About the complex

The crusher and conveyor technology comprises a system of conveyors connected with one another by drive stations controlling the transportation equipment. The complex is located at the Pervomaiskiy open-pit mine, one of the largest open-pit mines in Ukraine. The annual design capacity of the mine is 23 million tonnes of ore.

The ССS consists of two parallel lines: one each for ore and rock transportation. In 2016, when the ore conveying line was put into operation, more than 80 main and auxiliary facilities were built. The second conveying line has now been put into operation to transport rock. Each line has an annual capacity of 20 million tonnes of mined material.

From the open-pit mine, ore and rock are transported by trucks to the crushers. Once crushed, they are transferred to the conveyor system to travel 2.3 kilometres in 16 minutes. After arriving to the surface of the mine, ore and rock are loaded into railway cars. Ore is then delivered to the crushing plant, while rock is transported to the dump area.

From now on, ore and rock will be transported from the 300-metre-deep open-pit mine to the surface by two conveyors with a total annual capacity of 40 million tonnes.

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  Yuriy Ryzhenkov
  Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest

  «This year, we completed the construction of crusher and conveyor systems at two iron ore producers: Northern GOK and Ingulets GOK. Our investments in the two projects totalled around US$250 million, which makes these projects one of the largest in the Group’s history and in Ukraine’s mining industry. Commissioning the new systems will help us to increase productivity and reduce costs, which will improve Metinvest’s position in the global iron ore markets».

Benefits 

The commissioning of the CCS will help to mine iron ore more efficiently and reduce the cost of iron ore concentrate production. Particularly, it will reduce the distance of rock haulage by trucks by half a kilometre. It will also halve the number of stations that handle the mined material from the open pit to the mine surface, as part of the material flow will be redirected to the new conveyor of the crusher and conveyor system.

The project also addresses environmental issues. Conveyors help to deliver the mined material from the open-pit mine more quickly and the reduced truck run time decreses the environmental impact.

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  Andriy Skachkov
  General Director of Northern GOK

  «Implementing new technologies to improve operational efficiency and reduce the cost of ore mining is a key competitive factor for our products, such as iron ore concentrate and pellets. Commissioning the crusher and conveyor system at the Pervomaiskiy open-pit mine will allow us to maintain stable ore production in line with the annual design capacity of 23 million tonnes. With the new system, we will improve working conditions and safety for our miners. The modern dedusting technologies and reduced motor operation time of mine haul trucks will also reduce the environmental impact».

As a reminder, in late summer 2021, Ingulets GOK put into operation a new conveyor of the ore crusher and conveyor system, which had a budget of around US$50 million.

Northern GOK is one of the largest mining enterprises in Europe specialising in the production of 65.8% Fe concentrate and 63% Fe pellets. Its facilities have an annual production capacity of more than 13 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate and around 8 million tonnes of pellets. The enterprise includes the Pervomaiskiy and Annivskyi open-pit mines, two ore beneficiation plants, two pellet production shops and support infrastructure.