First rapid load-out for manganese mine provided in fast track contract

The first rapid load-out station to be built by Bateman Engineered Technologies (part of the Bateman Engineering Group) for a manganese operation has been completed within a record time of 32 weeks, compared to the industry standard of up to 52 weeks. The load-out station is servicing a new mine in South Africa, loading trains with manganese ore for export via the South African port of Port Elizabeth and for local and international use.

The load-out station was provided as part of a larger EPCM project awarded to Bateman Engineering for Phase 1 of an envisaged four-phase project to provide crushing and handling facilities.

The load-out station currently loads 2,000 t/hr of manganese ore, but has the capacity to reach 7,000 t/hr. As the first load-out station to be built to handle manganese ore, special consideration had to be given to the abrasive nature of the product, with Bateman Engineered Technologies drawing on the experience of load-out stations it has supplied to the iron ore industry. In addition, due to the high tonnages stored by this station, a concrete silo was used rather than a steel one.

Other challenges that were met in the design is the fact that the load-out station had to continuously service trains comprising five different wagon types, while still enabling accurate load distribution and a uniform profile to ensure that axle-loading requirements were met.

Also, the station was required to handle two different product sizes: -15 mm +6 mm manganese chips and -32 mm +15 mm lumpy ore, loading each wagon with 63 t at a rate of about two minutes each. A total of 104 wagons per train is handled with each wagon moving through the load-out station at 0.3 km per hour.
As a flask-loading system, the station comprises a concrete silo equipped with a flow cone. The flow cone makes use of a controlled slot through which the manganese ore is fed into the weigh flask. The weighed load is then passed through the profile chute into the wagons.

The flow of manganese ore out of the storage silo and weigh flask is controlled by single long radial gate, which is activated hydraulically by a system designed by Bateman Engineered Technologies and which ensures the gates close fully without spillage. The profile chute is designed to increase the loading distribution accuracy and reduce potential dust emissions during loading.

The system has a learning capability, whereby, as the first few wagons are loaded, the system assesses the effect of the loaded material’s density and flow characteristics. It automatically accounts for the prevailing conditions, and loads the train’s wagons accurately, based on the wagons that have already been loaded.
The load-out station’s control systems are based on client-specified hardware and Windows-based software, allowing overall supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) control of the operation. This also enables automatic validation of the truck numbers as they are entered into the Scada system, as well as the visual monitoring of operations through closed-circuit television systems.

The Bateman Engineering Group has supplied approximately 24 load-out stations to the natural resources industry across the globe since the first one was built in 1972.

For further information, please contact Philip le Roux, Bateman Engineered Technologies, on +27-11-201-2300, or email sales@bateman-bet.com.

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