Tag Archives: mining equipment

Epiroc drills, bolters to help Dazhong Mining expand Chinese iron ore mines

Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Epiroc says it has won a large order for mining equipment and service from Dazhong Mining Co Ltd in China as part of a plan to expand two of its underground iron ore mines in the most “safe and productive manner possible”.

Dazhong Mining has ordered a variety of rigs for face drilling, production and rock reinforcement for use at the Zhouyoufang and Zhongxinji mines in the Anhui Province. The order is valued at about SEK200 million ($23 million) and was booked in the September quarter of 2021. In addition to the equipment, the order includes on-site service and training including sophisticated simulators, which provide a safe and realistic environment to enhance the skills of machine operators, Epiroc says.

The machines ordered include Boomer face drilling rigs (including the Boomer S2 Face Drill), Simba production drilling rigs, and Boltec and Cabletec rock reinforcement rigs.

Dazhong Mining is rated as a national Green Mine Enterprise, meaning it is recognised for its sustainable way of mining, according to the OEM. The company also purchased a large number of machines from Epiroc in 2020.

“Epiroc is happy to team up again with Dazhong Mining so it can expand its operations further while strengthening safety, sustainability and productivity,” Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO, says.

The Head of Dazhong Mining said: “Our operations have truly become more safe, environmentally friendly and efficient through Epiroc’s equipment and service. We are happy that this model will continue to be applied to the expansion of two mines. We have a good long-term partnership with Epiroc as this supports us with a high-level technical resource which promotes the sustainable development of the mining industry.”

The machines for Dazhong will be equipped with Epiroc’s telematics system, which allows for intelligent monitoring of machine performance and productivity in real time, and most of the units will have Epiroc’s Rig Control System, RCS, installed, which makes them ready for automation and remote control. The equipment will be delivered in 2021 and 2022.

Perenti’s Barminco seals Savannah nickel project contract

Automation, Base metals, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , ,

Perenti Global’s hard-rock underground mining subsidiary, Barminco, has finalised a contract with Panoramic Resources for development and production works at the Savannah nickel project in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The finalised contract represents a value of around A$280 million ($208 million) over a four-year contract term, Perenti said.

Under the terms of the initial letter of intent, announced on the April 6, 2021, Barminco commenced mobilisation and early mining works ahead of the schedule. With finalisation of the contract, Barminco expects development and production works will ramp-up over the coming six months to achieve full run rate of revenue early in the March quarter of 2022.

The contract will be serviced by new underground mining equipment including the use of tele-remote mining equipment, expected to deliver both safety and productivity benefits, Panoramic said.

Ore processing at Savannah is scheduled to begin in November with first concentrate shipment from Savannah targeted for the following month, Panoramic said. The building of an ore stockpile on the surface has already commenced and the company plans for this to reach 100,000 t prior to turning on the processing plant.

Perenti’s Managing Director and CEO, Mark Norwell, said: “We look forward to working together with the team at Panoramic to develop what we all expect will be Australia’s next long-life nickel producing mine. Despite the challenging labour market conditions in Western Australia, we have been successful in mobilising a labour force of approximately 110 highly skilled underground employees. We expect this to increase to 170 as the project ramps up. Securing this labour force has enabled us to commence early works ahead of schedule.”

Savannah has outlined a 12-year mine life with an average annual production target of 9,072 t of nickel, 4,683 t of copper and 676 t cobalt in concentrate. The mine is set to operate at average site all-in costs of A$6.36/lb of payable nickel, net of copper and cobalt by-product credits and royalty payments. This equates to roughly $4.86/Ib or $10,714/t.

The operation, with more than A$100 million already invested, has been maintained since the suspension of operations in April 2020 with a view towards operational readiness and project optimisation. This includes the recent completion of the FAR#3 ventilation raise, underground capital development on four mining levels at Savannah North and ancillary capital works on surface and underground infrastructure, which are currently being completed, Panoramic says.

New Cat D11 dozer arrives at Stanwell’s Meandu coal mine

Coal technology, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , ,

Stanwell’s Meandu coal mine in Queensland, Australia, has taken delivery of a new Cat D11 dozer from local distributor Hastings Deering.

Ensuring safe and efficient operation, the dozer provides operators with full command, as well as delivering higher productivity at lower cost, Stanwell said.

The mine, owned by Stanwell, has a 7 Mt/y thermal coal capability and is in Queensland’s South Burnett Region.

Engineered to be rebuilt multiple times, the new D11 has a redesigned main frame delivering lower total cost of ownership over the life of the machine, Cat says. Time-saving service updates reduce daily maintenance and boost machine uptime.

The unit comes with new load-sensing hydraulics, high-horsepower reverse and the latest technology to provide higher material movement at a lower cost per tonne.

