RopeCon® - a transport solution worth its weight in gold
After successfully completing the RopeCon® project in Jamaica (see https://forum.bulk-online.com/showthread.php?t=12492showthread.php?t=12492 ), Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH struck gold on the tropical island of Simberi, Papua New Guinea: since the beginning of May 2008, a new RopeCon® has been transporting gold ore from Sorowar mine at the heart of the island to the processing plant at the harbour. The line runs through impenetrable rainforest and over rugged terrain, just two of the reasons why Australia-based Allied Gold Limited opted for this novel product which combines ropeway engineering with proven conveyor belt technology and which has proven to be a safe and reliable solution where conventional conveyor systems or other means of transport turned out to be no viable solution. Other RopeCon® projects which will make use of the numerous advantages of this modern technology are currently under construction and Doppelmayr is also constantly looking into new transport solutions for offshore and long-distance projects.
Simberi Island, with an area of 80 km, forms part of the Tabar group of islands in the western Pacific approximately 250 km south of the equator. The Australian company Allied Gold Limited, which develops mining projects for gold, silver and non-ferrous metals in Mexico, Australia and Oceania, was planning to explore for gold ore on the island. However, transporting the precious metal to the harbour turned out to be a big problem: impassable terrain covered with dense tropical rainforest had to be overcome. The construction and maintenance of roads to transport the ore on trucks would have been too costly as landslides caused by heavy tropical rains would have repeatedly made access impossible. No previous infrastructure existed, and a conventional conveyor belt would have required eleven separate sections with the corresponding great number of transfer stations, a solution which would have entailed massive earth moving and would have had a disastrous impact on the environment.
In August 2006 Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH was awarded the contract to build a material transport system that would ensure a constant material flow as well as continuous feed of the gold processing plant at the harbour despite the difficult conditions. RopeCon® turned out to be the ideal solution: It harmonises well with the unspoiled landscape and requires no more than three tower structures over a line length of 2.7 km. This means that the system crosses spans of up to 850 m without touching ground, thus minimising space requirements.
A Doppelmayr team consisting of seven people assembled the complete mechanical and electrical equipment in seven months. A project manager and safety expert of Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH was also permanently on site during the assembly to supervise and coordinate the progress of the work. Apart from the climatic conditions, the remote location of Simberi Island, far off any established sea lane or large harbour, represented a great challenge both in terms of logistics and organisation.
The tropical climate of the island with extreme humidity and high temperatures puts a lot of strain not only on the assembly team but also on the construction material. Solid workmanship and the fact that all crucial components of the installation came hot-dip galvanised proved to be of great benefit. Doppelmayr can look back on many years of experience with treating installation components to prevent corrosion and hot-dip galvanises them to protect them efficiently against humidity, harmful environmental agents and aggressive substances. The Simberi RopeCon® was designed and produced at the headquarters of Doppelmayr in Wolfurt, Austria in its entirety.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Simple maintenance, economical operation
Not only does the installation itself require very little space, it is also unnecessary to provide maintenance roads or similar along the line: the conveyor belt with the integrated wheel sets keeps passing through the station where the components can be easily inspected and maintained if necessary. To reach any position along the line, e.g., to inspect the rope, the roof cover which protects the transported material from the rain, or the power lines integrated in the roof cover, a maintenance trolley has been provided which travels on the two upper track ropes.
The installation also makes use of the topographic situation in terms of energy consumption: The decline permits the generation of 221 kW of braking energy which can be used in the mine or to process the ore. Allied Gold Limited thus not only benefits from the generally low operating costs of the installation but also from lower overall costs.
Perfectly tailored to meet the customer's needs
The RopeCon® installation links Sorowar mine with the processing plant at the harbour, where the ore is processed and smelted to form gold bars. The material reaches the RopeCon® via a feeder. During project planning, the customer moved the loading station several times: with the rising gold price, exploring even for the relatively small gold deposits underneath the original loading station had become lucrative. Allied Gold Limited got an environment-friendly, low-maintenance transport system which perfectly complements the mining and processing operations and easily meets the customer's needs.
