Tag Archives: Rampura Agucha

Epiroc to deliver trucks, and rock reinforcement and drill rigs to Hindustan Zinc mines

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Epiroc has been awarded a large order for mining equipment and aftermarket support from Hindustan Zinc Limited in India, with the OEM set to deliver a fleet of mine trucks as well as rigs for rock reinforcement, face drilling and production drilling.

Hindustan Zinc, part of Vedanta Group, is the world’s second largest zinc producer and the world’s third largest silver producer.

The equipment will be used at its mines across the state of Rajasthan in north-western India, namely Rampura Agucha, Sindesar Khurd, Zawar, Kayad and Rajpura Dariba.

The equipment order is valued at about SEK215 million ($20.7 million) and was booked in the June quarter of 2024. In addition, the equipment is backed up by a full service and maintenance contract for a period of six to eight years.

“We have a long-standing and productive partnership with Hindustan Zinc, and we are happy to continue supporting the company on its journey toward operations that are as safe and productive as possible,” Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO, says.

Arunkumar Govindarajan, President for Epiroc India, added: “Epiroc has supported the development of Hindustan Zinc in India with underground mining equipment since the 1980s. More than half of the machines in this order will be delivered from Epiroc’s manufacturing facility in Nashik, supporting the “Make in India” efforts.”

The ordered equipment includes the Minetruck MT65 S, the Simba E70 S production drilling rig, the Boomer M2D face drilling rig, and the Cabletec M10 S rock-reinforcement rig. The S indicates the machines are part of the Smart series. Machine features include Epiroc’s Rig Control System, RCS, which makes them ready for automation and remote control.

Deliveries will start in the September quarter of 2024 and will continue into early 2025.

Vedanta aims to solve open-innovation challenges with Austmine collaboration

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Austmine and Vedanta have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that outlines a framework for future cooperation between the two companies in line with the Australia-India Mining Innovation Program supported by the Australia-India Council and the Global Mining Challenge – India program.

The MoU was executed by Dr Robert Trzebski, Austmine Director, International Business, and Vineet Jaiswal, Deputy CEO of Vedanta Limited’s Centre of Excellence.

“We are very pleased to see this MoU in place as it paves the way for great synergy between our two entities, combining Austmine’s METS network in Australia and Vedanta’s drive for technology excellence and innovation,” Trzebski said. “Our collaboration will allow Australian METS solutions to enter the Indian mining industry and address challenges around world-class standards of governance, safety, sustainability and social responsibility.”

Jaiswal added: “We are delighted to see this alliance take place as Austmine is a great platform to help crowdsource innovation and connect to the best of brains across the world for opportunities available across Vedanta group. The METS capabilities of Austmine’s membership network will be a complement to Vedanta’s quest for transformation across environment, communities, governance, workforce and other business functions.”

The objectives of the MoU are to solve to open-innovation challenges, gain access to Australian transformative and sustainable technologies, drive disruptive potential that will create a large-scale impact on global ESG issues,and stimulate bilateral trade and investment between Australia and India, Austmine says.

The first two challenges, ‘Underground Mining Network Connectivity’ and ‘Reduction of Net Carbon Consumption in Potlines’, have already been launched. In the former category, Vedanta is seeking technology-based solutions that help reduce the risks, impacts, and occurrence of communication gaps in its underground mining operation at the Rampura Agucha Mine; with the latter challenge seeking technology-based solutions that can help reduce the net carbon consumption in its potline at the Vedanta Limited Jharsuguda smelter.

FLSmidth FerroCer wear panels increase uptime at Hindustan Zinc operation

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FLSmidth’s FerroCer® Impact wear panels have proven their worth in the mineral processing circuit at Hindustan Zinc’s Rampura Agucha operations in Rajasthan, India, having significantly outlasted the previous manganese liners the lead-zinc mine was using.

By the end of 2018, the mine couldn’t say exactly just how good FerroCer wear panels were as they were still in place over a year since installation.

