCT will follow the CM in and out of the cut, making miner steering corrections. Though the field upgrade is a simple task, these are only being shipped equipped as such when requested by the customer.

Komatsu has an option for FCT follow-me mode where the FCT will follow the CM in and out of the cut, making miner steering corrections

IM: Are the majority of your clients taking advantage of these automation advances, or does it differ between sectors (ie are coal clients more open to this than those in potash, for example)?

TC: A majority of our clients are taking advantage of our level-one continuous miner automation (CMA). This is our one touch shear option. In this mode, the roof and floor points are set, and the operator simply controls the sump depth. This has been popular in the market for years. Our level-two CMA is growing in popularity and now running successfully in more than five countries. At this level, the machine functions are controlled by a sequence table and the CM will complete multiple cycles until stopped by the operator.

We have seen the adoption of automation features more widely implemented in our industrial minerals markets, where the coal markets lag some. I would generally credit this difference to cutting conditions, application and haulage methods.

IM: Can you single out some major automation releases or upgrades in the last few years that represent ‘game changing’ innovations? Were these developed specifically from customer requests?

TC: Our level-two CMA is definitely making waves in the industry. We are rolling it out on more and more machines globally and it is proving to be valuable in various applications. Some of the best news – in terms of technology and automation features – is that it is highly affordable. This feature wasn’t directly requested by the customer (our customers are always asking to assist in moving operator’s further from harm’s way, increase productivity, extend component life, etc).

This feature is excelling at those things, based on the data we have analysed to date. We can do this in near real time with customers who have connected machines (machine to surface communication) taking advantage of our Smart Solution product offerings. Even with customers who don’t have connected machines, this can be accomplished manually through data dumps taken locally at the machine. This feature is also critical in enabling customers who want to operate their equipment from remote management centres. Automation and operator assist features will be key in teleremote mining.

IM: What part of the R&P mining process is next up for an automation advance? Where is this potential product/solution in terms of your R&D pipeline?

TC: We are currently working on field trials for bolter automation and in the initial phases of automating our batch haulage products. These are next for the room and pillar products.

IM: Anything else to add on trends within the room and pillar sector?

TC: When it comes to R&P automation, we are focusing on those repetitive tasks an operator is performing that could be completed by the control system. This allows an operator to focus on the task at hand and reduce fatigue. As we continue to assist the operator with these tasks, it also enables flexibility of where the operator is positioned, improving the overall operating environment for them.

Kore Potash progresses Kola mine development plans, signs SEPCO agreement

Kore Potash says it has signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation for the construction of the Kola potash project in the Republic of Congo.

The HoA recognises the recent Kola optimisation study outcomes, which recently confirmed its potential to produce 2.2 Mt/y of granular muriate of potash over an initial 31-year life.

Brad Sampson, Chief Executive Officer of Kore Potash, said the HoA with SEPCO reconfirms the Chinese company’s commitment to advance from the completed Kola optimisation phase, to construction contract formation and then into construction of Kola.

“We look forward now to receiving the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract proposal,” he said.

The Kola optimisation study outlined a project with a capital cost of $1.83 billion on an EPC basis. It also envisaged a 40-month construction period.

Kola is designed as a conventional mechanised underground potash mine with shallow shaft access. Ore will be extracted within ‘panels’, using continuous miners of the drum-cutting type. The mine design adopts a relatively typical layout including panels, comprised of rooms and pillars.

The mine design is based on a minimum mining height of 2.5 m with mining being undertaken by a continuous miner capable of mining seam heights of between 2.5-6 m. Each panel is accessed by four entries. Each entry is 8-m wide and 3-6-m high depending on the seam height. The rooms are mined in a chevron pattern at an angle of 65° from the middle entry, each with a length of approximately 150 m.

Mine access is provided by two vertical shafts, each 8 m in diameter. The shafts will be sunk near the centre of the orebody. To provide access to the underground, the intake shaft will be equipped with a hoist and cage system for transportation of persons and material. The exhaust shaft will be equipped with a pocket lift conveyor system to continuously convey the mined-out ore to the surface. Both shafts are approximately 270-m deep in the plan.

Mining equipment selected for Kola includes a fleet of seven electrically-powered continuous miners. Ore haulage from the continuous miners to the feeder breaker apron feeder will be done using electrically-powered shuttle cars, with a rated payload of 30 t and a 250 m power supply cable. Underground conveyor belts will be used for ore transportation to the shaft.