Mark V. Caruso, Chairman of Allied Gold Limited, is enthusiastic about the RopeCon® system, 'It is an excellent piece of Austrian technology and Doppelmayr can be very proud of the installation'.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
RopeCon® - a flexible solution for difficult realities
With RopeCon®, Doppelmayr combines the benefits of ropeway engineering with those of proven conveyor belt technology. The outcome is a continuously operating conveyor for bulk materials of all kinds, characterised by a high environmental sustainability, low noise and dust emission as well as low operating and maintenance costs, among others. The material is transported on a conveyor belt with corrugated side walls and integrated wheel sets which, like on a ropeway, travel on fixed anchored track ropes guided over tower structures. The design with the integrated wheel sets reduces stress on the conveyor belt to an absolute minimum, thus greatly enhancing the belt's service life. With just a few tower structures, RopeCon® allows for a straight and direct conveying line even if obstacles like existing roads, buildings, rivers or similar must be overcome. RopeCon® also leaves only a very small footprint on the environment: with space requirements reduced to a minimum, the system hardly interferes with the habitat of flora and fauna.
The novel transport solution is also popular on factory premises such as with the Austrian Lenzing AG, world leader in cellulose fibre technology, who needs to transport wood chips. At Lenzing AG, RopeCon® crosses numerous buildings and other conveyor belts, public and private roads and even a river. The system transports the light-weight material safely from the storage area to the digester house even in wind speeds of up to 130 km/h.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Remarkable transport solutions also for projects in Sudan and Guatemala
Modern material transport solutions must be economical, suited for difficult terrain, environmentally sustainable and quiet in operation. RopeCon® by Doppelmayr is the answer to these needs. Two other large projects are currently under way: In Sudan, the RopeCon® system which is currently being assembled will act as a feeder to transport limestone to a cement mill. The installation is 3.5 km long and will cross the river Nile.
Once completed, the installation in Guatemala will link a quarry with a processing plant. The material will be transported uphill over a length of 1.5 km and a difference in altitude of 200 m.
Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of the international Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group with headquarters in Wolfurt, Austria. Doppelmayr is the leader and a pioneer in ropeway engineering and, apart from material transport systems, designs and manufactures also other products such as passenger ropeway systems, rope-hauled automated people movers like the ones at Toronto and Mexico City airport, and fully automated high bay warehousing systems.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Technical details of Simberi RopeCon®:
Horizontal length2,665 m
Vertical rise-237 m
Conveying capacity450 t/h
Power required for continuous operation (regenerative)-221 kW
RopeCon® in Papua New Guinea
RopeCon® - a transport solution worth its weight in gold
After successfully completing the RopeCon® project in Jamaica (see https://forum.bulk-online.com/showthread.php?t=12492showthread.php?t=12492 ), Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH struck gold on the tropical island of Simberi, Papua New Guinea: since the beginning of May 2008, a new RopeCon® has been transporting gold ore from Sorowar mine at the heart of the island to the processing plant at the harbour. The line runs through impenetrable rainforest and over rugged terrain, just two of the reasons why Australia-based Allied Gold Limited opted for this novel product which combines ropeway engineering with proven conveyor belt technology and which has proven to be a safe and reliable solution where conventional conveyor systems or other means of transport turned out to be no viable solution. Other RopeCon® projects which will make use of the numerous advantages of this modern technology are currently under construction and Doppelmayr is also constantly looking into new transport solutions for offshore and long-distance projects.
Simberi Island, with an area of 80 km, forms part of the Tabar group of islands in the western Pacific approximately 250 km south of the equator. The Australian company Allied Gold Limited, which develops mining projects for gold, silver and non-ferrous metals in Mexico, Australia and Oceania, was planning to explore for gold ore on the island. However, transporting the precious metal to the harbour turned out to be a big problem: impassable terrain covered with dense tropical rainforest had to be overcome. The construction and maintenance of roads to transport the ore on trucks would have been too costly as landslides caused by heavy tropical rains would have repeatedly made access impossible. No previous infrastructure existed, and a conventional conveyor belt would have required eleven separate sections with the corresponding great number of transfer stations, a solution which would have entailed massive earth moving and would have had a disastrous impact on the environment.
In August 2006 Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH was awarded the contract to build a material transport system that would ensure a constant material flow as well as continuous feed of the gold processing plant at the harbour despite the difficult conditions. RopeCon® turned out to be the ideal solution: It harmonises well with the unspoiled landscape and requires no more than three tower structures over a line length of 2.7 km. This means that the system crosses spans of up to 850 m without touching ground, thus minimising space requirements.
A Doppelmayr team consisting of seven people assembled the complete mechanical and electrical equipment in seven months. A project manager and safety expert of Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH was also permanently on site during the assembly to supervise and coordinate the progress of the work. Apart from the climatic conditions, the remote location of Simberi Island, far off any established sea lane or large harbour, represented a great challenge both in terms of logistics and organisation.
