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Finding the right fit - risks and opportunities of open-pit crushing and conveying
Author(s):
Scott McEwing
Date:
Monday, July 1, 2019
First presented:
Global Mining Review, July 2019
Type:
Article
Category:
Mining
In suitable mining projects, in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) can provide operating cost reductions to the tune of 20 - 60% savings, depending on project specifics.
For this reason, IPCC systems have been in use around the world for decades. IPCC systems consist of a primary crusher installed in-pit, close to the active mining areas. The crusher is used to crush mined material to a suitable size for transportation via a downstream conveyor system. The conveyor then transports the crushed material out of the mine.
Material haulage is recognised as a significant contributor to both the operating and capital cost components of mining projects. In a conventional mining operation, mine haul trucks carry all the mined material within the ore pit up and out of the mine for either stockpiling, feeding directly to the processing plant, or for stowing in a waste facility.
IPCC systems allow the mine to utilise lower cost electricity and an efficient conveyor transportation system to reduce the haulage costs.
IPCC systems can be used in a range of commodities, and can be configured to suit a wide range of mining scenarios from long hauls in near surface tabular deposits, such as bauxite, coal or iron ore projects, to deep, long-life mines.
Examples of IPCC configuration include:
- Ore or waste – engineering the system to transport ore or waste, or in specific instances, both.
- Scale – applications can range in size from small-scale to suit low production quarries, or very large-scale to provide economies of scale to large-scale mining operations.
- Relocations – fixed, semi-mobile or fully mobile crusher options can be considered.
As mine trucks operate at their slowest speed on upslope/uphill ramps, the largest cost savings are usually found by minimising the vertical height that a mine truck travels. IPCC has also been used in strataform deposits, where long conveyors offer significant haulage cost savings over flat hauls beyond the efficient operating hauls of mine trucks.
