At the crushing plant of Metinvest Central Iron Ore, one of the key conveyors of the dry magnetic separation casing – CX-3 – was updated. Specialists carried out a major overhaul of the horizontal part of the conveyor at the point of movement of the discharge car. The work carried out will minimize emergency stops and downtime of process equipment, as well as ensure the fulfilment of production indicators and quality indicators.
Repair work was carried out by the specialists of the Central Iron Ore in several stages due to the impossibility of a complete stop of the equipment.
"The repair work itself could have been carried out in 30 days, but it is impossible to stop the conveyor at such a time. Therefore, the peculiarity of the repair was that it was possible to perform a considerable amount of it only during the period of scheduled preventive repairs or during short stops. After all, product quality indicators directly depend on the dry magnetic separation building, and the CX-3 conveyor itself is one of the key main conveyors of the factory. Therefore, these facts had to be taken into account when planning repair work. During the repair, specialists replaced 13.9 tons of metal structures. Efficient and stable operation of this equipment is a key guarantee of the continuity of the production process and the release of quality products. More than UAH 2.3 mln was allocated for repair work," said Anton MILKEVICH, Deputy Head of the Crushing Plant for Engineering at Central Iron Ore.
The specialists started with a step-by-step replacement of the frame and conveyor struts in parts where the car is operated less, gradually moving towards its workplace. Later, the car was moved to the already repaired workplace, and the repair continued. Only part of the work was able to be performed by specialists directly during the operation of the conveyor – this is, in particular, the replacement of beams. In general, work began in the autumn of 2024 and was fully completed in June this year.
The engineering service of the factory coordinated and monitored the progress of work.
"Over the years of its operation, the conveyor and its components, elements and mechanisms have been pretty worn out and already required restoration, the discharge car could derail, therefore, based on the identified risks, it was decided to overhaul the conveyor," said Serhiy MOKHTAN, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Crushing Plant Engineering Service. "Beams, struts, frame – everything was removed and replaced. We updated the shuttle conveyor (car) itself five years ago, so now we have an almost completely updated working part of the conveyor."
The factory plans to continue to improve the reliability of the assembly line of the dry magnetic separation site. In particular, it is planned to start the restoration of the rail track (replacement and levelling) with the restoration of the concrete base of placer conveyors.
