New steep-angle material transportation concept for quarries and medium capacity open-pit mines
The Industrial Solutions business area of thyssenkrupp, a leading partner for planning, construction and service of industrial plants and systems, has unveiled a new, energy-balanced, steep-angle “Skip Way System” conveying system. The system makes it possible to transport hard rock, ore or overburden from the lower level of the mine, to higher elevations by the shortest and most direct route possible, reducing the mine’s carbon footprint.
The Skip Way System, for which thyssenkrupp has filed patents, is based on proven cable crane technology from thyssenkrupp, and aims to reduce truck traffic within mines. This concept uses two alternating skips loaded one at a time with uncrushed rock at two truck unloading stations at the bottom of the mine. With a handling capacity of up to 2000 mtph, the skips are fitted with wear plates and slide rails. The skips are suspended from two parallel track ropes, one set for each direction, in vibration-dampening support frames and carriage assemblies. Using a rope system to dispatch ore, building materials, minerals or coal, the Skip Way System reduces operating costs and carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the number of haul trucks in operation. The deadweight of the skips is fully counterbalanced at all times, so energy only needs to be expended to raise the minerals to the top of the mine.
The thyssenkrupp Skip Way System is highly adaptable to the terrain of a mine and can also be used in rough weather conditions when truck haulage would typically be suspended. The system also complements thyssenkrupp’s “Integrated Skip Conveying and Crushing System,” which has handling rates of up to 5000 mtph for uncrushed ore or overburden. Here, skips run in opposite directions on a steel track over a steep slope and can either empty their payloads of up to 250 mt into the feed hopper of a semi-mobile crusher or re-load ore or overburden into mine trucks at a bin with an apron conveyor discharge.
