Project Description
Cominco discovered the richest lead/zinc deposit in North America in the De Long Mountain Range, north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. A seaport complex was planned on the Chukchi Sea, 15 miles southeast of Kivalina to handle 600,000 tonnes of lead/zinc concentrates from the mine annually. Lassing Dibben Consulting Engineers Ltd was responsible for the design of all aspects of the material handling system.
Receiving
Tandem trailer units with a payload of 72 tons deliver concentrates to the terminal and the material is side dumped into a 225 ton receiving hopper using a hydraulic unloading platform. A 54 inch belt feeder located below the hopper transfers the material into a 42 inch pocket belt conveyor which transports the concentrates into the storage building.
Stockpiling and Reclaiming
A 54 inch shuttle conveyor located at the top of the storage building transfers the concentrates into separate stockpiles using either a 30 inch tripper to form a zinc pile or a horizontal conveyor to form a lead pile. Reclaiming is done using 2 front-end loaders with 7 cu. Yd buckets loading travelling hoppers. A 54 inch belt feeder discharges the concentrates into a 42 inch collecting conveyor. A 42 inch overland conveyor transfers the material to a 1500 ton surge bin. A 48 inch offshore conveyor transfers material from the bin to a shiploader.
Shiploading
Due to the inadequate water draft at the terminal, concentrates are loaded into 8000 ton barges. These are dedicated self-unloading barges converted to handle concentrates. The shiploader is equipped with a 54 inch belt capable of slewing, luffing and shuttling and is designed to load ocean-going barges at a rate of 2000 tons per hour.
Technical Data
- Conveying Capacity: 2000 tons/hour
- Total Conveyor Length: 6400 feet
- Shiploader
- Luffing Range: +/- 7.5 degrees
- Slewing Range: 270 degrees
- Shuttling Range: 64 feet