With the mining industry mood picking up, the level of interest in In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) solutions is again increasing, and the South-American market plays a key role in the industry. For this reason, International Mining Events held its 5th IPCC conference in Santiago/Chile, on 26th to 27th April 2018. Crushing & conveying experts from TAKRAF GmbH, Leipzig/Germany, had the opportunity to take part in the event and present the company’s know-how, expertise and solutions to over 120 participants, including potential clients and other relevant stakeholders (Figure 1).
As ore grades decline, waste rock to ore ratios increase and mines become progressively deeper – mining operations are facing greater challenges in ever-more complex scenarios. Despite various rationalization efforts, material transportation costs have increased significantly over the past decades and currently account for up to 60 % of overall mining costs. Thus, considerations and efforts to reduce overall mining costs, promise highest success when focusing on the development of more economic material transport methods. “The paper has the objective to develop a structured method for the determination of an appropriate IPCC system that incorporates the random behavior of system elements and their interaction”, affirmed Robert Ritter, TAKRAF Mine Planning Engineer, in his presentation. “This method is based upon a structured time usage model specific to IPCC systems supported by a stochastic simulation”.
A further paper, delivered by Walter Küng of TAKRAF USA, presented various semi-mobile IPCC systems, which found interest among many attendees. The topic represented viable, safe and decreased fossil fuel dependent alternatives in comparison to other material handling systems. The presentation elaborated on various configurations of fixed, semi-fixed, semi-mobile and fully mobile crushing station designs. It analyzed capital and operating costs for each and determined break-even scenarios, all based on high altitude South American conditions.
TAKRAF successfully demonstrated their in-depth knowledge and expertise by both scientifically determining the reliability and capacity of in-pit crushing systems, as well as highlighting the extensive experience in designing, supplying, constructing and commissioning of such systems in various parts of the world and under variable and extreme operating conditions. (TAKRAF/Si.)