Tag Archives: Minnesota

Intramotev to put rail back in mining material movement competition

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St Louis-based Intramotev is looking to rekindle the mining and rail relationship that made US operations viable in some of the country’s most remote places by using a modular battery-electric propulsion system and an autonomous-ready operating platform that can provide shipment certainty, safety and sustainability.

Founded by Tim Luchini, Alex Peiffer and Corey Vasel, Intramotev has come to the table in the last four years with a portfolio focused on autonomous, zero-emission rail solutions.

The company has brought together a team from the rail, aerospace and automotive sectors to revolutionise and revamp the rail sector, looking to provide the “speed and flexibility of trucks with all the advantages of rail”, Luchini, also CEO, told IM.

“Through our solutions, we can offer the rail industry 20% to 100% reductions in their emissions footprint, while lowering their all-in costs by 30-80%,” he says.

Such metrics, which could encourage mine site expansions as well as new greenfield operations to start up, will be achieved by deploying one of the two solutions Intramotev has in its portfolio:

  • TugVolt, a proprietary kit that can retrofit/upfit existing rail cars to become battery-electric; and
  • ReVolt, capturing waste energy in traditional trains via regenerative braking, and automated safety systems including gates and hatches.

TugVolt can decouple to independently service first- and last-mile legs, providing the type of flexibility that, Luchini says, will allow the system to more readily compete with trucking. ReVolt, meanwhile, stays in the consist to capture energy via regenerative braking and reduce the overall diesel consumption of locomotives.

Both solutions leverage battery-electric technology – with Luchini saying the rule of thumb would see a 100 kW battery on board a rail car able to transport a 100 t payload for 100 miles (160 km).

“This compares very favourably with the massive batteries companies are having to put into rail locomotives to provide hybrid consists,” he said. “We’re offering something much more scalable to allow operators transporting large volumes of materials via rail an opportunity to electrify their fleet and reduce their costs.”

The first mining company to publicly commit to such a solution is Iron Senergy, which is set to receive three ReVolt rail cars for its 17 mile private rail line that transports coal produced by its Cumberland longwall coal mine, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, to its Alicia Harbor Facility on the Monongahela River, in western Pennsylvania.

This will be the world’s first deployment of self-propelled battery-electric rail cars in a traditional freight train when it starts up by the end of the year, according to Intramotev, using regenerative braking and battery technology to reduce diesel consumption from locomotives, resulting in lower costs for rail operators and reducing emissions impact from rail operations.

Tim Luchini, co-Founder and CEO of Intramotev

This might be the first, but there are plenty more in the works, according to Luchini.

“We have a pipeline of 168 rail cars today which are at different levels of commitment,” he said, adding that, of this total, there was a roughly even split between enquiries for TugVolt and ReVolt.

“We’re expecting payback periods on projects to be as little as six months, so there is a real economic case to employ these solutions, as well as the ability to reduce your emissions,” he said.

The US represents a massive market for the company to aim for – close to a million freight rail cars sit idle in switching yards, awaiting locomotives to bring them to their destination, according to the company – but Luchini also sees opportunities in Canada and South America where North American rail standards are already present.

“Then there is a region like Australia to consider, which obviously has a rich history of mining with remote operations in need of affordable and low-emission transport infrastructure,” he added.

The ability to add spur and extensions onto existing lines and run smaller units of battery-electric rail cars – like the company thinks can be achieved in the likes of Arizona, Nevada and Minnesota – could provide serious competition to the trucking sector there.

Luchini concluded: “If you are a mine site today, you have an obvious tension when it comes to material movement.

“Conveyors are great material movers but can cause huge issues when they fail; trucks are fast and flexible but come with excess emissions by today’s standards; rail is low cost, fast and environmentally responsible but in its current form is not very flexible.

“We’re looking to change this dynamic, going back to the rail sector’s heritage as a mine operation facilitator.”

Teck forms 50:50 jv with Polymet as it targets production from Minnesota’s Iron Range

Base metals, Energy minerals, Mineral project development, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Precious metals, , , , , ,

Teck Resources has announced an agreement with PolyMet Mining Corp to form a 50:50 joint venture to advance PolyMet’s NorthMet Project and Teck’s Mesaba mineral deposit, both located in the Iron Range of Minnesota, USA.

The joint venture will be named NewRange Copper Nickel LLC, with Glencore plc retaining its majority equity interest in PolyMet and providing financial support for its share of the funding commitment to the joint venture.

“The NewRange Copper Nickel joint venture brings together two large, well defined mineral resources in the established Iron Range mining region of Minnesota,” Don Lindsay, President and CEO of Teck, said. “This agreement will help unlock a new domestic supply of critical metals for the low-carbon transition through responsible mining.”

Closing of the transaction will be subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

The NorthMet project is near both existing and closed iron ore mines and utilises existing brownfield tailings storage and plant locations to minimise environmental impact. NorthMet is expected to produce 29,000 t/d of over a 20-year permitted mine life, with first production targeted for 2026. Over its first full five years of operations, NorthMet is expected to deliver annual payable production of 30,000 t of copper, 3,600 t of nickel, 58,000 oz of palladium, and 12,000 oz of platinum.

