International alliance conquers the land of Genghis Khan

In the remote South Gobi Desert at the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine, GW’s recognised design abilities are assisting South Gobi Resources (a company listed on the Toronto and Hong Kong security exchanges), to defeat all the environmental contests that the land of Genghis Khan can impose.
The Ovoot Tolgoi mine’s high quality coking coal is currently excavated with shovels then transferred via front end loaders and excavators to 100 tonne capacity road trucks. The constant truck convoy negotiates a 50 kilometre journey over a dirt highway to the Chinese border crossing at Ceke, where the coal is loaded into rail wagons for the remainder of its journey to China’s steel manufacturing regions.
The Ovoot Tolgoi mine currently delivers 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of unprocessed and un-sized coal, and is in the process of ramping up production to beyond 6 mtpa. Consequently, the first stage of GW Engineers’ challenge is focused on the design of a facility that can handle high capacity production rates and improve the quality of the product coal.
This facility will include a dump hopper to accommodate 200 tonne haul trucks, installation of a rotary breaker, transfers, conveyors and a truck loading bin that can operate regardless of the Gobi Desert’s extremes. Increased operational economies, productivity gains, improved output quality and risk minimisation are the same key objectives that always drive GW Engineers’ specialist mining and heavy industrial design teams.

Delivering Australian expertise
Isolated and remote mines are no strangers to GW Engineers. However the limited local infrastructure and finite construction windows mandated that the project’s design incorporate as much off-site prefabrication as possible.
For similar reasons, maximising the mine’s production efficiency makes the standardisation of critical components and spare parts another strategic consideration in GW’s design. Wherever practical all pulley, gearbox, and motor sizes are uniform, streamlining plant maintenance as well as simplifying spares inventories.
“South Gobi Resources’ need to efficiently extract and move ever increasing quantities of coal under adverse conditions presents safety and environmental risks that demand practical and sustainable engineering solutions,” said Graham Wall director of GW Engineer’s mechanical and electrical division.
“The design challenges also involve the ongoing assessment and control of Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) management standards and the minimisation, avoidance or elimination of identified HSEC risks in compliance with South Gobi Resources’ site and operational performance requirements.”
The South Gobi Desert’s climate imposes extremes of heat and cold, conditions that necessitate all equipment and buildings be designed to remain productive and operational across a 70 degree Celsius temperature variant (-35 degrees Celsius to +35 degrees Celsius).
To protect operators and maintenance staff from the effects of blizzards and wind chill all conveyor gantries, stairwells and transfer towers are to be enclosed within insulated sandwich panels and heated. Piping will be lagged, motors trace heated, special lubricants used and concrete pours scheduled only during the annual permafrost free period.
To add to the region’s environmental challenges, what little surface water exists remains frozen from November to March. Water for fire fighting and coal processing will need to be stored, filtered and continuously heated using coal fired boilers throughout the long winter and spring to keep it circulating.
Electricity is another issue which requires back-up generators to overcome the local supply’s capacity and reliability concerns.
The high fines content of the coal and its propensity to fracture easily after handling results in significant dust generation potential. GWE’s dust suppression solutions include orientating stockpiles to counter the Gobi’s strong prevailing desert wind, the design of enclosed transfer towers and conveyors, plus the inclusion of a dust-stilling chamber above the dump hopper and loading out via truck bins.