ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih is completing the next stage of equipment upgrading of production area No. 2 of MD crushing plant. Two new crushing mills were installed there that would allow balancing the production of both streams of crushed ore coming through conveyors to OBP No. 2. The company’s investments in this large-scale project amounted to $7.5 million.
Production areas Nos. 1 and 2 of the crushing plant are used for reception and processing of the ore coming from MD open pits of the company. Ore crushing in the second section involves three stages: coarse, medium and fine crushing, as well as preliminary and check screening stages. At present, nine units of process equipment are already operating in the medium-fine crushing complex of the production area No. 2: four medium crushing mills (raw material coarseness is from 0-350 mm to 0-75 mm) and five fine crushing mills (raw material coarseness is from 0-75 to 0-16 mm). In addition to crushing mills, the complex includes feed conveyors, screens and a conveyor transport system.
At the moment, commissioning work is ongoing on new crushing mills to achieve design capacity. The plant will have the opportunity to carry out scheduled and capital repairs of both conveyor lines and reduce production losses during unplanned downtime of equipment. In addition, product quality will be improved by reducing the percentage of output of crushed ore, exceeding the coarseness of +20 mm.
As of today, 72.5% of the volume of crushed ore of the main production area No. 2 is ensured by side A-B of the medium-fine crushing body. After the modern crushers are brought to production facilities, the company will be able to compensate losses during equipment shutdown by 300-320 thousand tons of crushed ore per year. In addition, due to hydraulic control of the jaw, it will be possible to reduce the size of the ore for further beneficiation. The higher the quality of ore crushing, the more efficient the ore beneficiation plants will be. Now they are producing a high-quality product – concentrate with Fe content of 65.3%. The plans are to increase Fe content up to 68%. Crushing plant, for its part, shall prepare high-quality raw materials. Using modernized equipment, it will be easier to meet all the requirements of consumers and improve the efficiency of the process.
Artem Kuznetsov, Head for Development of Mining Production of Administration of Mining Department of ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih: “The reconstruction of the medium and fine crushing complex will help to stabilize the production of crushing plant and improve the quality of the products. We were able to balance process ore flows to OBP No. 2 and, accordingly, increase the reliability of the equipment and stabilize the operational capabilities of the complex itself. As part of the project, two new crushing mills, metal detectors, feed conveyors, as well as a modern automated process control system were installed. This will allow timely and high quality scheduled repairs and ore crushing to be carried out in accordance with best world practices”. (AMKR/Ukrainian metal)