In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) A Tried and Tested Alternative to Trucks

D Turnbull1 and A Cooper2

ABSTRACT
The current financial climate has given rise to fears that falling mineral prices and tight credit will force mining companies to cut back on production and new project development in a bid to cut costs and conserve cash. However, a prolonged squeeze on global supply can have only one result: a massive and potentially explosive demand for metals in the not-too-distant future. A resurgent global economy will also generate dramatic new demand for oil and energy, with a return to higher oil prices likely. How then should the mining industry plan for the future? In-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) could lead the way as a partial or complete substitute for trucks. In 13 of 15 studies undertaken by Sandvik and Snowden, comparing IPCC with truck-optimised pit designs, IPCC generated operating savings ranging from US$0.18 to US$0.82 per tonne moved, compared to trucks. Trucks have higher operating, maintenance and energy costs than conveyors. New emission standards on diesel engines may make them more emission friendly but less efficient in terms of energy usage. With far more efficient energy use and cheaper operating costs per tonne moved than trucks, conveying offers an attractive alternative for the bad times ahead and into the apparent energy depleted future. When evaluating alternatives, a reasonable first step would be to conduct a scoping level study which analyses the differences in capital and operating costs between a truck and shovel operation and an IPCC solution. The study can also determine what type of IPCC is best suited to the particular mining application. The results can then be used to decide whether a more detailed study is justifiable. IPCC is a proven process that, with a fresh mindset, can make a significant improvement to mining operations. Sandvik (as an OEM with a full suite of IPCC equipment) can undertake these studies in ten working days in conjunction with Snowden or any other independent mine planner who knows how to schedule for IPCC. Because most mining industry personnel have been born and bred on trucks and shovels this paper focuses on some of the practical considerations necessary to make IPCC systems work that the Sandvik Technical Services Group has encountered during these studies.

WHAT IS IPCC?
IPCC is an alternative to the use of trucks for the removal of waste and/or mineral (ore or coal) from a mine. IPCC is the use of fully mobile, semi-mobile or fixed in-pit primary crushers coupled to conveyors and spreaders (for waste) or stackers (for ore) to remove material from a surface mine. The crusher type used depends on rock properties but options include gyratory, jaw, sizer, double rolls or the new hybrid. Figure 1 shows an example of a spreader working on a waste dump and Figure 2 shows an example of a semi-mobile in-pit crusher.

WHY ARE WE INTERESTED IN IPCC?

IPCC has received renewed interest because of the following factors:

Cost pressures on operations as pits become deeper and strip

ratios increase means that alternatives which provide reduced operating costs per tonne of material moved become more attractive despite their higher initial capital cost. likely to stay high long term as there are few new low cost oil deposit discoveries. skills shortages and high labour costs.

Diesel fuel prices have recently been at historical highs and Many countries are experiencing ongoing labour shortages, There is high potential to simplify IPCC by automation
(which will keep manning levels much lower than a traditional truck operation). incidents by reducing the number of trucks operating on haul roads. For example, in 2008 three out of four surface mining fatalities in Western Australia were truck related. Already in 2009 there have been two truck related deaths in surface mining across Australia. IPCCs low emission profile attractive.

IPCC can significantly reduce large dump truck vehicular

INTRODUCTION
Snowden Mining Industry Consultants (Snowden) and Sandvik Mining and Construction (Sandvik) have collaborated on 15 in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) studies spread over both open pit hard rock mines and open cut coal mines over last 18 months. Generally, Sandvik would manage these studies with some independent mine planning and scheduling carried out by Snowden as a subcontractor to Sandvik. Sandvik would also provide design and engineering input for the IPCC layouts, suitable equipment specifications, capital and operating cost estimates. Invariably the studies were based on comparing an IPCC option with truck and shovel optimised pit designs and schedules. Although IPCC was economically competitive with truck and shovel in all but two of these studies, the designs and schedules were not well suited for IPCC.

The potential impact of emissions and carbon trading makes The efficient usage of energy and finding of the most cost
effective path to an energy efficient, CO2 neutral and sustainable mining industry, is important for all mining industry stakeholders.

Changes and improvements to the design of semi-mobile

IPCC components have made IPCC systems more efficient and reliable. However, IPCC needs a dependable (and ideally low cost) electricity supply to be competitive.

TRUCK AND SHOVEL SURFACE MINING

Most open pits today are mined using the truck and shovel mining system. This method is flexible with regard to pit geometry and production rate, and is tolerant of poor mine planning practices. The mine owner has a choice of owning and operating the mining fleet, or engaging a contractor to supply and manage the mining fleet. For large operations, trucks have significant disadvantages including:

1.

