Assessing the Truckless Conveying Option in Mines

Related Vendors

DÜPERTHAL Sicherheitstechnik GmbH & Co. KG

In-pit dump hopper arrangements tend to rely on either mature technology such as the short-haul truck operations or novel site specific techniques such as those Drummond employ. While exceptions exist, the majority of vendor offerings for IPCC systems are focused on the mobile face operation approach and it is this category that is discussed in further detail.

Components of In–Pit Crushing and Conveying Pit Systems

The following steps are common to mobile IPCC pit systems, regardless of individual equipment selection. The Operating Sequence must not only span regular operation, from drilling through to delivery of the material out of pit but also encompass how the system travels between benches and relocates once a face is completed (Fig. 4).

The Sequence Must Also Take Into Account:

power supply during both operation and relocation,

how horizon relocations are managed when the pit extents are reached, and

how flexible the system is for operation on irregular benches or faces.

Issues to be considered at each stage of the sequence are described in the following sections.

Drill and Blasting Sequence

An IPCC system introduces additional equipment to the mining face, including sizing guaranunits, face conveyors and transfer conveyors. The drilling and blasting sequence must now take into account the following aspects:

Proximity of equipment and potential for fly-rock or face collapse damage.

Downtime interruptions to the material stream. Even if blasting is taking place away from the excavation, it has the potential to impact the other portions of the system such as face or ramp conveyors.

Whether this equipment needs to operate on, or be relocated onto, blasted ground. Track-shifting a conveyor over particularly rough or sticky surfaces can take significantly longer than on level terrain.

Balancing the distance from blasting to the excavation unit against the amount of time the ground will be exposed to precipitation before it gets cleared out. This becomes more of an issue for multiple-bench sequences where a given bench may get blasted well ahead of excavation.

(ID:37445760)