BHP Billiton coal operations

Diversified miner BHP Billiton's Douglas/Middelburg optimisation （DMO） project, in Mpumalanga, is complete and the first coal has been delivered on schedule and within budget. Other coal operations that the company is working on include the Klipspruit coal mine.

The fast track lump-sum turnkey （LSTK） contract for the provision of coal handling infrastructure for Klipspruit colliery, also in Mpumalanga, South Africa, covered the supply of a run-of-mine （ROM） ore tip, secondary screening/crushing facilities and interlinking conveyors.

BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa （Becsa） awarded the project to South African project house Bateman Engineered Technologies, which is part of the Bateman Engineering Group, in early 2008. The R146-million contract was conducted in two phases. Phase one saw the commissioning of the ROM tip, which has a live capacity of 500 t, a 1 750 t/h rotary breaker, and four of the six conveyors, which consists of the ROM feed, reject bin, tertiary crusher feed and splitter feed conveyors. Further, equipment free issued by the client was installed and commissioned, including a chain feeder and the primary and tertiary mineral sizers. The two bypass feed conveyors and Buffalo reclaim feeder comprised phase two.

The total length of the new conveyor system is 1 070 m, with the largest belt width being 2,1 m. The system is designed with conveying speeds varying from 0,7 m/s to 3,5 m/s and tonnages to be conveyed of up to 2 500 t/h. A design feature of this conveyor system is the need for the tertiary crusher feed and splitter feed conveyors to be 'piggybacked', owing to space constraints, requiring a specially designed support structure.

Another design challenge was the high elevation of the screen and the need to ensure that such a large vibrating piece of equipment was stable at this height. In addition, the reject bin, with a capacity of 500 t, was conveyed piecemeal to the site owing to its size, where it was welded together. A special steel grizzly located in the ROM tip concrete bin provides enhanced wear performance under the abrasive conditions of the product handled at Klipspruit. The grizzly was manufactured in three pieces, each weighing about 26 t.

An important consideration throughout the project was to comply with the stringent safety standards applied by BHP Billiton on its projects worldwide and fully endorsed by Bateman Engineered Technologies.

Further, in line with BHP Billiton's environmental standards, dust suppression equipment was installed at all transfer points as well as at the ROM tip.

The Klipspruit contract is part of Becsa's expansion to this opencast coal mine, where capacity is increasing from 4,8-million tons a year to 8-million tons a year. The increased production supplies State-owned power utility Eskom, as well as export customers. The coal is processed through the Phola coal processing plant, a joint venture between Becsa and coal miner Anglo Coal, which processes 16-million tons a year of coal, which means 8-million tons a year for each partner.

As a leading supplier of mining, processing equipment and materials handling systems, Bateman Engineered Technologies serves a range of industries worldwide. Its focus is on delivering innovative solutions to cover a full range of commodities. Services offered include, but are not limited to, turnkey supply, studies and project management services. Bateman is committed to delivering excellence in everything that it does.