Mozambique Coal Mining: Vale Moatize Mine takes delivery of 212t surface miner

Mining services and construction provider Wirtgen South Africa (SA) has supplied its biggest surface mining model, the 212 t 4200SM, to diversified miner Vale’s Moatize coal mine project, in Tete, Mozambique.

The 4200SM costs about €5-million, depending on client specifications, and can mine out coal at 3 000 t/h, with the material directly loaded onto trucks as a final product. Wirtgen mineral technologies sales and process specialist Mike Newby notes that this eliminates the need for drilling, blasting, loading and primary crushing.

Primary crushing is eliminated as the final product size coming off the conveyor belt of the surface miner is normally no more than 150 mm to 200 mm in size. The purpose of the Moatize project is to supply a machine able to complement the mine’s existing production methods and to ensure that it can mine cleaner coal with minimal contamination.

As part of the project’s first phase, the plant expects an output of 12-million tons of coal this year and, with their new Phase 2 plant now built, they expect to double that production in 2017.

Newby says that major challenges for the project include establishing a service contract for Moatize, given the remoteness of the mine and the importance of guaranteeing minimal downtime.

The contract involves supplying 24-hour machine support, ensuring parts availability on site and training the mine staff on the operation and maintenance of the machine, as it needs to be available for double shifts.(source: miningweekly)