Designing Today's Conveyor Systems for Tomorrow's Needs

• Published in: Engineering and mining journal (1926) 2023-10, Vol.224 (10), p.24-30
• Main Author: Carter, Russell A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronauts; Belt conveyors; Chain conveyors; Conveying machinery; Conveyor lines; Cost control; Dust; Dust control; Energy consumption; Hardware; Infrastructure; Light rail transportation; Mineral industry; Mining; Mining industry; Product development; Topography; Transportation systems; Trucks
• ISSN: 0095-8948

Conveyors are consistently absent from inclusion in the "Ten technologies that will disrupt the mining industry" forecasts that consulting and market-survey companies seem to publish with increasing frequency. However, the fact that at least one mine's bulk material transportation system can be seen from space -- the conveyor from the inland Bou Craa phosphate mine in Morocco to a Mediterranean sea port 61 miles away, considered to be the world's longest -- confirms that conveyor technology remains a large and important link in the typical mine-to-market operational chain. A lesser-known fact associated with that West Saharan conveyor system is that it's not actually the conveyor hardware that can be seen from space; it's the drifting residual dust released from the carried material that makes it visible to astronauts -- a reminder that high-capacity conveyors can generate big problems involving dust control, proper belt loading and the need for monitoring and maintenance of vast stretches of conveyor hardware in often difficult-to-access areas.