The first new generation D11 dozer in the world started work at BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s (BMA) Blackwater coal mine in Queensland, in 2019. National Group secured the first of these dozers earlier from Cat dealer Hastings Deering as part of an order that would see six of these machines hauled by its National Heavy Haulage subsidiary.

SMT Scharf opens new manufacturing hub in South Africa

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining services, , ,

SMT Scharf Africa has announced the official opening of a new manufacturing facility located in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In conjunction with the SMT Scharf Canada subsidiary in Alban, Ontario, both entities will build both new and remanufactured underground mining equipment for customers around the world.

With the establishment of the new facility, SMT Scharf has doubled its output capabilities and further demonstrated its commitment to the African mining sector, it said.

This new facility adds nearly 3,000 sq.m of manufacturing space including six bays for rubber tyred mobile equipment.

The location will also serve as the regional manufacturing and support centre for SMT Scharf’s monorail and chairlift products.

XCMG custom graders get to work at Rio Tinto Western Australia mines

Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , ,

XCMG says it has delivered six customised GR2605 graders to Rio Tinto, which have recently been put into operation at the company’s mines in Western Australia.

The model, specifically customised for Rio Tinto, is a super-horsepower grader with enhancements in terms of safety, functionality and design to meet Rio’s given needs and cope with local working conditions, the manufacturer said.

XCMG set up an elite project team to take charge of the R&D, manufacturing and quality control of the customisation project, and devoted a year to survey and analyse construction conditions and the client’s demands.

“The project team has made breakthroughs in a series of core technologies such as double-handle electronic control, regional environmental monitoring, machinery status electronic monitoring and more,” Wang Min, Chairman of XCMG, said. “Our comprehensive customisation service not only provides the ideal products to our clients, but also put XCMG on a firmer footing in the global market.”

From setting up the project to final delivery, XCMG conducted nearly 100 upgrades and optimisations in accordance with Rio’s requirements and the working conditions along the railways in Western Australia where they will be used. Much of this focused on improving the safety designs and operator friendliness, including:

  • A mechanical blade safety lock system;
  • Trimark locking system to prevent accidental opening of the engine hood;
  • Adjusted filter and storage battery position for easy troubleshooting and maintenance;
  • New pin bolt system to eliminate suspension loading risks;
  • Spare parts safety system featuring wheeled platform for bucket tooth for safety checkup; and
  • More ergonomic, quick refuelling design.

Prior to the delivery, XCMG provided comprehensive product use and maintenance training to ensure a smooth transitioning to operating the equipment, it said.

Wang Min added: “Taking this collaboration as an opportunity, XCMG will continue to strengthen our independent innovation and move steadily into the high-end markets. We thrive to meet the customers’ needs and create more possibilities by improving the product quality and perfecting the services.”

Back in September, a ceremony marking an XCMG Grader GR2605 fleet delivery and GR5505 Mining Grader Project Commencement Ceremony for Rio Tinto was held at XCMG’s intelligent grader manufacturing base in Xuzhou.

Epiroc continues to build equipment order book in Q4

Automation, Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining finance, Mining industry recognition, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , ,

Epiroc continued to register strong demand for its equipment in the December quarter, with the mining OEM’s order intake increasing both in the underground and surface mining segments, the company reported today.

Headline numbers from the December quarter included a 1% year-on-year increase in orders received to SEK9.3 billion ($1.1 billion), a 5% drop in revenues to SEK9.8 billion, a 10% increase in operating profit to SEK2.2 billion and a higher operating margin of 22.6%, compared with 19.6% a year earlier.

In terms of its equipment, Epiroc said orders received increased 26% organically to SEK2.97 billion in the last quarter of 2020.

Speaking to IM shortly after the results were released, Helena Hedblom, Epiroc CEO, explained: “The equipment orders…were across our portfolio, and the good thing is there were not that many large orders in the quarter; it was many small- and medium-sized orders.”

This would imply the strength in equipment demand – which came from both the underground mining and open-pit mining segment – is broad across the industry, coming not just from the major miners.

This pattern was also seen in the September quarter of 2020 when the company recorded a 25% year-on-year organic increase in equipment orders in the period, with the majority of orders coming from small- to medium-sized contracts of, say, one or two pieces of equipment, Hedblom said at the time of the results release.

Looking at the wider equipment and service segment of the business – which provides rock drilling equipment, equipment for mechanical rock excavation, rock reinforcement, loading and haulage, ventilation systems, drilling equipment for exploration, water, oil and gas, as well as related spare parts and service for the mining and infrastructure industries – Epiroc said the share of orders from equipment in this segment was 43% in the December quarter. Service, meanwhile, represented 57% of the orders.