MAusIMM, Principal Mining Engineer, Sandvik Mining and Construction, 60 - 62 Qantas Drive, Brisbane Airport Qld 4007. Email: doug.turnbull@sandvik.com MAusIMM, Principal Consultant, Snowden, PO Box 77, West Perth WA 6872. Email: acooper@snowdengroup.com

2.

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Discharge boom

Transfer Bridge

Tripper Car

50m >50m
FIG 1 - An example of a waste spreader.

Twin Tip Head and dump pocket

Belt 2

Crusher Station & Service Tower Sacrificial Belt 1

FIG 2 - An example of a semi-mobile crusher (Mae Moh mine).

large fleets numbers (20 to more than 60 trucks is not

uncommon);

high personnel numbers (typically six to seven people per

truck including operators and maintenance personnel); and

high operating cost driven by: fuel (diesel) and lubricants, tyres, and labour (maintenance and operator) availability (the mining
industry average age is getting older) and skill level.

PLANNING ASPECTS OF IPCC Types of IPCC system

There are three main IPCC system variants: 1. 2. 3. fully mobile, semi-mobile, and fixed.

In fully mobile IPCC systems, the shovel directly feeds the crusher thus eliminating all trucks except perhaps a cleanup fleet.

The crusher is mounted on tracks and moves with the shovel. Connecting the crusher to the main conveyor requires the use of mobile connecting conveyors (that is, belt wagons or grasshopper conveyors and crusher). The shovel and crusher could be replaced by a continuous miner but this paper will not cover this option. Semi-mobile IPCC systems (Figure 2) are located near the working face but because the haul is short, smaller truck fleets are required. To stay close to the working face the crushers need to relocate regularly, up to twice a year. Fixed IPCC systems are located away from the mining face, perhaps on the pit rim (or a short distance from the pit rim say ex-pit). They may be relocated but generally remain in one location for several years at a time. Because of the large distance from the mining face to the crusher, the truck savings realised will be smaller. In general, the more trucks displaced by the IPCC system the greater the financial benefit. Fully mobile IPCC systems should therefore have greater financial potential than semi-mobile or fixed IPCC systems. However, implementation complexity is lower for fixed and semi-mobile IPCC systems. Semi-mobile IPCC is of particular interest because it can be retro-fitted into existing open pit operations without major redesign or rescheduling of the pit.

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Crusher Throughput vs Rock Strength

14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 0 Note that throughput is a function of density and fragmentation - indicative figures only Gyratory Hybrid Double Rolls Double Rolls Sizer

Throughput TPH

50

100

150

200

250

Rock Strength MPa

FIG 3 - Crusher throughput versus rock strength for different crusher types.

Crushers for IPCC applications

Figure 3 summarises the crusher type recommended for different combinations of rock strength and throughput. For low rock strengths (ie a uni-axial compressive strength (UCS) of less than 70 MPa) sizers or double rolls crushers are recommended because they are lighter and offer lower capital and operating costs than other crusher types. For higher rock strengths, gyratory crushers are recommended. Jaw crushers can be used if the fragmentation allows high bypass of fines or for lower throughputs (ie capacity less than 2500 t/h). It is possible that the development of hybrid double-rolls crushers (HDRC) within the next three to four years will allow routine (as opposed to occasional) processing of greater than 180 MPa rock stengths. A high UCS crushing HDRC could potentially offer lower capital and operating costs then jaw or gyratory crushers. The advent of HDRC could allow the application of fully mobile in-pit crushers, thereby removing trucks completely from operations with medium to high hardness rock (UCS greater than 100 MPa). Currently, fully mobile systems are restricted to the use of sizers and jaw crushers due to weight limitations for mobility.

geometry to locate crusher stations and transfer points. These types of design optimisations are typically not taken advantage of in preliminary assessments of IPCC viability.

Pit exit alternatives

One of the primary concerns with the installation of an IPCC system is how the conveyors exit the pit. There are three ways by which the conveyors from an in-pit crusher can exit the pit: 1. 2. 3. a tunnel, a dedicated (generally steep) conveyor ramp, and via an existing haul road.

IPCC design considerations

A pit that has been designed from the outset to accommodate an IPCC system would differ in several respects from one that has been developed using a truck-shovel methodology, particularly in regards to stage or pushback geometry.

Pit geometry
Open pit mining stages for a typical truck-shovel operation are designed based on several criteria including:

maximising the project value or net present value (NPV), balancing waste to ore stripping requirements, maintaining ore presentation and facilitating ore blending
requirements, and

maintaining practical operating widths and stage access.

