Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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58 E&MJ; • DECEMBER 2015 www.e-mj.com C R A N E S & R I G G I N G cialist manufacturer of mixers, Maschinenfrabrik Gustav Eirich. Installed as part of a major modernization scheme at Erich's factory, the cranes handle products as they are assembled. Mixers are becoming more complex and heavier, so the new cranes have increased the available lifting capac- ity from 32 mt to 46 mt each—and are set up to work in pairs to increase the capacity further if need be. As well as these heavy-duty cranes, the plant is now equipped with 12.5-mt-capacity overheads running on a lower level track that are used for component handling and assembly. Demag noted that the compact design of its cranes and hoist units has meant that the height of the assembly line building has been minimized, helping to cut investment and energy costs. Multifaceted Manitowoc As well as producing tower and crawler cranes, the Manitowoc group included Grove—which specializes in mobile cranes—and National Crane's boom trucks. The com- pany told E&MJ; about applications for both types of machine in Chile's mining industry. The Zaldívar copper mine now has a fleet of eight Grove RT cranes that have been used for tasks such as installing towers, moving containers and carrying electric components, as well as helping during construction of the mine's mill, maintenance shops and other buildings. The mine's first crane, a 50-mt-capacity Grove RT855B, arrived on-site in 1995. "We're one of very few mines that still have a good condition, 20-year-old Grove crane in use," said diesel-engine specialist Juan Olivares Cortes. "Each piece of equipment has a very demanding life cycle in a min- ing environment. "The cranes travel dozens of miles on rough roads, traversing steep grades, and dealing with strong winds, cold, heat and dust," he explained. Manitowoc noted that the mine has developed a team of experienced mechanics to tackle its crane fleet maintenance on-site, with each machine that arrives on-site being evalu- ated in depth to allow the team to calculate its life span and long-term maintenance costs. COMPANY PROFILE-PAID ADVERTISEMENT Eriez' Mining features separation, material handling and detection systems to concen- trate magnetic ores, recover coal fines, remove tramp metals, convey or feed heavy material as well as provide customers with a full service department. Column Flotation • CoalPro™ Column Flotation Cells for high-volume recovery of fine coal (0.2 mm) particles. • StackCell™ offers column-like performance in a substantially smaller footprint than conventional cells. These compact, stack- able units offer considerable savings for new installations and are ideal for expand- ing capacity in an existing plant. Wet Drum Separators Provide continuous, automatic recovery of magnetite or ferrosilicon in heavy media oper- ations and/or concentration of ferrous and weakly magnetic ores. Suspended Electromagnets Remove damaging tramp iron from conveyed materials. Available for use in hazardous, dusty and gassy locations. Metal Detectors Detects tramp and non-magnetic metals as small as ½". These metal detectors are built to handle harsh environments. Heavy Duty Feeders Low-horsepower, high-capacity mechanical feeders that can handle bulk materials in vol- umes up to 2,250 tph. Five-Star Service Offers a 24/7 service hotline, original OEM parts, on-site field service, equipment reman- ufacturing and full "as new" warranties. For more information, visit www.eriez.com. Eriez—Coal Processing National Crane's Chilean distributor modifies standard units for mine-site use.