Epiroc said it expected demand, both for equipment and aftermarket, to remain stable in the near term, while cautioning: “Uncertainty, however, still remains regarding the COVID-19 development and any further related restrictions.”

In the results release, Hedblom said automation, digitalisation and electrification solutions were in high demand over the quarter, with the company connecting more and more machines over this time frame.

“We continue to win orders and we are proud of our market-leading solutions that are globally deployed and proven,” she said. “They enable increased productivity, safety and sustainability for our customers.”

When questioned about the planned acquisition of MineRP, announced late in the quarter, Hedblom said the combination of the MineRP platform with its own digital solutions would allow Epiroc to “become a better productivity partner” in a mine’s digital journey.

IM also got Hedblom’s thoughts on if there was a regional difference in the speed of uptake of ‘new technology’ in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. She said: “I see this technology shift coming in a different light with the pandemic. Sustainability is coming in; digital tools are becoming more and more natural as we need them.

“There is maybe an acceptance that the technology is here to stay, is available and customers want to jump on this journey now. I see it across all regions, which is a bit different to how the mining industry has adopted new technologies in the past.

“We have good traction everywhere now when it comes to new technologies.”

And, on the subject of ‘new technology’ uptake, IM asked Hedblom if she saw any parallels between the evolution of automated equipment adoption in the mining sector – which started with solely new autonomous equipment purchases to improve operations and moved towards a combination of retrofits and new equipment as the technology gained traction – and how companies may look to leverage mine electrification underground.

She answered: “I think it is too early to say yet. If I look into the coming 5-10 years, conversion of existing fleet will be one way to speed up the electrification journey. That is also why we are investing and developing these types of products to allow us to offer retrofits as part of the mid-life rebuild process, for example.”

The company confirmed back in November that its battery-electric retrofit solution for diesel-powered machines is expected to launch in the March quarter of 2021.

Sandvik’s Scrivens heads back to Australia to reinforce APAC sales team

Automation, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining people, Mining services, Power supply for mines, , , , , , ,

Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions’ Asia-Pacific region has further strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Wayne Scrivens as Vice President, Sales Area APAC.

An experienced mining-sector leader, Scrivens has held the role of Sandvik Vice President for Load & Haul product line for four years, based in Turku, southern Finland. During this time, the Load & Haul division developed the iSeries intelligent trucks and loaders, acquired Artisan Vehicle Systems and introduced Sandvik’s first battery electric loaders and trucks.

“In his 18 years with Sandvik, Scrivens has also held various roles within the company’s underground coal and hard-rock business, as well as in Parts & Service,” the company said. He will start in his new role in Brisbane, Queensland, on April 1, 2021, after returning home to Australia.

Sandvik President for Parts & Service, Erik Lunden, said: “Wayne has extensive leadership skills, a track record of proven performance and a strong commitment to safety and sustainability. He has the capabilities needed to ensure Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions in APAC is positioned for continued growth and future development. I also very much look forward to seeing the difference he is able to make in helping customers solve challenges and become more productive.”

Scrivens (pictured) says he is excited to be heading back to the APAC region: “I’m delighted to be returning to Australia to take on this new role after spending four years working with Sandvik in Europe. My core focus in APAC will be on supporting customers across the region, while also strengthening our focus on automation, electrification and digitalisation, and the value these solutions can deliver to our customer’s operations.”

He added: “Sandvik has recently placed a high level of focus around developing sustainable business goals related to circularity, climate change, safety, and fair play. The idea is that a sustainable approach can open the way for new ways of working that will drive efficiency and productivity. This, in turn, opens up new markets, helps support our customers and helps us sustain long-term growth.”

Chris Parham will remain in the Acting Sales Area Manager role until Scrivens takes up his new position.

Codelco to extend life of Salvador Division with Rajo Inca copper project

Base metals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, , , , ,

The Codelco board has approved the development of the $1.383 billion Rajo Inca structural project, part of its Salvador Division in Chile’s Atacama.

The figure is 33% less than the investment contemplated by Codelco in 2014 thanks to the use and optimisation of existing infrastructure within the division, especially in the mine areas and the tailings deposit. Ongoing maintenance of the concentrator and hydrometallurgical plants has also helped bring down this figure.

The savings were also achieved through the planned reuse of mining equipment. When it enters operations, Rajo Inca will require 25-30 300-ton capacity trucks, hydraulic shovels and large tonnage front end loaders. Most of this equipment will come from other Codelco divisions, the company says.

The structural project includes a 22-month pre-stripping period and a seven-month ramp up of the concentrator plant. Commissioning will begin in the second half of 2022, with production reaching a annualised rate of 90,000 t/y of copper in the first half of 2023.