Pit pushbacks or stages for IPCC are best if walls are straightened, maximising main line conveyor spans where possible, thereby reducing the number of conveyor transfer points. Pit stages need to be widened in order to accommodate the extra working width required by the crusher station and temporary ramping systems. Wider stages also provide more flexibility and can reduce the vertical advance rate (the number of benches mined per year), which is important to keep crusher moves to a minimum. A pit design optimised for an IPCC system would incorporate conveyor corridors and crusher stations in the high walls and would ideally take advantage of natural changes in the deposit

Tunnels are usually only applicable where the topography presents an impediment to the use of trucks or the alternatives. Dedicated conveyor ramps are suitable for fixed crushers, but in the case of semi-mobile setups these have been found to be difficult to design and implement. Although dedicated conveyor ramps can be much steeper than haul roads they still require access for maintenance. In open pits with both trucks and an IPCC system the situation always exists where the IPCC conveyor and a haul road cross over. In order to maintain traffic flow either a conveyor bridge or a conveyor tunnel is usually required. In the conveyor bridge application, the conveyor is elevated to a height to clear a fully loaded truck. In some instances short conveyor tunnels can be constructed from preformed concrete sections and buried in order for the conveyor system to travel under the road. When an IPCC conveyor is retro-fitted to an existing haul road, some compromises are required. The haul road width needs to be increased by around 7 m to 9 m to accommodate the conveyor corridor. However, one compensating factor is that the traffic volume will be reduced significantly (to about 20 per cent) as most of the ex-pit truck haulage is no longer required. Figure 4 shows an example layout suitable for Caterpillar 793 trucks fitted to a 39 m wide road.

Semi-mobile crusher location and truck access

There are three options for locating the semi-mobile crushing stations to maintain truck access: 1. 2. a designed location for the crusher in the high wall with access for the trucks off the haul road, a temporary location on the inside of the haul road for the crusher with access to the tip-head via a temporary ramp off the bench, and a temporary location on the inside of the haul road for the crusher with access to the tip-head off the haul road.

3.

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FIG 4 - An example of an IPCC haul road layout.

Crusher Station

Conveyor Access Ramp Slot

Catch Berm

Conveyor Bridge Permanent Ramp System Up to Crusher Station & Waste Dumps

Down Ramp Direction

Ramp Turning Area onto Crusher Tip Head Shovel

FIG 5 - A designed in the wall semi-mobile crusher station.

Designed high wall location

In this option, the semi-mobile crushing station is located in a designed location in the high wall along the haul road (Figure 5). The platform upon which the crusher sits is presplit to create a locally flattened and widened pad for the crusher and truck tip-head area. Trucks access the crusher off the haul road.

Temporary crusher location on side of haul road with access off haul road to tip head
For this layout, the crusher is temporarily located along the pit side of the haul road with access to the tip-head off the haul road (Figure 7). The crusher station is located on the inside of the haul road. Trucks access the crusher off the haul road and under a conveyor bridge (or over a culvert). After the crusher has been relocated, a temporary ramp is built to facilitate removal of the crusher pad. The disadvantage of this system is that the removal of the crusher pad would be slow and expensive and limited to two normal benches.

Temporary access ramp off bench to tip-head

For this layout, a temporary ramp access is constructed alongside the haul road. The crusher station is located on the top of this temporary ramp. Trucks access the crusher from the bench via the temporary ramp (Figure 6). After the crusher has been relocated, the crusher pad and the temporary ramp are removed. The disadvantage of using a temporary ramp is the increased planning effort and costs associated with construction and removal of the crusher pad and ramp.

Waste dump development

IPCC waste dumps (Figure 8) differ from truck and shovel waste dumps in a number of respects.

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TurningArea.. No Accessto Exit Pit Ramp

Shovel Face

CrusherStation

TEMPORARYRamp

Shovel Face

FIG 6 - A semi-mobile crusher station accessed via a temporary ramp.

Conveyor Bridge

Ramp Conveyor

Crusher Station

Operating Shovel Operating Shovel

FIG 7 - A semi-mobile crusher station accessed from the haul road.

