Design and Selection of a Belt Conveyor System for Increased Capacity

A mine in Ghana, after acquiring a processing plant facility, made various modifications through the installation of additional secondary gyratory crusher, two tertiary cone crushers and a secondary vibratory screen to increase capacity from 800 t/h to between 900 and 1000 t/h. The main aim of the modifications could not be realised as any increase in plant capacity beyond 850 t/h resulted in increased spillage on belt conveyor CB among a series of conveyors in the plant flow sheet. In this paper, the causes of the spillage on conveyor CB were investigated and a belt conveyor system capable of handling a feed rate of up to 1000 t/h designed to serve as a basis of comparison with the existing system for possible modifications. The results show that the existing belt conveyor CB is capable of handling up to 1000 t/h if the design of the loading area, transfer point and take-up system are modified. Various modifications made by the mine to the existing belt conveyor CB on the recommendations of this study have resulted in production increases to a current average of 940 t/h. Ghana Mining Journal Vol. 9 2007: pp. 17-2