After the favourable Environmental Qualification Resolution obtained in February 2020 and the approval of the funds by the board of directors, the structural project will mean a rebirth for Salvador, as it will become a more modern, “technologised”, sustainable and productive operation, the company said. Its development will add 47 more years of life to this camp.

The Salvador Division has operated since 1959 with underground mining and three small open pits. With the latest investment, production will increase by 50% from 60,000 t/y to 95,000 t/y of fine copper.

GHH sheds light on underground mining equipment operation with inSiTE

Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, , , , ,

GHH is looking to help mining and tunnelling companies digitise their operations with a new analytics solution that can be used on any brand of equipment.

GHH inSiTE, powered by talpasolutions, provides a digital performance and condition monitoring tool, as well as a baseline for the future of digitally optimised mining operations, the company says. It is used to gain operational safety and cost control without the complexity often associated with acquiring and analysing such data.

Product Manager, Dr Felix Straßburger, said smart management was the future of the industry allowing mining companies to increase their return on investment.

Together with a vast team of external experts, GHH has created a digital analytics platform solution that, it says, transparently depicts on-site operations.

The system receives input directly from machines on site. Location, payload, distances, consumption, exhaust gas values, temperatures and much more are recorded and relayed. While this data has long been held on many machines, a comprehensive consolidation, evaluation and presentation platform was not available, according to Straßburger.

This is where GHH inSiTE comes into play, the company says.

“The software is regarded as a powerful tool that is adaptable and scalable, and thus designed to be future-proof,” it said.

“The connection to common IT infrastructures is guaranteed. All components are connected to each other via the network.”

Receiving this data in close to real time at control rooms, operators have all machine information available to them via PC, tablet or smartphone.

“If something goes wrong, or a change of schedule is required, they can intervene immediately,” the company says.

Even before the market launch, GHH took a major customer on board in 2019 to put the solution through its paces. The results were so convincing that an order was placed in mid-2020, with the contract covering a considerable part of the plant and equipment – around 150 machines.

During trials, the customer was able to achieve fuel savings of 7% and an efficiency increase of 12% in the monitored sub-fleet alone, according to GHH.

Hastings Deering starts APM equipment journey with load and haul

Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , ,

Hastings Deering, a distributor of new, used and rental Caterpillar machinery and services, has launched an Asset Performance Management (APM) solution that, it says, bolsters the company’s strategy of helping customers use Cat equipment more productively.

Hastings Deering Asset Support Supervisor, Kurt Pidgeon, says the new APM solution complements the company’s traditional value proposition.

“Hastings Deering has always been very effective with analysing the reliability and availability of equipment,” he says. “However, customers buy machines for productivity, so we decided to start providing productivity solutions to complement existing traditional reliability analysis that we perform.”

Starting with load and haul machinery and expanding into other operational areas, the APM solution delivers a wide range of reports and recommendations to improve productivity, according to the company.

APM is concerned with how the entire mining circuit is performing as a system, rather than a single facet of an operation, or individual machine, the company says.

“There are many information systems that aim to bolster productivity, but APM is unique in providing insights into how the whole circuit is performing as a system and specific recommendations on how to improve,” Pidgeon explains. “We help customers achieve their maximum sustainable production rate circuit-by-circuit as the mine plan evolves, as opposed to looking at one machine at a time.”

He added: “Analysing machine productivity has been done well for many years. Key performance indicators like truck payload have been a strong area of focus, for example. What if trucks are not the constraining factor on site and it is the load tool instead?

“Using APM, we focus on the broader mining operation so that we can better understand exactly where the improvement opportunities are.”

APM analyses the data from an entire mining operation to provide in-depth insights that lead to productivity and efficiency boosts, according to the company.

For Pidgeon, this means finding areas of improvement that may otherwise go unnoticed.

“Mining clients receive insights from the APM software via a team of specialists here,” he explains. “That leads to productivity improvements and efficiencies gained.”

Hastings Deering will soon expand the APM platform to other disciplines, such as drill and blast, with the aim of supporting the entire value chain of an operation.

“We’re about to start a module for the analysis for drill and blast processes,” Pidgeon says. “Further to this, we are developing analytical tools for each of the processes in mining.

“This will also include wash plant and material handling aspects to properly understand how one part of the value chain affects the performance of another. You need the complete picture to find the weakest link in that whole value chain.”

Remote operations have become critical to sustain mine operations this year in response to the restrictions enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hastings Deering has developed the APM solution to enable miners to analyse performance remotely when required.

“Remote management of mining is well accepted now,” Pidgeon says. “Working remotely in all facets of productivity monitoring is no different.

“It certainly enables clients to review site operations without having to be there. Mining is an industry where people work and live in different locations. Minimising travel if we can do so is an important thing to do at this time.”