Mining Bonanza

The slowdown is an opportune time to launch a host of efficiency-enhancing products, especially since policy changes favour investments in the mining sector, finds Charu BahriThe Indian mining sector stands apart from the construction sector in that it has shown resilience despite the slowdown. Growth has expanded the size of the industry but only enough to sustain its 2 per cent share in the country’s GDP over the past 15 years. Still, significant opportunities abound in the metals and mining space, in iron ore, bauxite, dolomite, gypsum, limestone, mica, chromite, manganese, zinc and graphite. By 2015, the sector is expected to grow three-fold to contribute $85 billion (Rs 416,500 crore) to India’s annual GDP.Whereas the public sector contributed three-fourths of total mineral production in FY11, policy regulations that are shifting towards resource ownership and encouraging foreign investments in the sector may change this ratio in the next decade. Increasing collaboration with global mining equipment manufacturers would help the mining industry accelerate investment and push margins upward.Prioritising efficiencyVolatility of commodity prices has been noted, however, as a result companies are prioritising efficiency and increasing bottom lines by enhancing operational productivity and optimising capacity utilisation. This renewed interest is encouraging mining equipment vendors to expand their portfolio of productivity – enhancing, time- and cost-saving machines.Last year, Nawa Engineers launched the Nawa Duracone SRM400 and SRM500 for aggregate and mineral ore processing. According to I Chandrashekar Rao, Project Research, Analyst & Consultant, Nawa Engineers & Consultants (P) Ltd, “This involved the acquisition of technical know-how and the worldwide manufacturing rights of Duracone SRM cone crushers from Durable Crushers Inc, USA. Duracone SRM is the creation of Louis Johnson, who invented and developed the first all-roller-bearing cone crusher, an outcome of several years of design and field tests to crush the hardest of hard rocks found in the Salt River, Arizona, in USA. This addition completes Nawa’s product portfolio and ensures that it can offer the full range of high performance cone crushers to process either hard stone or mineral ores upto 700 TPH crushing capacity. Customisation for Indian conditions has made the machine more user-friendly, amenable to easy maintenance and enhanced its efficiency. The Duracone SRM can also be used in rock sand preparation; and with the mining of sand across India slated to be banned by 2014, it is an excellent product for producing high capacity river sand grade material from rocks. The Duracone SRM will now be exported from India globally.”Salgaocar Engineers is in the process of introducing tunnel loading equipment as an alternative to Load Haul Dump Truck (LHD) normally used in trackless underground mines for mucking. The tunnel loading mucking unit promises to reduce 40 per cent time as compared to mucking by conventional methods i.e. using LHD. “Our offering consists of a boom system mounted on a specially designed crawler mounted excavator. A muck conveying system with apron and conveyor, and loading arrangement at the rear side of the machine allow the blasted material to be directly loaded into a dumper or rail car. The unit is fitted with a bucket that can be remov­ed if a hy­draulic hammer is needed for tunnel excavation,” explai­ns Anil Sachdev, President, Salgaocar Engineers. Bearing in mind the need for fuel efficiency and optimising working conditions inside a mine, the unit is designed to operate on diesel as well as electric power. Diesel power is used for travelling whereas electric power is used for operating the machine at face to minimise ventilation requirements. “So far over 20 such units are working in various hydro-electric projects for excavation of tunnels but we hope the mining sector benefits from the utility as well,” he adds.Launch padGlobal and national mining equipment vendors are forging ahead, making deeper inroads into the sector on the back of strong after-services. “TIPL’s ability to provide solutions that encompass construction and mining equipment as well as power systems, and our strong after-sales customer support ensure that the availability of the fleet at the operation sites exceeds the contractual guaranteed fleet availability. This in turn translates into renewal of businesses and strengthens the partnership we have with our customers. Our 5-star certified component rebuild centre in Asansol, West Bengal, is also another example of providing value-added services especially to our mining customers,” says GVR Murthy, Joint Managing Director, Tractors India