Engineering & Mining Journal

APR 2013

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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of between 250 and 760 mt. Buckets sizes range from 15 m3 to the 42 m3-capacity bucket carried by the company's flagship, the PC8000. A variety of customization options are available, in addition to the standard equipment specifications, with customers able to chose between diesel and electric drives as well as between backhoe or front shovel configurations. The company points out that it has a policy of continuously improving its products to reduce emissions and increase safety on and around the machines. It is certificated to ISO 9001 and 14001 as well as OHSAS 18001 (health and safety management). In terms of technical developments, it is continuing to implement additional IT solutions, such as Modular Mining, into its excavators, while for special applications, it can equip its machines so that they are capable of working at high altitude (above 5,000 m) and down to temperatures of -50°C. Open-pit Assistance Based on Years of Experience With foundations provided by more than 60 years of in-house experience in continuous mining, RWE Power International (RE GmbH) provides expertise in the design and operation of large-scale opencast and open-pit materials-handling systems. "We feel that there is a movement toward continuous operations within the mining industry," the company's head of business development, Dr. Martin Schmid, told Best of Germany. "However, for continuous mining to be successful, it needs careful planning and operational experience, which is what RE can provide." According to his colleague, Stefan Blunck, RE's head of mining, geology and hydrogeology, providing experience-based operational assistance is an area the company is now focusing on specifically. "RE is a planning partner for surface mining, and we can bring expertise in areas such as maintenance as well as operations to companies that are evaluating new continuous-mining projects around the world," he said. One area of particular interest, the Galilee Basin in western Queensland, Australia, has excellent potential for the introduction of this type of technology, Blunck explained. "We envisage that it would be an ideal opportunity for using compact bucket-wheel excavators to handle the overburden, which is up to 60 m thick," he said, adding that all of the major companies that are currently evaluating projects in this undeveloped basin are looking at this type of mining system. "The basin is so far from the coast that there are a lot of infrastructure issues in terms of coal and supplies transport, so electric-powered continuous mining is the way ahead." RE is now looking to transfer in-pit crushing and conveying solutions from its traditional soft-rock homeland further into hard-rock territory, with primary crushing with mobile or semi-mobile crushers being used only to size run-of-mine rock for conveyor transport. The company also sees great potential in countries such as Chile, where mines are being expanded and existing long-distance conveyors will need duplicating as the tonnages being handled increase. Aside from the operational side, RE also remains deeply involved in setting standards for the surface-mining sector, in areas such as conveyor-belt suitability and durability. The company has its own testing facilities, available to customers worldwide, where it can perform standard DIN tests as well as those of its own design, from which it can then make recommendations on the quality and suitability of specific belts. Wirtgen Group Mineral Technologies— Reliable and Efficient With Wirtgen surface miners and Kleemann crushers and screens, the Wirtgen Group GmbH's Mineral Technologies division says that it 2013 • VDMA MINING SUPPLEMENT VDMA 23

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