While Winter may seem long gone, it is still something that equipment specifiers have to keep in mind as recent deployment of a dual-fuel kleemann crusher to the tapojärvi gold mine in Finland illustrates. Winter is always cold in Finland but the most recent season was extreme with temperatures of -36.5°C becoming a common occurrence.
While Winter may seem long gone, it is still something that equipment specifiers have to keep in mind as recent deployment of a dual-fuel kleemann crusher to the tapojärvi gold mine in Finland illustrates
Winter is always cold in Finland but the most recent season was extreme with temperatures of -36.5°C becoming a common occurrence.
This is a particular issue for operators of construction equipment as the diesel used to power machines can freeze at temperatures below -35°C.
For the Tapojärvi gold mine at Suurkuusikko in Finland, it was the fuel options on its new Kleemann MC120Z that allowed the company to keep operating despite the poor weather conditions. The jaw crusher was specified with diesel-electric power so that the mine could switch between the power sources as needed to ensure work could continue.
According to Tapojärvi crusher operator Eero Ronkainen, temperatures below -30°C have become the norm over the last winter but the crusher was still used daily throughout despite starting on site at 6am.
Tapojärvi’s crusher is fitted with a Webasto timer switch that is used to start warming the machine a few hours before work is due to start, so Ronkainen can start the Scania engine without difficulty when his shift starts. Despite the cold conditions, Ronkainen said that the machine still only uses 25 to 30 litres of diesel per hour.
The machine is being used as a primary crusher to reduce graphite from a feed size of 0-800mm down to 0-200mm before the material is further processed to extract the gold. The crusher is reported to be regularly producing 400tonnes per hour.
The diesel-electric power means that the crusher can also be hooked up to the site’s mains electric supply, which means the on-board engine does not need to be used but still allows all the features of the crusher to be used.
Tapojärvi is reported to be pleased with the performance of the crusher over the challenging winter period and has already placed an order for a dieselelectric Kleemann MCO11S mobile cone crusher.