Pvt Ltd (TIPL)According to Satya Raju, Market Support Manager, India & SE Asia, Product Area Crushing & Screening, Sandvik Mining, “Our crushing and screening equipment – especially the Sandvik gyratory and Sandvik cone crushers of mining duty – is most in demand among copper, iron, coal and gold producers. Be it stationary, semi-mobile or fully mobile crushing plants, customers expect crushing efficiency for round-the-clock operations and have high deman­ds on aftermarket service and support.”India is being considered as one of the major markets to see new products being launched during Minexpo in September 2012. Sandvik’s revolutionary eco-efficient comminution machine – an energy- efficient machine which produces a finer mill feed thereby boosting the downstream milling process – will premier at the exhibition.Exploration avenuesWith the Indian exploration budget continuing to be a dismal 0.5 per cent of the global spend, there is plenty of scope to make these efforts more aggressive. Mining exploration equipment vendors are expected to play a major role in the coming years.Atlas Copco is slowly widening users for its high-end drilling equipment. “Atlas Copco is well known for its complete range of blast-hole drills for coal mining applications. During 2009 we received our first order for high-capacity, hydrostatic, diamond core drills from the Central Mining Planning & Design Institute Ltd. We see huge opportunities for these products in coal exploration. Our learning approach sees us incorporate the suggestions of users to enhance the productivity of the equipment and this is paying off since users see us as partners in their work,” says Sudhanshu Nigam, Business Line Manager – Exploration and Geotechnical Engineering, Atlas Copco (India) Ltd.Backing efficiency-driving products with the right approach will take mining equipment vendors far.Case 1: EXPLORATION IN TOP GEAREquipment: High Capacity Hydrostatic Diamond Core DrillVendor: Atlas CopcoUser: Central Mining Planning & Design Institute LtdUse: Exploration of coalFeatures: Looking at the depth and size of exploration projects in India, Atlas Copco offered CT 14 Hydraulic Diamond Core Drill capa­ble of drilling upto 1,200 m depth against the required 900 m using NQ wireline drill rods. The CT 14 drill has a P head, so as to drill in PQ size / rotate HW casing through spindle. It has a 14 tonne lifting capacity using feed system, the highest in this class of drills in the world, to ensure its usage in extreme conditions without any problem. The drill has completed an angular borehole of 1,255 m depth using NQ wireline drill rods near Rampura Agucha mine, Rajasthan, for lead and zinc formation in India. The drill has a Cummins Tier- III diesel engine, supported by the India Cummins network, an operator cabin for all-weather drilling, a mast dump, thread compensation to avoid dam­age of sensitive wireline rod threads, and a rotation unit capable of high rotation upto 1,300 rpm and 5,113 Nm torque to explore any formation.Client testimonial: “Since our capacities were stagnating at around 2 lakh metre per year a few years back, we decided to take action to augment this capacity. An expert group - the TL Shankar Committee - also recommended likewise. Implementing those recommendations, we decided to replace our old mechanical drills with high capacity hydrostatic drills. We had planned to deploy about 18 drills to replace all our old mechanical drills. We initially purchased two drills on a trial basis and asked Atlas Copco to prove the performance in three months. We told them that we would place further orders after satisfactory performance over one year. Seeing the performance for three months initially and then one year, we placed an order for two more drills which are being deployed in the Bilaspur area, Korba coal fields, Kusmunda and other mines. We had asked for a performance guarantee of upto 900-1,000 m and as the depth of drilling exploration is going beyond 800-900 m we had also kept a condition for the drills to be capable of drilling upto 1,000-1,200 m and giving a performance of about 1,000 m per drill per month. That’s how we tried to increase the productivity of our exploration drills. From our mechanical drills we were getting about 350-400 m per drill per month, so nearly doubling our capacity from 2 lakhs to 4 lakh. We wanted to get the 4 lakh target by doubling the productivity of our existing drills from 350-400 m per month to 900-1,000 m per month; that’s how we saved on manpower and achieved the desired capacity. Atlas Copco drills are superior to mechanical drills, state-of-the-art and equipped with the latest technology. But they have to be made suitable for different stratas of