The belt conveyors are distributed in the haulages and into the working panels near the continuous miner working face. The ore will be placed on the belts from feeder breakers that are fed by the shuttle cars. Belt conveyors will carry the ore loaded by the feeder breakers to the ore bins. The ore is then conveyed from the ore bins to the vertical conveyor (pocket lift) system located in the exhaust shaft.

Ore from underground is transported to the process plant via an overland conveyor approximately 25 km long. After processing, the muriate of potash product is conveyor-transported 11 km to the marine export facility. The potash is conveyed from the storage area onto barges via the dedicated barge loading jetty and then trans-shipped into ocean going vessels for export.

Anglo American signals design changes at Woodsmith polyhalite project

Anglo American has outlined plans to change elements of the design at its Woodsmith polyhalite project in the UK, which will have a bearing on both the sinking of the two main shafts and development of the underground mining area at the project.

The company has been running a detailed technical review on Woodsmith since mid-2020 to ensure the technical and commercial integrity of the full scope of its design. This followed the acquisition of the asset as part of a takeover of Sirius Minerals earlier that year.

“Now largely complete, the review has confirmed the findings of Anglo American’s due diligence that a number of elements of the project’s design would benefit from modification to bring it up to Anglo American’s safety and operating integrity standards and to optimise the value of the asset for the long term,” the company said.

Anglo is also making a change to the leadership at Woodsmith following its integration into Anglo American and ahead of the full project execution phase. Tom McCulley, who has led the development of the Quellaveco copper project in Peru, will take over from Chris Fraser as CEO of Crop Nutrients. This will see Fraser step aside and take on a strategic projects role for Anglo.

“The Woodsmith team is further developing the engineering to optimise the configuration of the project, recognising the multi-decade life of the mine,” Anglo said.

Particular attention is on the aspects identified at the outset of Anglo American’s ownership – namely, the sinking of the two main shafts, the development of the underground mining area, and the changes required to accommodate both increased production capacity and the more efficient and scalable mining method of using only continuous miners, it said.

The sinking of the two main shafts is due to be carried out using Herrenknecht’s Shaft Boring Roadheader (SBR) technology. DMC Mining, a company familiar with the technology thanks to its work sinking shafts at Jansen in Saskatchewan, Canada, was previously tasked with sinking the production and service shaft, each around 1,500 m deep, and two smaller shafts associated with the materials transport system, each approximately 350 m deep. Its contract was ended in 2020.

These improvements will, the company said, require the installation of additional ventilation earlier in the development of the underground mining area.

“Anglo American expects that these changes to the design of the mine infrastructure – which will result in a different, enhanced configuration and therefore a different construction and production ramp-up schedule – will ensure that its exacting standards are met and the full commercial value of the asset is realised,” the company said.

Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said: “We are very happy with the high quality and exciting potential of Woodsmith, with the scale and quality of the polyhalite orebody pointing to a quartile one operating cost position and strong margins. This is a very long-life asset and we are going to take the necessary time to get every aspect of the design right to match our long-term vision and value aspirations.

“We have said from the outset that we expect to make improvements and that we will execute certain elements of the construction differently and with a more conservative schedule. We expect to have completed our design engineering, capital budget and schedule at the end of 2022, with a fully optimised value case that recognises the upside potential we see in Woodsmith, and we will then submit the full project to the board.”

In the meantime, construction of the major critical path elements of the project, principally the two main shafts and the mineral transport tunnel, is progressing, with approximately $700 million of capital expected to be invested in 2022, Anglo said.

The plan at Woodsmith under previous owners Sirius was to extract polyhalite via two mine shafts and transport this outside of the National Park to Teesside on a conveyer belt system in an underground tunnel. It would then be granulated at a materials handling facility, with the majority being exported to overseas markets. The company was previously aiming to achieve first product from the mine by the end of 2021, ramping up to an initial production capacity of 10 Mt/y and then full production of 20 Mt/y.

The changes to McCulley’s and Fraser’s roles are effective January 1, 2022. Anglo American has appointed Adolfo Heeren as CEO of Anglo American in Peru, effective from the same date. Heeren will work together with McCulley during the first half of 2022 to ensure a smooth transition from the construction and commissioning phase of Quellaveco into operations, expecting first copper production in mid-2022.