EQUIPMENT
Utilizing precision surface mining in the bauxite mine of Africa
T
he Boké Mine in Guinea, Africa, holds some of the world's first-rate bauxite deposits. To successfully extract, process as well as transportation the product from the mine, located roughly 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from the northern shores of the Rio Nuñez in Boké Prefecture, the Société Minière de Boké extracting business (SMB) was formed in 2014. Today, SMB is one of the fastest expanding members of the Guinean financial mining landscape. SMB was established via a tactical partnership between Winning Shipping Ltd, UMS International Ltd, Shandong Weiqiao and also the State of Guinea.
OPTIMIZING OPERATIONS
Devoted to optimizing their procedures, the consortium began considering alternate mining techniques a few years ago. During the procedure, the team's participants went to a surface area mine in Australia to find out about precision surface area mining approaches. Onsite, the group got its very first take a look at the Vermeer T1255III Terrain Leveler ® surface excavation equipment (SEM). "We had numerous concerns regarding the effectiveness of surface excavation tools," Rui Shiliang, Executive Personal Assistant to the Head Of State of the Winning International Group, remembered. "It was clear that using an equipment like the Surface Leveler SEM could help us minimize our labor expenses, however we required to establish what the overall price comparison would certainly be for a procedure like ours." Along with visiting with several various other mining operations and SEMs for roadway construction, SMB invited the group from the Vermeer West Africa car dealership to find out for a see. While
there, the group gathered rock examples to ship back to the Vermeer Rock Lab located at the maker's head office in Pella, Iowa, United States. The professionals at the laboratory performed unconfined compressive strength, indirect stress, abrasivity, density and also power index testing to assist figure out just how the product would react when being reduced. Based on that information, the regional dealership assisted SMB quote production and also service expenditures related to making use of the Vermeer Surface Leveler SEM. Thrilled with the results of the testing, linked manufacturing as well as cost estimates and the responsiveness they received from their Vermeer dealer, the SMB group determined to offer precision surface area extracting a shot. SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON
SMB purchased 2 Vermeer Surface Leveler SEMs for the mine as well as made plans to run the makers combined with its drilling as well as blasting techniques. The mine was divided right into 2 areas so the group could get a sideby-side comparison. "Drilling normally takes place a week ahead of blasting as well as includes several boring machines to generate a 5-m x 5-m (16-ft x16-ft) grid of boreholes," Shiliang clarified. "Around a week after the drilling process is total, we'll after that come through and also blast. Around 50 000 statistics t to 100 000 metric t (55 000 t to 110 000 t) of bauxite is drawn out each time. The material produced arrays in dimension, so added testing and crushing is required, which can absolutely have a major influence on our operational prices." SMB located precision surface area mining approaches to be a lot more simple, with less prep time as well as less actions included. Making use of top-down
8 | SKILLINGS MINING REVIEW September 2020
cutting, the Surface Leveler SEM is able to work the ground layer by layer, while producing constantly sized item that does not typically require extra testing or crushing. Smaller-size item validates making use of routine trucks over highweight/high-cost mining trucks and can be much more expense efficient. Furthermore, the Vermeer Terrain Leveler SEM offers ability to move, which allows the operator to surface area mine much more precisely in tiny areas and also execute on inclines as much as 20 °. And also, according to Shiliang, the SMB consortium has actually been thrilled with this brand-new method of surface mining. "Overall, using the Terrain Leveler SEM equipments is more price reliable than boring as well as blowing up for our procedure," he clarified. "We are saving money on labor expenses and also have been able to lower the variety of times that product needs to be managed." Shiliang additionally kept in mind that filling vehicles in the cut has been much more reliable because the Terrain Leveler SEM surface-mined surface area is much smoother. "We spend less time preparing as well as keeping haul roadways, navigating trucks in and out of the cut, and also there is substantially much less damage to tires," he stated. MAKING IT
In the initial year of operating 2 Vermeer Surface Leveler SEM makers at the Boké mine, SMB estimated each unit created around 2.75 metric t per annum (3 million tpy ore with a mechanical accessibility in the variety of 90 °- 92 °. Those totals have actually remained to rise each year after. This write-up has third-party monitorings, guidance or experiences that do not always show the point of views of Vermeer Firm, its affiliates or its dealers.
