Francisco Góes
Source: Valor Econômico
Published on March 3, 2011
Jamil Sebe, Vale’s director of ferrous metal projects in the North region, says that the application of a truckless solution in Serra Sul will be a milestone for the sector.
For the first time ever, Vale will transfer a technology already used at coal mines to iron mines. The innovation consists of using mobile conveyor belts instead of off-highway trucks. It will be the first time that this exploration model will be set up on a large scale at an iron mine. The new system will operate amidst the Amazon Forest in the Serra Sul mountains in Canaã dos Carajás, southeastern Pará. The biggest project in Vale’s history, the mine will produce 90 million tons of iron ore per year as of 2014 after receiving an investment of US$6.77 billion.
The new technology is known in the mining industry as “truckless,” given that it dispenses with the use of trucks. The system will be implemented in the Serra Sul’s S11D block, a ridge of land 30 km long and around 1.8 km wide. In future, this kind of exploration may be extended, on a smaller scale, to the company’s other iron mines.
Truckless systems reduce operating costs and produce lower carbon emissions. If the S11D mine were to be operated using off-highway trucks, there would be 100 vehicles circulating, consuming 65 million liters of diesel per year. Using conveyor belts, diesel consumption will be 15 million liters per year, a saving of 77%. Only crawler bulldozers and other auxiliary machinery will continue to consume diesel. The principal equipment used will be powered by electricity. There will be a reduction in CO2 emissions in line with the fall in diesel consumption, and the need to replace 174 very large truck tires (each one over three meters high) every year will be eliminated.
Read more | 1 | 2 |