Published on: 2/24/2010

Launching an underground rail system

New Rail-Veyor system allows marginal mineralization to become economical

By: Kelly Louiseize

The Rail-Veyor system was manufactured in Sudbury and researched near Stobie Mine. (Photo by Kris Laamanen)

It only seems fitting that Greater Sudbury would be the testing site for a new underground mine technology that could change the face of deep mining forever. After all, it is one of the most prolific mineralized deposits in the world, with more than 100 years of mining in its history. The city, its residents and businesses have experienced many mine evolutions, but this one is sure to impact local and global mining in a monumental way.

By 2010, Kelly Lake may be the site of a brand new technologically-advanced Vale Inco mine where there will be no shafts, no head frame, no ropes, crushers, conveyor belts, no toggle replacements, no main ore passes, no haulage trucks, little diesel fumes and no drifts larger than 12-by-12 feet.

Welcome to the Rail-Veyor operated mine. In a city that has hauled ore from its belly for more than a century, change is coming. A second feasibility study on Kelly Lake is looking at an all Rail-Veyor option.

Rail-Veyor is similar to the boyhood toy called Hot Wheels Supercharger. It had a little house or station the tracks would run through and two rubber wheels that spun the car forward through loop-the-loops, hairpin turns and figure eights. This was back in the 1960s and truth be told, that was when Rail-Veyor was born in France. It works on the same principles. Instead of having four D-cell batteries and tiny motors, Rail-Veyor has two 100-horsepower motors with truck-sized tires at various distances that push the train forward on rails.

Rail-Veyor moves materials via a light track system with a chain of connected cars that look much like a long open trough moving along the track. Each car is connected to the one in front and a coupling system allows for articulated movement on curves and dumping. Sealing the gap between cars are overlapping flaps, which prevent material leakage and act as a discharge chute for dumping.

The unique feature of the system are the stationary drive stations. Gear reducers and AC motors turn horizontal tires against the side drive plates of the cars, providing forward thrust. Speed is controlled by an inverter, which allows operation in either forward or reverse directions with sufficient power to start a loaded train from any position on the track. The idea is when the train comes close to the loading point it slows down, gathers ore or muck without stopping, then takes off from the station fully loaded to transport the material to the mill.

This system, owned independently by Rail-Veyor Technologies of Sudbury, is being considered by Vale Inco for its Kelly Lake Deposit.

Part of the study is comparing a conventional mine layout versus the Rail-Veyor alternative. Although it is too early to make any final determinations the results so far are "extremely encouraging," Peter Golde, chief mine engineer for Vale, says.

The new system would enable Vale Inco to utilize deep resources while reducing energy consumption by up to 40 and sometimes 50 per cent and that includes a reduction in ventilation energy consumption.

"Clearly that would improve the working environment and lessen our dependency on diesel equipment we have today," Golde says.

It also means a lot of marginal mineralization can become economically viable.
"In Vale Inco’s view, this would reduce costs to a point that Sudbury would again become a low-cost producer and survive through any tough economic cycles."

Golde is considering twin sets of drifts: one for the Rail-Veyor, and the other for rubber tire vehicles accessing the mine. He is also examining the loading process, attempting to move away from using large diesel vehicles as haulage mules. Traditionally, these vehicles would go hundreds or thousands of feet hauling the ore right from the drop point. With this new technology, mining houses can bring the rail system to the ore body and transfer ore in a single pass.

"We would like to see Rail-Veyor operating 24-7 while looking at best practice and inspection strategies that would maintain a very high level of availability of the system."

Using the Rail-Veyor for your ore haulage could increase the return on capital investment (ROI) by 100 per cent from the typical returns Vale Inco has today, thereby making projects far more attractive, Golde says.

Mining below shaft bottom has posed numerous financial, safety and environmental challenges, Golde says. For productivity's sake mining houses worldwide had to make larger openings for grander pieces of equipment and ventilation, all leading to more infrastructure, and higher energy costs.

Sooner, rather than later, Ontario mines will be forced to lower diesel particulates and reduce their carbon footprint. Rail-Veyor will help Vale Inco achieve some of those goals, Golde says.

Compared to large haulage trucks, Rail-Veyor uses less than a quarter of the energy and less than half of the energy for large conveyor belts.

"We are building it to work on standard 36-inch track using light-weight 40-pound rails."

Train lengths can vary from 400 to 800 feet with each car’s length at eight feet, Golde says. Payloads with a 400-foot long train are approximately 50 to 60 tons, which translates into ton per car. The up-ramp speed with a 15 per cent grade is seven miles per hour.

"That is twice what a 40-ton diesel typically does."

But the train is currently being tested on a 20 per cent grade at three miles per hour as a constant speed.

"That is something that is pretty tough to do even with haulage trucks."

Adding more trains to the track is completely doable, said Golde, who will use the next few months to refine some last-minute alterations.

Before they dump muck in it, researchers want to stack two landscaping blocks into each car. The intention is to keep adding to the weight to determine how much the cars and rail system can withstand before being compromised.

"We don’t know what the maximum capacity is just yet. We want to explore what it does on the steep inclines. No one has ever done that in the world," Golde says.

The team is meeting with the Ministry of Labour on a regular basis to achieve regulation standards.

"This patented system and Rail-Veyor Technologies has the marketing rights in North America and I think they are planning on going to other parts of the world," Golde says.

This is a significant push to completely redefine the economics of mining.
"We need to have a simpler way of doing things," he says.

Ninety-five per cent of the Rail-Veyor system has been manufactured in Sudbury with numerous mining suppliers helping in the project, says Al Ackerman, a former Vale Inco employee and now spokesperson for the Centre for Mining Excellence and Innovation (CEMI) where the Rail-Veyor made its public debut. He said there isn’t anything in the manufacturing end that Sudbury cannot supply.

Kris Laamanen, owner of Rail-Veyor Technologies, wants to keep the manufacturing end of it in the North. After all, it would have been what his father, the late Risto Laamanen, would have wanted.

However, it has to make economic sense, said Kris, who invested the upfront capital along with Vale Inco to research and develop this project near Stobie Mine. Their other family-run business, Laamanen Construction, was also part of the development.

Successful bidders will have to remain competitive, meet production demands, pay attention to quality of service and maintain high standards of workmanship, he said.

"This is not a short-term venture," said Kris who has had an invitation to build this system across the border and overseas.

He has not accessed government funding.

"It was never really a plan of my father's."