Load & Haul

Automatic stockpiling lifts performance at WA open pit mine

BGC Contracting is one of Australia?s major
open pit mining contractors.  Its
mining team manages highly selective gold mining operations through to the bulk
mining of iron ore. Its diverse range of mining services includes load and
haul, drill and blast, on-road and off-road ore haulage, and crushing,
screening and train loading. Its clients include the likes of BHP Billiton, Rio
Tinto, Newmont, Cliffs Natural Resources, Mount Magnet Gold  and Windimurra Vanadium.

At a site outside of Perth, BGC has been
involved in an automatic stockpiling application over a reclaim tunnel from a
fixed plant using a Telestack TS 1542 telescopic stockpiler. It was stockpiling
a 0-80mm granite aggregate at an output of 1500 tonnes per hour.

Before it installed the TS 1542, BGC
considered a wheeled tower conveyor. However, after calculations were
performed, BGC concluded that this type of unit  would not work as it lacked the flexibility required
on-site.

Before this, stockpiling was done by a
number of front-end loaders that pushed the material up the stockpiles. This
meant greatly increased costs in terms of the front-end loaders (eg fuel,
expenditure, maintenance, labour, etc) that could be eliminated using this type
of conveyor system. Therefore, the TS 1542 was purchased as it could handle the
high tonnages required from the plant, while ensuring an increased stockpile
capacity of a lower capital cost.

From the installation of the TS 1542, the
operator has identified many benefits that this unit has offered, with greater
stockpile capacity and eliminating labour as the main advantages. For this
operation, articulated dump trucks are feeding directly into a static jaw
crusher which then feed a cone crusher. The Telestack then feeds onto the
gravity reclaim tunnel with three reclaim hoppers.

The TS 1542 radial telescopic conveyor
automatically stockpiles via the integrated Allen Bradley PLC stockpiling
programme that eliminates the segregation and degradation of the material. A
key feature of this installation was to eliminate the labour costs required for
the operation. Stockpiling from the fixed crushing plant, the TS 1542 is
interlinked with the entire system for monitoring and control procedures which
means there is no need for an operator. The discharge height of 14 metres (46
feet) ensures a high capacity stockpile up to 102,100 tonnes (63,813m3) at 270
degrees.

BGC estimates that it has saved up to
$540,140 per year by replacing its front-end loaders with the Telestack unit.
?In turn, the stockpiler has increased efficiency and flexibility, eliminated
the degradation and segregation of material, increased stockpile capacity and
reduced labour costs,? according to Graeme Churcher, BGC?s crushing asset
technical manager.

?The Telestack
is a great piece of equipment,?
he said. ?It gives us much more flexibility on-site and is very well made. The
unit can also be made to fit into a lot of other applications we have. The unit
is still very new and we can already see the benefits of acquiring the
Telestack machine.?

 

Source: Lincom Group

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