Indominco to conduct trial of IPCC mining system
Monday, March 25 2013 - 02:38 AM WIB
East Kalimantan coal miner PT Indominco Mandiri, a coal unit of Indonesia-listed coal miner group PT Indotambang Raya Megah (ITM), is scheduled to conduct a trial stage of its integrated conveying system called in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) method in April-May this year, a company official told Petromindo.com
The company has obtained the import permit for the required crusher and conveyer units, which are now in the process of being transported to Indominco site, the source said.
IPCC, electricity-based mining method, tends to require higher capital expenditure (capex), but lower operation expenditure (opex) as compared to diesel excavation and trucking, and it requires sufficient mine life (more than 10 years) and sufficient volume.
It also typically allows economic overburden and coal excavation at depths of 100-200 meters, where conventional truck/shovel method would not be economic.
In October 2012, the company?s source told Petromindo.Com that once the system is fully implemented, it will reduce the amount of trucks Indominco normally deploys to between 10 to 15 units. The source did not say how many trucks it is currently using.
Indominco has two operating blocks called West block and East Block. This year it expects to produce 14.8 million tons of coal, same with last year?s total output.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak