Swedish miner LKAB has commissioned Germany-based Beumer Group to provide a curved pipe conveyor and associated systems for the transport of olivine and quartzite at 800 tons per hour.
The system will be installed at LKAB’s transshipment port in Narvik, Norway, and will automate the storage and loading of railcars with these materials, a task that is currently performed manually. The railcars transport the material to pellet plants in Kiruna and Malmberget. Olivine, which will be transported during the summer months, and quartzite, which will be delivered during the winter, are both used as additives in the production of high-quality iron ore pellets.
The complete system comprises vibrating feeders to load the conveyor, the pipe conveyor itself with a center distance of 341.2 m, the steel structure and a reversible troughed belt conveyor feeding the customer’s silos. The diameter of the pipe conveyor is 300 mm, and its conveying speed is 3.1 m/sec.
A decisive factor for the contract award, according to Beumer, was the existence of an almost identical system built by Beumer that has operated successfully for more than a decade at another mining company. The complete system will be supplied, installed and commissioned by Beumer.
