MINING
to make the industry more sustainable. Hoisting, of course, is one part of mining that has been electrified for a very long time. “ABB delivered our first electrical hoist over 130 years ago. And since that day, the hoisting solution has been refined. When you go to the deeper underground mines, hoisting is the safest, the most reliable and also the most productive and most energy-efficient way of transporting ore and, therefore, the most sustainable way.” There are alternatives. Even in deep
underground mines trucking along sloping roads and tunnels is an option – and one that is used, in part because it involves far less capital expenditure. “With trucking you have many wheels, which have rubber tyres, which have friction,” all of which destroy efficiency. “We released a ‘hoisting sustainability’ report where we look into various environmental aspects of hoisting as the preferred alternative for underground mining. One notable point is
that it is possible to save up to 260,000t of CO2 over its lifetime, which is a lot.”
Horses for courses “There is a big trend in the industry now to electrify the trucks and vehicles, which is great, and there are a lot of applications where that is needed, but we should also not forget that the most efficient solution for electrical transport in underground mines, one that is proven and has been there for quite some time, is the hoist.”
And this is true both for deep and for shallower mines. “There are many hoist operations with mines which go down to 3–4 kilometres. The challenges, as you go deep, you are on a curve where production volume
An ABB hoist installation at a copper mine in Turkey.
decreases with depth.” The time, energy and distances involved will reduce the rate at which you can bring ore to the surface. “We have many different hoist solutions available and are currently collaborating with customers to push the boundaries of what is technically possible with regards to depth and productivity. “There is no issue with the electrical powertrain. That can simply be built bigger and stronger. The biggest challenge is around the ropes – as the distance becomes greater the ropes become longer, so their weight becomes heavier. And that puts more strain on everything. “So the way to go deeper is to look at
different types of material for the ropes. We are working with partners to look at hybrid rope solutions – partly steel, partly synthetics – and we are currently running tests with
those to see how they perform. But there are also other kinds of hoist solutions. For example, with the Blair multi-rope role hoist, you are able to go deeper and still maintain high productivity levels.” Blair hoists use double drums in a complex arrangement that allows multiple ropes to be attached to a single load and that pays out one rope as it winds in another. This means that the length, and therefore weight, of suspended rope remains constant though out the lift. A Koepe hoist, also known as a friction hoist, does not have the lifting rope attached to any drum – instead, it passes over a large diameter powered drive sheave. One end of the rope lifts the load, the other carries a counterweight or a second skip and a tail-rope or balance-rope joins the two to form a continuous loop. Again, this gives a constant length of suspended rope, regardless of the position of the load. As Jonsson says, the Blair system can work at the deeper end of requirements. “So there are options to go deeper than 2,000m with high productivity even with standard ropes. This is something that we’re working on right now – we have a lot of collaboration with a number of customers around the world where we are pushing the boundaries of depth and productivity at the same time.”
From left to right: Björn Jonsson (ABB), Jenny Greberg (LKAB), Peter Terwiesch (ABB) and Jan Mostrom (LKAB).
32 | July 2025 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
Keeping things sustainable There are still further sustainability benefits to be gained from hoists. “We are also looking into using hoists as energy storage systems. The hoist can be used to balance out the energy use. “For example, customers with more than one hoist in the same mine and who have
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