Tag Archives: DD421

Centamin-Sukari

Centamin to boost Sukari underground fleet with Cat, Sandvik, Normet and Volvo units

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The transformation of Centamin’s Sukari underground mining operations looks set to continue, with the company having committed some $16 million of capital towards an underground fleet expansion in 2024 and 2025 as part of a push towards increasing mining rates.

Centamin issued a new life of mine plan for the asset in Egypt earlier this month, saying the plan would deliver long-term increased gold production, lower operational costs, reduced operational risk and significantly reduced carbon emissions, according to owner Centamin.

The underground operation, which the company transitioned to owner-operator status last year, is set to become a bigger contributor to the overall operation in future years. This will see underground output rise from 800,000 t/y in its 2022 financial year to 1.4 Mt/y.

This is a shade under the optimal mining rate of 1.5 Mt/y that came out of an underground expansion study completed in the December quarter of 2022, but Centamin said full engineering of this plan had provided opportunities to simplify the mine plan by removing the requirement to expand production by developing underground portals in the open pit, and therefore further reducing the delivery risk. Not only did this reduce the complexity of a potential expansion, it also brought the capital cost down to $16 million, from the $25-35 million previously mooted.

This capital will be deployed on a new equipment fleet for the operation, which includes three 63-t payload Caterpillar AD63 trucks, three 18.5-t payload Caterpillar R2900 XE diesel-electric loaders, one Sandvik DD421 face drill, two Sandvik DL421 longhole drills, one Normet Charmec emulsion charger, a Normet Spraymec concrete sprayer, two Normet Utimec material transporters and a Volvo L120F integrated tool carrier.

Earlier this year, a spokesperson for Centamin told IM that the company was assessing a staged approach from conventional diesel units to hybrid diesel-electric units in the interim at Sukari, with plans to move to full battery-operated loading and haulage units over the longer term.

The Caterpillar 2900 XE offers such an interim step, being a loader that features both a diesel engine and a switch reluctance electric drive system.

Amalgamated Mining and Tunneling to supply Sandvik UG mining equipment in Canada

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Amalgamated Mining and Tunneling will carry Sandvik loaders, trucks, development drills and bolters to supply to customers in the Canadian market as part of a new alliance partnership.

Amalgamated Mining is an Edmonton-based company that supplies new and used equipment, equipment reconditioning, and parts for customers.

For over 30 years AMT has been an industry leader in providing creative options for equipment and parts to clients globally, according to Sandvik. With in excess of 300 machines in its inventory, AMT can supply clients with equipment requirements for a new mine or fleet expansions with various rental and finance options.

Sandvik’s underground mining equipment will be available to rent or on a rent-to-purchase basis from Amalgamated Mining and Tunneling under the new alliance partnership beginning in September 2021, the companies say.

“It was important that we partner with an OEM that has a diverse line of equipment with great support,” President of Amalgamated Mining Group, Tom Flanagan, says. “With Sandvik being an industry leader in equipment technology, it will allow us to offer more options to our clients.”

The company will now carry products like Sandvik’s DD422i (pictured), DD421, and DD212 development jumbos, DS311 and DS312 mechanised bolters, as well as a wide range of Sandvik’s loading and hauling equipment including popular i-series models like the LH517i loader and TH545i truck.

Sandvik’s recently released Dual Controls drilling package, developed in conjunction with Byrnecut Australia, will also be available from AMT. The package is available for DD422i and DD422iE development drills and permits operators to complete both standard face drilling and ground support.

Sandvik Canada Inc’s VP, Peter Corcoran, says: “This new partnership with Amalgamated will give Sandvik an expanded network to provide access to our technologically advanced equipment to a wider audience in Canada.

“Amalgamated has an existing network that nicely complements Sandvik’s and the customer service that Amalgamated is known for will make them an excellent partner to deliver Sandvik equipment to those customers; we are very excited to begin the journey with this organisation.”

Amalgamated will also offer used Sandvik equipment, refurbished with OEM genuine parts.

