It is one of the largest projects at the company's mining operations over the past decade. Metinvest has invested around US$50 million in the construction of the CCS.
How does it work
The CCS is an underground and surface conveyor system located in a quarry and composed of two lines - new Vostochnyi (Eastern) and existing Zapadnyi (Western). Ore is mined in a face and loaded by excavators into dump trucks, which deliver it to a transfer station, where ore undergoes coarse crushing. After ore is crushed, an underground conveyor system of Eastern and Western lines conveys it to the surface of the quarry, where it undergoes medium and fine crushing followed by beneficiation. The journey of ore from a depth of 300 meters to the quarry surface takes 15 minutes.
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Aleksandr Gerasimchuk
General director of Ingulets GOK«The CCS project – is one of the largest projects at Metinvest Group's mining operations. The promising technology will allow Ingulets GOK to make long-term plans for iron ore production. In addition, the company will significantly reduce its environmental footprint by operating a conveyor system, using a modern dedusting plant, and reducing the running time of internal combustion engines of dump trucks. Ingulets GOK plans to transport about 40,000 tonnes of ore per day once the system comes on line».
The construction of the facility lasted six years. Capital mining and construction works were completed and main process and auxiliary equipment was erected during this period. All operations are automated, enabling to control each and every equipment parameter. The CCS is also equipped with an automated air dedusting system.
Why was the CCS built
The crusher and conveyor system allows conveying ore from lower levels of the quarry faster and reduces the usage of dump trucks.A dump truck trip is reduced by 10%, decreasing the ore transportation cost. Furthermore, human-induced environmental impact and operational expenditure of the quarry are reduced due to the eco-friendly and ergonomic design of conveyors.
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Yuriy Ryzhenkov
CEO of Metinvest Group«We continue to upgrade the transport infrastructure at Metinvest's mining and processing plants. The largest CCS construction project has been completed at Ingulets GOK, and similar technology is on the way at Northern GOK. Modern eco-friendly facilities will allow Metinvest to increase production efficiency and reduce the cost of raw materials to give our products a competitive edge in the global market».
Ingulets GOK is one of Ukraine's largest mining companies. It specialises in the mining and processing of ferruginous quartzite from the Ingulets deposit, located in the southern part of the Krivoy Rog iron ore basin. The plant produces more than 30 million tonnes of iron ore and about 12 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate per year.