However, by March 2019, it was confirmed the FerroCer liners had completed about 480 days (16 months approximately) in operation and had withstood some 2.45 Mt of lead-zinc ore conveyed through the U-13 tripper chute, located after the primary crusher at the mine.

This is a significant improvement on the previous 40 mm-thick manganese steel liners, which had a life span of only 23-25 days, according to FLSmidth.

The constant wear on these liners meant the material handling system needed to be frequently shutdown so the worn-out liners could be replaced with new manganese steel liners, which weighed about 50 kg each.

“Because of the elevated location of several chutes, replacement of the liners required safety preparations (such as scaffolding and other access and handling arrangements), with five to six workers required to get inside the chutes to handle the liners,” FLSmidth said.

FLSmidth visited officials at the Rampura Agucha mines in June 2017 and recommended FerroCer wear panels to address the high wear issues in the material handling chutes.

“Each panel comprises a set of abrasion-resistant ceramic inserts enclosed in a matrix of malleable steel, which ensures only the top surface of the insert is exposed to material impact,” FLSmidth said. “The sides of the inserts are tapered within the matrix, keeping them in place and preventing material particles and fluids from damaging the panels.”

Some in-situ results from the 220-day mark showed the wear on the panels measured only 8-10 mm and had withstood around 1.5 Mt of lead-zinc ore conveyed through the U-13 tripper chute.

“This means FerroCer outlasted the previous panels by over 10 times, meaning a much longer replacement cycle,” FLSmidth said.

Clearly delighted with this outcome, Hindustan Zinc is now looking to use FerroCer impact wear panels across its high-impact wear locations, according to FLSmidth.

Praveen Bhardwaj, Assistant General Manager (Mechanical), HZL – RA Mines, Rajasthan, said: “FerroCer has reduced maintenance time due to the much longer replacement cycle, eliminated possible damage to the mother plate and spillage of material due to the highly abrasive nature of ore, and significantly reduced safety hazards. HZL intends to install FerroCer impact wear panels in all the high impact wear locations.”

The results at the Hindustan Zinc site follow on from results from two mines in Australia. One mine operated for more than a year without replacing its wear liners and the other site is on the same track, approaching its first year without the need for liner replacement.

Meanwhile, in a Peruvian copper mine, 24 smaller and lighter FerroCer panels, each made of steel plates with ceramic inserts, replaced six generic liners. After a total of 12.6 Mt passed, with a feed of 7,500 t/h, wear was no more than 3%, FLSmidth said.

“At that rate, FerroCer lasts at least 10 times longer than the most expensive and recognised wear liner on the market.”

RCT brings teleremote options to Hindustan Zinc’s Rampura Agucha mine

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Autonomous solutions specialist RCT has entered into its first automation project in India, commissioning its technology on machinery at Hindustan Zinc’s Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine in Rajasthan province.

The agreement with Hindustan Zinc Limited and its mining services provider Barminco will see ControlMaster® Guidance Automation installed on two Cat R2900 underground LHDs at the mine. These loaders will now undertake teleremote mining in open stopes developed by Barminco.

Barminco, in February, was awarded a three-and-a-half-year underground mining services contract at Rampura Agucha. The mine, meanwhile, is currently undergoing an expansion to boost production to 5 Mt/y of ore.

RCT will install two underground ControlMaster Automation Centres, as well as four ControlMaster Area Access Cabinets into mine stopes, as part of this package. These will collectively enable machine operators to safely manage the machines away from the mine face, according to RCT.

The Automation Centres will also be equipped with Multiple Machine Selection and Multiple Machine Control options, enabling a single operator to manage both machines at one time, according to RCT.

The project represents the first time RCT has deployed its proprietary digital communications network RCT Connect into a mine site anywhere in the world, the company said, adding that RCT will carry out training programs to empower local operators and maintenance personnel then machine servicing works on an ongoing basis.