Sandvik equipment starts to arrive for OceanaGold’s Macraes expansion

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OceanaGold Corp has received the first of three new Sandvik machines at its Macraes gold mining operation on the South Island of New Zealand.

The company has taken delivery of a 17-t payload Sandvik LH517i underground loader (pictured), Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions confirmed.

A Sandvik TH551i truck and DD421 development drill will also be delivered this year as Macraes prepares to extend its mine life to 2028, the mining OEM said.

The LH517i is a matching pair with the Sandvik TH551i truck. It features the Sandvik Intelligent Control System and My Sandvik Digital Services Knowledge Box™ on-board hardware as standard.

In December, OceanaGold received approval to extend the mine life of the Macraes operation to 2028. This is expected to involve the development of the Golden Point Underground Mine, the Deepdell North Stage III open-pit extension, and the Frasers West expansion.

These projects are forecasted to produce 1.1 Moz of gold over an eight-year mine life, with open-pit and underground operations expected to produce, on average, 150,000-170,000 oz/y of gold.

Sandvik and Glencore agree on ‘innovative’ equipment, services partnership

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Sandvik is to supply Glencore Queensland Metals’s underground mobile mining equipment and aftermarket parts under a deal struck at the end of June this year.

The agreement, valued at SEK1.4 billion ($160 million) over a six-year lifespan, will see Sandvik become the key provider of drills, loaders and trucks for Glencore’s metalliferous mines in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Sandvik will also provide parts, service, rock tools, and digital and automation technology for the new Sandvik fleet.

Following the signing of the agreement on June 30, Glencore placed an initial equipment order totalling SEK300 million, which was reported in the June quarter report, with a Sandvik DD421 development drill the first piece of equipment supplied under the deal on September 1, 2020.

Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology’s Global Account Manager for Glencore, Tim Redmond, says the deal comes after more than a year of negotiations and follows Glencore issuing a heavy mining equipment tender in 2018. Glencore requested an additional response to the tender in early 2019 asking the company to deliver a more innovative and collaborative solution.

Redmond explained that Sandvik was happy to rise to the challenge.

“We spent nearly a year working closely with the Glencore team to identify exactly what was needed for the long-term success of their assets,” he says. “Our solutions enabled us to optimise the upfront capital costs and provide a competitive supply of aftermarket services moving forward.”

Glencore Queensland Metals General Manager − Mining, Simon Pope, says the agreement is significant with all heavy mobile mining equipment at Glencore Queensland Metals sites being supplied by the one OEM, replacing the status quo where equipment from multiple suppliers was used.

“This innovative partnership with Sandvik will help us improve the way we operate and maintain mobile equipment in our underground mines by providing us with a real reduction in the total cost to operate our primary fleet, an important factor in enabling a sustainable future for our mining operations,” Pope says.

As a leading mining equipment manufacturer, Redmond says Sandvik is committed to improving customer’s productivity and profitability.

“Sandvik showcased technologies solutions for collision avoidance, tracking of assets and automation to Glencore and other industry players at the Digitization in Mining conference in Brisbane in 2019,” Redmond says.

Having a fleet with a single technology platform ensures Glencore is in a good position to undertake mine intelligence projects and promote additional automation and vehicle interaction controls moving forward, according to Pope.

“We look forward to working with Sandvik to share operational and maintenance insights through new and emerging technologies and unlocking further improvements in safety for our people and the productivity of our mines,” he said. “Sandvik machines have played a key role in our operations for a number of years and have a proven track record for productivity and reliability.”

Redmond concluded that the Australia Glencore deal creates a model that can now potentially be duplicated in other markets and with other commodities.

“Rather than each party simply trying to get the best price, this agreement adds new value to the relationship and creates benefits for everyone,” he said.

Glencore, Redpath and Sandvik in it for the long haul at Lady Loretta

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Automation and equipment monitoring are helping Redpath Australia exceed expectations at Glencore’s restarted Lady Loretta zinc mine, according to a Sandvik Solid Ground story.

Glencore awarded Redpath Australia the Lady Loretta zinc mine contract in December 2017, encompassing the entire underground and surface operations and associated facilities management.

