The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - August 22, 2024
EcoHoist's case study is based on installing its ore haulage system at a 1-million-metric-ton-per-year underground gold mine with an average orebody depth of 500 meters.
An EcoHoist load drive fills specially designed buckets with ore for transport to the surface.
The EcoHoist bucket design enables high throughput through small-diameter mine shafts.
The EcoHoist bucket elevator operates inside two roughly one-meter (three feet) mine shafts.
Lowering carbon dioxide emissions and operating costs while also increasing productivity and profits are high on the priority list for modern mining companies. A comprehensive case study completed by EcoHoist, in conjunction with Mining One and ABB Hoisting Australia, indicates that the Australia-based mining tech company's innovative solution for the vertical transport of material out of underground mines would accomplish all of these environmental and economic objectives.
While using hoists to lift ore out of underground mines is not new, EcoHoist is a modern upgrade to this age-old ore haulage solution that replaces the traditional skip hoisting systems with a continuous bucket design that substantially reduces the size of the mine shafts needed to transport the same tonnage of ore to the surface.
This translates to lower costs to install and operate, along with a smaller environmental footprint.
A recent case study found that installing EcoHoist in a hypothetical 1-million-ton-per-year underground gold mine would generate a pre-tax internal rate of a return of 23% if the mine continued to operate at the same rate as if trucks were hauling ore to the surface. Installing an EcoHoist+ system capable of lifting 1.25 million metric tons of ore per year would increase the IRR for the system to an outstanding 167%.
Under these scenarios, the electric-powered EcoHoist ore haulage solution would reduce CO2 emissions by 101,000 to 103,000 metric tons over a seven-year mine life.
"This case study considers a hypothetical underground mine which based on a composite of parameters from real-world operating mines around Australia," said EcoHoist Managing Director Matthew Forrest. "The compelling financial and environmental outcomes are representative of what can be delivered from mines globally."
An EcoHoist load drive fills specially designed buckets with ore for transport to the surface.
The case study estimates it would cost A$38.8 million (US$26 million) to install an EcoHoist system capable of lifting 1 million tons of ore per year from an average depth of 500 meters below the surface. The EcoHoist+ system, capable of lifting 25% more ore out of the same mine, would cost about A$48.2 million (US$32.3 million) to install.
The EcoHoist bucket elevator operates inside two roughly one-meter (three feet) mine shafts.
The relatively low costs to install EcoHoist is largely due to the innovative bucket system that can lift 1 million tons of ore per year up a roughly one-meter shaft; a second shaft is required to send the continuous bucket chain back into the mine. Combined, these shafts are substantially smaller and less expensive to install than the five- to eight-meter (16 to 26 feet) mine shaft required for a traditional skip hoist system capable of moving the same volume.
The conical geometry of the buckets allows them to be loaded quickly and symmetrically so that no support other than the central linkage is required for stability. As a result, there is no need for additional structural support or alignment rollers.
Additionally, EcoHoist doesn't require an expensive headframe like a skip hoist, which further reduces capital costs.
Once EcoHoist is installed, the study finds that the cost to transport ore to the surface for processing is less than half of what it would be with traditional underground haul trucks.
The EcoHoist bucket design enables high throughput through small-diameter mine shafts.
Using inputs from existing operations, the study estimates that the ore transport costs for the hypothetical mine would be just over A$25 (US$16.75) per metric ton. More than A$15 of this per ton cost is for the trucks, and another A$7.30 (US$4.89) goes to ventilation.
With EcoHoist, the trucking costs drop to around A$2.60 (US$1.74) per metric ton, and the reduction of diesel being burned underground lowers the ventilation cost to A$1.50 (US$1.00) per metric ton.
As a result, the mine's overall operating expenditures drop from $190 per metric ton with diesel trucks hauling the ore to surface to $176 per metric ton with EcoHoist and $175 per metric ton with EcoHoist+.
These operational cost savings could be considered a bonus to installing an ore haulage system designed to accelerate the decarbonization of underground mining operations for a safer and more sustainable future.
The full case study with detailed cost inputs and calculations can be requested from EcoHoist.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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