Largest in-pit crushing system in Australia

The Sino Iron project’s mobile crushing and conveying system will be the largest in-pit gyratory crusher installation in Australia. Once in place, the four in-pit crushers will have the capacity to crush 4,250 tonnes of magnetite iron ore per hour, and will offer a number of environmental and cost benefits over alternate systems.  

Although establishment costs are higher, the long-term operating costs are lower.  Fewer trucks are required, resulting in less fuel use. Environmental benefits include reduced atmospheric contaminants such as dust, diesel and carbon emissions.  The system, which will be powered electrically by the project’s combined-cycle gas-fired power station, has been integrated into the mine design.

A number of other factors were taken into consideration during the design phase, including the rigidity of the conveyers, energy needs due to the depth of the pit, the layout of the infrastructure, the width of the haul road and traffic management needs.

CITIC Pacific Mining (CPM) Deputy Director Operations Andrew Thomson said progressive run-of-mine pads and conveyor paths were designed into the pit. “When ready the crushers are un-coupled and moved to the new location using crawler units. They are effectively ‘plug and play’ installations and although it is a significant task it is less onerous than a fixed installation,” Mr Thomson said.

After blasting, the crushers are fed by a ‘shovel and truck’ combination. The 200 millimetre crushed ore is then transported by large conveyors to the coarse ore stockpile at the feed end of the concentrator.  ThyssenKrupp are manufacturing the crushers, with components being fabricated in Australia, Germany and China. The first two crushers have arrived at Cape Preston and the first is already undergoing installation.