Waste dumps for IPCC do not need to be located immediately adjacent to the pit exits because the incremental haulage cost of conveyors is minimal. This can be particularly beneficial for pits with minimal waste storage areas near the pit and long hauls to ex-pit waste facilities. Unlike a truck dump, an IPCC dump does not generally require construction height restrictions due to the risk of crest failure. A waste spreader can be designed to stand well back from the dump edge (50 m to 175 m). It is a mobile piece of equipment and can be relocated to a safe area in the event of an impending failure. Waste dumps are often developed in semi-circular arcs with track shiftable conveyors in order to minimise the amount of movement required by the spreader (slewing or non-slewing). For any given track shiftable conveyor position, the spreader can normally dump below itself, walk around the head pulley and dump above itself before needing to relocate the conveyor.

Relocating semi-mobile crushers

Experience has shown that the relocation of a semi-mobile crusher can be achieved in less than seven days.

THE BENEFITS OF IPCC IPCC economics

Studies carried out with Sandvik have returned IPCC operating cost reductions of between US$0.18/t and US$0.82/t compared with truck and shovel options. Although fuel cost, hourly truck costs, electricity costs, IPCC capital and operating costs are drivers, the key driver in all these studies was the average truck haulage cycle time.

Carbon emissions
Carbon emissions (greenhouse gases) have gained significant attention in recent times and most large mining companies have stated a desire to reduce carbon emissions. IPCC3 can offer reduced carbon emissions compared to conventional truck and shovel mining systems.

3.

IPCC reduces emissions by about 50 per cent when power is generated by hydro-electric power stations and 30 to 40 per cent when generated by gas or coal fired power stations.

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FIG 8 - Generic semi-circular waste dump and IPCC pit design.

Consider the following:

each litre of diesel combusted generates 2.6 kg of CO2; a 240 t truck generates an average of 425 kg of CO2 per hour,
which equates to 3070 tonnes of CO2 per truck per year;

Is energy usage efficiency a key for your mine? What is the mine life?

Conveying is more efficient than other mine haulage transport. IPCC is capital intensive and requires a long life operation in order to take advantage of the reduced operating costs and to realise the investment saving. (Need at least five years to pay back capital and more than ten is ideal.) Need at least 10 Mt/a (prefer 25 Mt/a) per stage as small movements dont justify the investment. Electricity price ($/kWh) should ideally be less than 25 per cent of diesel price ($/l) (approximately 4 kwhr of electrical power equivalent is produced from one litre of diesel). Multiple material types reduce the effective throughput of IPCC systems and increases codisposal dump development complexity. If rock strengths are less than 70 MPa then the use of sizers or Double Rolls Crushers (DRC) makes IPCC cheaper in both capital and operating costs. The new hybrid DRC can process up to 180 MPa average rock strength, in a similar sized envelope. issue? At least 100 m cut-back width is needed for an IPCC system installation. IPCC dumps can be formed at much higher heights in a single pass and with less ancillary equipment needs. An average of 6.5 persons per truck is saved using IPCC.

at a carbon trading price of US$30/t CO2 this equates to an this would add around US$0.04/t to typical haul costs.
Clearly, when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, IPCC can offer a significant cost benefit and at the same time improve a companys environmental performance.

increase in operating costs of US $92 000/truck/yr or US$12.80/h; and

What are the material movements?

What is the electricity cost versus diesel cost?

Key IPCC mine planning criteria

There are three key differences between the planning of an IPCC open pit and a truck and shovel open pit: 1. No mining can occur above the IPCC ramp conveyors due to the risk of drill and blast damage to the IPCC installations below, unless an accessible catch berm is left above the IPCC bench. It could be argued that with careful blasting and blast protection of the IPCC conveyor, mining could occur above: however, this would likely result in an increase in mining cost and a reduced vertical advance rate. Vertical advance needs to be controlled to not exceed two crusher moves per year (ie a maximum of 8 15 m standard benches per year). Stages need to have independent (permanent) ramp access for the conveyors.

How many material types need to be moved?

What are the rock strengths?

2.

Is working space for the IPCC system a design or planning

3.

Are there any dumping height restrictions?

Consequently, pits optimised for IPCC typically make use of larger stages than pits optimised for truck and shovel systems. Reasons why truck and shovel schedules tend towards the use of smaller stages include:

What are your manning costs and personnel limitations?

theoretically, smaller stages generate a higher NPV and

provide faster access to ore; way!; and

Do you have corporate commitments to green house gas

reduction? IPCC generally produces far less carbon emissions (a typical 240 tonne truck generates 3000 to 3500 tonnes CO2 per year).

historical reasons we have always designed stages this it is frequently assumed that productivity and costs will not
change with stage size and therefore there are no cost savings to drive a change in design practice.

What is your attitude to automation and safety?

EVALUATING IPCC Key questions to ask when evaluating IPCC What is the average truck haulage cycle?
Average truck cycle time of more than 25 minutes are likely to be economic for IPCC.