Redpath’s responsibilities at one of the world’s highest-grade zinc operations range from crushing the ore it extracts and loading it onto road trains for haulage to Glencore’s processing facility in Mount Isa, Queensland, to managing the camp and keeping lawns manicured, Sandvik said.

“Redpath also holds full statutory responsibility for the operation, a unique role for a contractor typically tasked with driving a decline or undertaking development and production,” Sandvik said.

John McKinstry, Redpath’s Operations Manager for Lady Loretta, said: “Operating a mine is an exciting proposition for Redpath. A normal contractor scope is to put down a heading or undertake a specific task, but we have a much broader scope here. The infrastructure’s already in place, so it’s quite a different role for a contractor. Being a life-of-mine contract is unusual in itself. Most mines evolve as you develop and find more ore, but this orebody is very well-defined.”

Redpath recommissioned the mine within months of winning the contract, firing the first development round in March 2018. Production ramped up quickly and, by July 2018, Redpath was meeting Glencore’s production and development targets. Monthly production grew to 100,000 t, with a full production capacity targeting 133,000 t/mth.

The contract length enabled Redpath to invest in a brand-new fleet for Lady Loretta, according to Sandvik.
McKinstry said: “We wanted to meet or exceed targets right from the start, so we brought in new, cutting-edge technology to minimise operating costs and maximise productivity, knowing that we’ve got a good life to work the equipment over and amortise assets.”

Two Sandvik DD421 jumbos with 10/16 split feeds have outperformed since commissioning, according to the mining equipment maker. Redpath has consistently achieved 400 m/mth of development using one Sandvik DD421, with the second serving as a backup and handling any rehabilitation work.

Ore is removed by a fleet of four Sandvik LH621 LHDs. Two are operated conventionally for development, manual production and truck loading while the other two are equipped with AutoMine Lite for remote operation.

“The 621, I think, in a lot of people’s eyes at the moment is probably the loader to be using in the bigger operations,” McKinstry said. “It’s a big machine. It’s a very productive machine, very comfortable machine for operators, and then having the AutoMine on top of that just means it really sells itself in many ways.”

Redpath’s motivation for implementing automated loading was simple: regain the productivity lost during each shift change, Sandvik said.

McKinstry said: “There’s a long period of time from when a blast occurs to when you can re-enter the mine. If we can operate those machines from the surface over shift change, we can pick up up to a couple of hours a day in productivity. The other thing about AutoMine is that it does the same thing time and time and time again without banging the walls. It really does just run the perfect line each time.”

Redpath runs three levels at any one time, optimising the loading process.

The connectivity provided by a Wi-Fi network underground has not only enabled Redpath to implement the automated loading from the surface, the contractor can also monitor and manage its fleet in real time through My Sandvik Productivity, the cloud-based version of OptiMine Monitoring, Sandvik said.

“OptiMine has been synonymous with equipment monitoring in the Australian mining industry since its first installation in 2014,” Sandvik said. “My Sandvik Productivity mobile fleet monitoring allows Redpath to keep tabs on equipment condition online and act more quickly to remedy any issues that arise.”

The solution provides detailed, readily analysed data. Each connected LHD collects data onboard and uploads it when it comes within range of a Wi-Fi antenna. The data can be accessed from any computer or tablet, according to Sandvik.

The condition monitoring helps Redpath’s Lady Loretta maintenance staff improve its predictive maintenance planning. My Sandvik Productivity also identifies trending behaviours that can damage equipment or shorten component life, revealing training opportunities, Sandvik said.

Lady Loretta Maintenance Manager, Shane Timothy, said: “When it brings up log codes and faults and alarms, it actually tells you what that means. So you can hover across your icons, for instance, where it says that there’s a brake fault, and it would tell you that your operator is perhaps pressing the brake and accelerator pedal at the same time, which isn’t something that we want them to be doing unless they’re going at a very low ground speed.”

McKinstry believes having better-informed operators who understand their equipment and its limitations will reduce downtime: “We hope that by giving operators the feedback that they’ll change their behaviour in their operation of the machines. And, if we can address it early, then I believe we’re going to get better availability out of this equipment.”