Earlier this year, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed nearly all aspects of the water discharge permit for the NorthMet project, overruling six of the seven challenges to the permit made by mining opponents and paving the way for the “reactivation” of this key permit, PolyMet Mining Corp Chairman, President and CEO, Jon Cherry, said at the time.

The Mesaba mineral deposit, in the Duluth Complex near the NorthMet project, contains one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-nickel resources, according to Teck. While further studies and community consultations are required to fully define the long-term development potential, Mesaba represents a strategic metal resource for North America, it added.

ME Elecmetal looks for sales, service boost with Road Machinery & Supplies Co partnership

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

ME Elecmetal has selected Road Machinery & Supplies Co (RMS) as a manufacturers’ representative for its line of crusher wear product solutions.

RMS is a distributor of construction and mining equipment with sales and support operations throughout the Upper Midwest of USA. It represents the best brands in the industry and backs them up with responsive, knowledgeable product support and technology solutions, enabling customers to complete their jobs safely and on time, according to ME Elecmetal.

As a distributor for ME Elecmetal, RMS will provide sales, parts, service, and other support capabilities to customers in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“As part of our effort to increase our market presence in this important region of the United States, we are pleased to begin our relationship with Road Machinery & Supplies,” George Schlemmer, Director of Crusher Products and Solutions for ME Elecmetal, said. “The years of experience in the states they will represent, as well as their highly skilled and knowledgeable sales and service teams, will be a great asset in providing our end customers with premium quality crushing and aggregate solutions.”

RMS Aggregate Division Manager, Ben Schmidtlein, said: “We feel our new partnership with ME Elecmetal will have a direct impact to our customers’ bottom lines. We are excited to combine top-quality wear materials to our great products and services.”

Twin Metals looks to avoid tailings dam concerns with dry stacking plan

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The developer of the Twin Metals project, in the Iron Range region of northeast Minnesota, USA, has announced plans to use dry stacked tailings at the underground copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold and silver asset as the company looks to eliminate the perceived risk of a dam leakage or failure.

Twin Metals Minnesota (TMM), a company owned by Antofagasta, said the dry stack method eliminates the storage pond and dam associated with conventional tailings facilities and has been successfully used in four mines in the northern US and Canada with similar climates to Minnesota.

In 2018, an update of the prefeasibility study for Twin Metals outlined a 18,000 t/d ore project, producing an average of 42,000 t/y of copper, plus nickel and platinum group metals as by-products, the equivalent of some 65,000 t/y of copper.

TMM, like many other potential mine developers, said community concerns about copper-nickel mines have focused on fears of tailings dam failure or leaks that could threaten both nearby surface water and groundwater. This comes after several high profile dam failures in North and South America.

If all goes to plan, the company will use the dry stack method to store the leftover rock from its proposed underground mine on a lined ground facility near the plant site. This will allow reclamation of the tailing site to occur in stages, with the site capped or covered with natural vegetation.

Kelly Osborne, Chief Executive Officer of Twin Metals Minnesota, said: “Dry stack tailing storage is the most environmentally friendly tailings management approach for our site. The first key is that there’s no dam, no risk of dam failure. The moisture content of the filtered tailings is reduced to a material that we can compact and manage seasonally.

“Because there’s no risk of a dam failure, dry stack is considered the best available technology for tailings storage and, after a decade of study and consultation with concerned voices in our community, we determined that it will be an effective choice for our project.”

Equally important, TMM said, is the fact that the tailings from the Maturi deposit at Twin Metals will be non-acid-generating.

“The common concern about sulphides points to a basic misconception about our project,” Osborne said. “The geology of the Maturi deposit provides us with confidence that we can mine here safely and sustainably. The rock sandwiching the layer of copper, nickel and platinum group minerals in the deposit is almost completely free of sulphides. When the targeted minerals are removed during the concentration process and shipped to customers, only a minute amount of sulphides will remain in the tailings.”

Extensive testing over the past decade shows that Maturi deposit tailings will be non-acid-generating, the company clarified.

Dry stack tailings storage has been an option under consideration since Twin Metals began mine planning in 2010, the company said. “As technology has continued to advance, and the application of dry stack in cold, wet climates has proven successful at multiple locations, Twin Metals made the decision to move to it as the best available option,” TMM said, adding that The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy hailed the advantages of dry stack tailings in a statement earlier this year.

Osborne concluded: “Dry stack is one of the ways we are making a 21st century mine that will be the most technologically advanced mine in Minnesota’s history and a model of how copper mining can be done safely and sustainably.”

The approach will be outlined in detail in TMM’s Mine Plan of Operation, to be submitted to state and federal regulators in the coming months. Regulatory review, including hearings for public comment, will cover compliance with regulations to protect water and air quality, drinking water, wetlands, endangered species, plant life and cultural resources. While the MPO is being reviewed the company will advance the feasibility study.

After reaffirming Twin Metal’s right to renew its two federal mineral leases, the Department of Interior reinstated the leases to TMM in May 2018. Antofagasta expects these to be renewed during 2019.