At the factory, located in Buryatia, Sever Minerals is responsible for the operational section from coarse crushing to milling — that is, for ensuring a balanced supply of material. The complex has a capacity of 1,050 tonnes an hour. This is a conveyor park with a single integrated logistic structure.
A large part of the delivery is made up of conveyors manufactured by the German producer H+E Logistik GmbH and other auxiliary components for storage and transportation. To simplify: after coarse crushing, the product needs to be transported by conveyor to the coarse ore warehouse. In the warehouse, six finger gates are installed under the bunkers. Three of these will be constantly in operation, while the other three will act as backup in case of an accident. The next step in the technical chain is the installation of vibrating feeders from the Austrian manufacturer IFE — then the ore goes to the conveyor that feeds the mill.
The specialists' task is not only to install the equipment: they have also taken on the responsibility for developing auxiliary systems. One product that was new for Sever Minerals is an active dust suppression system for cases when ore falls from a great height. Capable of working in the extremely low temperatures of the far north, it is made up of pipelines and pumps. One of the system’s special features is that it allows water that is usually unsuitable for this kind of technological operation due to its low quality to be used in the work process. It’s essentially a special purification and control system that prepares water and returns it to the crushing process, ensuring the careful use of the water resources in existence at the industrial site.
Additionally, local filters are installed at each reloading unit: these modular, automatically self-cleaning pocket filters form an aspiration system.
The harsh operating conditions for the equipment and the impressive size of the coarse ore warehouse (it is 109 metres long, 48 metres wide, and 20 metres high) determined the choice of new suppliers. So, for the first time, we have made use of the solutions produced by our partner Indurad, a company that specialises in measuring technology and radar sensors. We will be able to link our equipment and these sensors, which monitor the levels of the ore in storage, into a single automated system. This way, the cart will be able to move automatically around the warehouse, depending on how full it currently is: if one storage section is full, the unloading cart moves to a new free unloading point.
It is interesting to note that radar sensors are capable of working in any conditions: with high humidity, interference from surfactants and water from the dust suppression system, and in minus temperatures. They need to transmit data onwards to an automated process control system without loss of accuracy, regardless of the external conditions.
The new set of equipment also includes a winding station, which is designed for assembling and disassembling the conveyor belt, and a vulcanising press. One running metre of a belt like this weighs around 30 kilograms, and around 920 running metres need to be installed in total. To avoid overreliance on special equipment and the use of mobile winches and cranes, and to minimise manual labour, the Sever Minerals experts suggested solving the problem by using an automated system: the belt will be fed by a drive, and warehouse personnel will only have to align the different parts. In case of an accident, a vulcanising press will save time spent waiting for the special team and will help workers on site to cope with the installation of the belt on their own.
All the conveyor components, from the drive and the belt to the rollers, bearings and assemblies, are manufactured in Europe. The Sever Minerals specialists plan to initiate production of the equipment in the near future, once all the technical solutions have been approved.