The tropical climate of the island with extreme humidity and high temperatures puts a lot of strain not only on the assembly team but also on the construction material. Solid workmanship and the fact that all crucial components of the installation came hot-dip galvanised proved to be of great benefit. Doppelmayr can look back on many years of experience with treating installation components to prevent corrosion and hot-dip galvanises them to protect them efficiently against humidity, harmful environmental agents and aggressive substances. The Simberi RopeCon® was designed and produced at the headquarters of Doppelmayr in Wolfurt, Austria in its entirety.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Simple maintenance, economical operation
Not only does the installation itself require very little space, it is also unnecessary to provide maintenance roads or similar along the line: the conveyor belt with the integrated wheel sets keeps passing through the station where the components can be easily inspected and maintained if necessary. To reach any position along the line, e.g., to inspect the rope, the roof cover which protects the transported material from the rain, or the power lines integrated in the roof cover, a maintenance trolley has been provided which travels on the two upper track ropes.
The installation also makes use of the topographic situation in terms of energy consumption: The decline permits the generation of 221 kW of braking energy which can be used in the mine or to process the ore. Allied Gold Limited thus not only benefits from the generally low operating costs of the installation but also from lower overall costs.
Perfectly tailored to meet the customer's needs
The RopeCon® installation links Sorowar mine with the processing plant at the harbour, where the ore is processed and smelted to form gold bars. The material reaches the RopeCon® via a feeder. During project planning, the customer moved the loading station several times: with the rising gold price, exploring even for the relatively small gold deposits underneath the original loading station had become lucrative. Allied Gold Limited got an environment-friendly, low-maintenance transport system which perfectly complements the mining and processing operations and easily meets the customer's needs.
Mark V. Caruso, Chairman of Allied Gold Limited, is enthusiastic about the RopeCon® system, 'It is an excellent piece of Austrian technology and Doppelmayr can be very proud of the installation'.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
RopeCon® - a flexible solution for difficult realities
With RopeCon®, Doppelmayr combines the benefits of ropeway engineering with those of proven conveyor belt technology. The outcome is a continuously operating conveyor for bulk materials of all kinds, characterised by a high environmental sustainability, low noise and dust emission as well as low operating and maintenance costs, among others. The material is transported on a conveyor belt with corrugated side walls and integrated wheel sets which, like on a ropeway, travel on fixed anchored track ropes guided over tower structures. The design with the integrated wheel sets reduces stress on the conveyor belt to an absolute minimum, thus greatly enhancing the belt's service life. With just a few tower structures, RopeCon® allows for a straight and direct conveying line even if obstacles like existing roads, buildings, rivers or similar must be overcome. RopeCon® also leaves only a very small footprint on the environment: with space requirements reduced to a minimum, the system hardly interferes with the habitat of flora and fauna.
The novel transport solution is also popular on factory premises such as with the Austrian Lenzing AG, world leader in cellulose fibre technology, who needs to transport wood chips. At Lenzing AG, RopeCon® crosses numerous buildings and other conveyor belts, public and private roads and even a river. The system transports the light-weight material safely from the storage area to the digester house even in wind speeds of up to 130 km/h.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Remarkable transport solutions also for projects in Sudan and Guatemala
Modern material transport solutions must be economical, suited for difficult terrain, environmentally sustainable and quiet in operation. RopeCon® by Doppelmayr is the answer to these needs. Two other large projects are currently under way: In Sudan, the RopeCon® system which is currently being assembled will act as a feeder to transport limestone to a cement mill. The installation is 3.5 km long and will cross the river Nile.
Once completed, the installation in Guatemala will link a quarry with a processing plant. The material will be transported uphill over a length of 1.5 km and a difference in altitude of 200 m.
Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of the international Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group with headquarters in Wolfurt, Austria. Doppelmayr is the leader and a pioneer in ropeway engineering and, apart from material transport systems, designs and manufactures also other products such as passenger ropeway systems, rope-hauled automated people movers like the ones at Toronto and Mexico City airport, and fully automated high bay warehousing systems.
(double click on picture to open in new window)
Technical details of Simberi RopeCon®:
Horizontal length2,665 m
Vertical rise-237 m
Conveying capacity450 t/h
Power required for continuous operation (regenerative)-221 kW
Transported materialGold ore
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