users. We have been achieving a monthly average of 800-850 m exploration in the last two years,” says Ashok Kumar Singh, CMD, Central Mining Planning & Design Institute Ltd.Case 2: COST-CUTTING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGYEquipment: Sandvik CG820 Primary Gyratory Crusher Vendor: SandvikUser: Tata SteelUse: Material reductionFeatures: Most crushers worldwide typically use slip ring motors with rotor resistance control or induction motors with a DOL starter or soft starter. Both designs suffer from limitations such as needing high starting current resulting in voltage drop and low power factor while starting; jamming during power failure; starting limitations (only two consecutive starts allowed per hour); needing low starting current with low starting torque, hence unable to start at full load; and necessitating high maintenance due to slip ring. In contrast, this VVVF drive based gyratory crusher does not impact the power system due to its low starting current below the rated current; permits unlimited starts of motor; allows higher starting torque at rated speed and hence the start-up of the crusher at loaded conditions has a starting time of 8-10 seconds which meets the critical requirement of the crusher; maintains high power factor; can be started with DG power; and delivers energy savings through reducing the speed in no-load condition.Client testimonial: “Installing a VVVF drive operated Sandvik gyratory crusher has delivered significant advantages such as minimum maintenance, smoother operations and better liner life. Due to these benefits, the total cost of our production has come down significantly. This is directly contributing to increased production. We are extremely satisfied with the service support provided by Sandvik where the team has been prompt in attending to service calls be it at odd hours. Over a period of time, Sandvik has partnered with us as process knowledge and service experts by training our operators, who are now fully equipped with latest technology and automation know-how on VVVF drive,” says BD Mohanty, Chief Processing and Logistics, Tata Steel.Case 3: EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGYEquipment: CAT ® 773E (60T) and 777D (100T) Off-Highway Rear DumpersVendor: Tractors India Pvt Ltd - a wholly owned subsidiary of TILUser: Coal India, Tata Steel, Vedanta, Aditya Birla Group, EPSAUse: Transportation of raw materials (over burden and coal) from open cast coal mining projects.Features: Fuel-efficient engine with highest carrying capacity, equipped with Truck Production Management System which facilitates measuring, recording and the display of the weight of the material (payload). TPMS also records the date and time of each haul cycle including the idle time, loading time, empty travel time, loaded travel time, empty travel distance, loaded travel distance and shock load points on the haul road.Case 4: CONTINUING USE OF OLD TECHNOLOGYEquipment: Raise ClimberVendor: Salgaocar Engineers Pvt LtdUser: Hindustan Copper LtdUse: Copper miningFeatures: Raise climbers offer flexibility, safety, economy and performance in driving vertical and inclined shafts varying in height from 18 to 80 m and in inclination from 40o-90o. The machine consists of a steel roofed platform (available in various sizes) propelled by a rack and pinion system along a special guide rail. Straight or curved guide rail sections, 1 m and 2 m long, are anchored to the shaft wall by expansion-type rock bolts and incorporate a tube system for the supply of air and water to the drills. Raise climbers are parked at the bottom of the raise during blasting, prior to scaling. The rail end is protected by a blast plate containing air and water jets for clearing out blast fumes from the top of the raise. Raise climbers can have single or double drive configurations to suit the load requirements. Pneumatic, electric and diesel/ hydraulic drives can be supplied to meet and exceed performance and regulatory requirements. Raise climbers allow the cost-effective mining of narrow ore bodies where speed is not needed, waste pass raises, in ventilation shafts and airways, and in communication and materials handling shafts. Client testimonial: “Raise climbers are third generation shaft production technology. The machine is robust, safe, flexible and highly cost-effective (vis-à-vis the use of raise borers) to convert small ore finds into profitable ventures. It causes less damage to surrounding rock and the hydrological strata during blasting operations than conventional methods,” says M Kundu, Deputy General Manager (Mines), Hindustan Copper Ltd, Kolkata.To share your views or experiences with mining equipment, write in at feedback@ASAPPmedia.com