Hindustan Zinc after improved safety, productivity with Epiroc’s Mobilaris solution

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Hindustan Zinc, India’s only zinc-lead-silver producer, has selected Epiroc to equip its flagship Rampura Agucha mine with Mobilaris Mining Intelligence™ (MMI).

A decision support solution for mine safety and efficiency, MMI enables superior situational awareness and is designed to visualise and support mining operations in all its complexities, in real-time, Epiroc says.

Hindustan Zinc has introduced various technologies and innovations and has obtained success in enhancing safety, efficiency and exploration, according to Epiroc.

Back in 2017, the miner looked to automate many of its operations, acquiring Epiroc drill rigs, LHDs, haul trucks (including the MT65) and exploration equipment to be used in five of its mines in northwestern India. The automation and other high-technology features of the equipment were enabled through the common Rig Control System, with most machines are equipped with the telematics solution CERTIQ.

Following the latest MMI order, Sunil Duggal, CEO, Hindustan Zinc, said: “We are continuously making efforts to develop better, connected and intelligent mines. The partnership with Epiroc will support our direction to develop safer and more productive operations at Rampura Agucha mine”.

Ulla Korsman-Kopra, Global Business Manager, Automation and Information Management at Epiroc, said the company would support Hindustan Zinc’s operational (mining) improvement processes with the MMI solution. “The globally-acclaimed features will take Hindustan Zinc’s operations to the next level of performance gains,” she said.

The MMI portfolio features situational awareness, short interval control, including machine data integrations, and traffic awareness promises to get maximum productivity and efficiency out of a customer’s mine, according to Epiroc.

“Thanks to the openness and transparency of the MMI solution, integrations with mixed fleet machines, sensors and more will create the foundation for vital real-time analytics,” Korsman-Kopra said.

The system is expected to be operational during once the networking is up and running at the Rampura Agucha mine.

Rampura Agucha is the second largest zinc mine in the world, according to Hindustan, with production of 3.9 Mt in the company’s 2018 financial year. It has a zinc-lead reserve grade averaging 15.7% Zn+Pb, with total reserves of 46 Mt as of March 31, 2018.

The ongoing underground mine project is being developed with a vision of producing 5 Mt/y of ore and includes a main production shaft of 955 m depth, 7.5 m diameter and hauling capacity of 3.75 Mt/y; two ventilation shafts, two declines from surface and paste fill plants, according to Hindustan.

Barminco wins extension at Hindustan Zinc-owned Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine

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Ausdrill’s recently added subsidiary, Barminco, has been awarded an underground mining services contract at the Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine in India from Hindustan Zinc worth approximately A$100 million ($71 million), the ASX-listed company says.

Hard-rock underground miner Barminco has operated at Rampura Agucha for Hindustan, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, since late 2016. The new underground mining services contract is for a three-and-a-half-year term, subject to review and mutual agreement of rates after the first year.

The scope of work includes the extension of development works that were being provided under a recently completed contract, plus the addition of production work in the Barminco-developed area of the mine. Under the contract, Hindustan will provide capital equipment and consumables. Barminco will commence work immediately, Ausdrill said.

Barminco CEO, Paul Muller, said: “We are very pleased to have been awarded a contract that extends our operations at the Rampura Agucha mine with an expanded scope to include production works. We look forward to deepening the relationship we have built with Hindustan Zinc over the past few years by delivering on this extended scope of works both safely and efficiently.”

Rampura Agucha is the second largest zinc mine in the world, according to Hindustan, with production of 3.9 Mt in the company’s 2018 financial year. It has a zinc-lead reserve grade averaging 15.7% Zn+Pb, with total reserves of 46 Mt as of March 31, 2018.

The ongoing underground mine project is being developed with a vision of producing 5 Mt/y of ore and includes a main production shaft of 955 m depth, 7.5 m diameter and hauling capacity of 3.75 Mt/y; two ventilation shafts, two declines from surface and paste fill plants, according to Hindustan.