IPCC lends itself to easy automation and significantly reduces large dump truck vehicular incidents. (In 2008, three out of four surface mining fatalities in WA were truck related. In 2009, there have already been two truck related deaths in mining across Australia.) Are minimising dust generation and lowering water usage of high priority? IPCC generates less dust and uses less water than an equivalent truck operation.

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Is the pit still to be established, or soon to undergo an

expansion? IPCC is ideally suited to new operations or to the expansion of existing operations, rather than an existing steady state operation.

What is the topography of the area?

Conveyors can generate power on downhill runs. moved? Without operational acceptance, IPCC may never get off the ground as the mine planning requirements are different from those of a traditional truck and shovel operation. IPCC will not tolerate poor planning whereas truck/shovel will tolerate poor planning (some people call this flexibility). Moving the crushers more than twice per year creates a lot of system downtime and negates some of the advantages offered by IPCC. When the truck replacement schedule is taken into account, IPCC is generally capital cost neutral compared to truck and shovel operations. However, the IPCC system requires the availability of capital upfront.

Can you manage the paradigm shift on how material is

incremental mining rate steps for truck and shovel are based on the smallest loading unit size and mobility. For example, a Cat 994 loader has a capacity of 1200 to 1800 t/h and is very mobile. By contrast, a semi-mobile crusher can have a long term average throughput capacity of 10 000 t/h and is not mobile to the same degree. Consequently, the vertical advance must be varied in order to keep the crusher operating at full capacity. An IPCC schedule therefore requires flexibility in vertical advance rate, otherwise effective utilisation of IPCC can be lost.

CONCLUSIONS
IPCC has received renewed interest and is being reviewed by mining companies worldwide for the following reasons:

What vertical advance rates are scheduled?

as pits become deeper and strip ratios increase, cost pressures

on operations means that alternatives which provide reduced operating costs per tonne of material start to become more attractive, despite their higher initial capital cost;

Are there capital expenditure restrictions?

recent historical high diesel fuel prices and future prospects

for continued high prices and fuel shortages have impacted significantly on the profitability of many operations;

ongoing mining industry labour shortages and our aging

workforce means a desire to keep manning levels low, because labour intensive systems are less attractive and not long term sustainable;

General study approach to IPCC evaluations

To date, Snowden and Sandvik have found that companies considering IPCC are generally looking to implement this system in an existing operating pit. Most hard rock mines that have been developed using a truck and shovel mining approach are generally not ideal for IPCC system due to their circular geometry. IPCC therefore needs to be adapted to fit the existing pit configuration without major modifications to the pit design. This usually represents a base case evaluation between the current mode of operation and IPCC, and in most cases is feasible. There are usually design changes that can be made to the mining geometry in order to optimise the IPCC layout by minimising transfer points and maximising the length of main line conveyor runs. Consequently, an optimised case that reconfigures the mining layout to better accommodate an IPCC system needs to be analysed in order to determine the true potential of an IPCC system. Figure 8 shows an example of an idealised IPCC open pit and waste dump layout. Figure 9 shows a semi-mobile crusher (using a temporary access ramp) that could be used in conjunction with this idealised design.

the potential to simplify IPCC by means of automation is

high (thereby enabling lower manning levels than traditional truck operations);

IPCC can significantly reduce large dump truck vehicular

incidents by reducing the number of trucks on haul roads;

IPCC offers significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions;

and

the efficient usage of energy and finding of the most cost

effective path to an energy efficient, CO2 neutral and sustainable mining industry, is important for all mining industry stakeholders. However, IPCC needs a dependable (and ideally low cost) electricity supply to be competitive. For large open pits the benefits of IPCC can be realised without major redesign of the pit stages and can coexist with truck and shovel mining. IPCC can offer lower operating costs, reduced equipment and manning numbers, reduced carbon emissions and improved energy use efficiency. Conveyors can also remove the need to have the waste dumps and processing plant adjacent to the pit. If the average truck haulage cycle time exceeds 25 minutes then IPCC is likely to be economically feasible.

Vertical advance considerations

Truck and shovel operations can consistently mine at close to the maximum vertical advance rate by adjusting the mining rate. The

FIG 9 - An example of a Sandvik semi-mobile in-pit crusher station.

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NOTES
Sandvik and Snowden have no formal alliance but have worked together very effectively for a number of mine operations over the last 18 months. These studies have shown how an IPCC mining operation would function and have resolved the practical issues associated with implementing IPCC systems.

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