May/June 2013 - The ASIA Miner

Product News
Gearless drive system for conveyor at Peruvian mine
The Siemens’ gearless drive system for the conveyor at Antapaccay in Peru will be
the world’s second.
SIEMENS Drive Technologies Division has commissioned a gearless
belt conveyor system at Xstrata Copper’s Antapaccay copper mine in
Peru - the first large-scale reference for this technology outside Germany.
The mine, 4200 metres above sea level, is scheduled to produce
an annual average of 160,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate
in the initial years of its more than 20-year projected mine life.
Siemens says the gearless drives will help boost the efficiency and
reliability of the conveyor system and reduce maintenance requirements
when compared with conventional systems. Siemens’ scope
of supply includes additionally the entire switchgears and gearless
drive systems for a 40ft SAG mill and two 26ft ball mills with the associated
power supply.
The belt system in the Antapaccay mine was supplied by ThyssenKrupp
and transports ore from the mine to the processing plant over a
distance of around 6.5km. With a belt width of 1370 millimetres and
a conveyor speed of 6.2 metres per second, approximately 5260
tonnes of ore can be transported in an hour.
The Siemens drive system for the belt conveyor consists of two slow
speed running synchronous motors, each with a power rating of
3800kw, and the associated cycloconverters Sinamics SL150 and
convertor transformers. Compared with the combination of highspeed
motor and gear units otherwise used in belt conveyor systems,
Siemens says this gearless drive solution offers a range of benefits.
The size of the motor is not limited by the size of gearbox available,
thus eliminating the necessity to install multi-motor drives. The required
belt driving power can be provided with one drive per drive
pulley. This means that the number of switchgear enclosure could
also be scaled down, saving space and weight. The elimination of a
whole series of mechanical and electrical components increases the
reliability and efficiency of the overall system by between 3 and 4%.
Another important factor is that the maintenance requirements of the
drive system have been significantly reduced. This is important as
gear maintenance work alone can account for up to 5% per year of
the original investment volume for the gears.
Latest GEOVIA InSite version
GEOVIA, formerly known as Gemcom Software prior to acquisition
last year by Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company,
has released the latest version of the InSite mine production
management and reconciliation software. InSite 4.3 provides users
with even more operational visibility through new and improved
tools for data analysis and advanced tools to reconcile production
outputs and activities against what was planned.
Identifying variances and the causes behind them is now easier
with the new Variance Analysis module. Now future variances
can be reduced by providing the justification required to update
models, plans and schedules. Companies will also benefit from
the ability to see production activities as they happen, to ensure
they are performing efficiently at all times.
“InSite provides greater confidence in the accuracy of our monthly
production. The mine and wash plant have visibility of the variances
between plan and actual,” says operations superintendent at Stanwell’s
Meandu Mine, Simon Ewart. “Visual representation of mining
progress helps to validate activity hours and provide accurate reporting
to contractors. Reconciliation has never been easier.”
GEOVIA has also released the latest version of the GEMS geology
and mine planning software application. GEMS 6.5 provides
many new features designed to save time and increase
productivity. New tools enable much easier drillhole design, and
then allow users to rapidly produce and evaluate solids from the
drillhole information in ways that were not previously possible,
freeing more time for evaluation and analysis.
May/June 2013 | ASIA Miner | 67