Purpose
Why?
People are asking why we do what we do. Our Founders were responsible for the management of supply and manufacture of mechanical packages for a recent iron ore overland project (idlers, pulleys, belts, drives, active take ups, system dynamic modelling). Through the process of the project, they realised that there was a better way to do a number of aspects to the design, fabrication and construction.
Iron Ore Projects are often developed in silos with each needing to be stood up on its own merits. Our approach was different. Similar to BHP’s Pilbara Public Environmental Review Strategic Proposal in 2016 we looked at Pilbara wide past trends and future prospects of Overland (OLC) installations. We noted that since 2008 the number of OLCs being installed was increasing rapidly. In fact, in the last 3 years there has been, Rio Tinto West Angelas Deposit C&D (10km), Western Turner 2 (10km), Fortescue's Eliwana (4km), Queens (15km), Biggie (5km) BHP's South Flank (22km) and Roy Hill Rom4 (8km) installed and commissioned. That’s over 50kms of overland installed in 3 years! There are also currently under development Rio Tinto’s Western Range (17km), Fortescue’s Hall Hub (13.5km) and BHP’s Western Ridge (12.5km), Ministers North (12km). That’s another 50+ kms of overland in development, planned, or at the early phases of construction for the next 3 years! We aim to have the industry standardise around the Big Roller™ design.
Big Roller™ estimates that for each 10kms of overland, approximately 6,500MWhrs/annum can be saved compared to existing designs. Hypothetically if each of the above projects has a life expectancy of 20 years and it was replaced with a Big Roller™ design, then that adds up to 1.3 million MW/hrs. Now that's both a lot of solar panels that don't need to be installed and with it the resultant land clearing!
When our Founders started to consider the design and layout improvements when adopting Big Rollers we realised that the system wasn't just great for energy efficiency, it provided many more benefits. Big Roller™ are making the claim that its design is likely to be judged as #worldsbestpractice. Check out the "Energy Saving" page to see the research on energy reduction and "Construction Benefits" page to appreciate the design and layout improvements and understand why we have the belief to make such large claims.
If the Iron Ore and broader mining industry are serious about #CarbonAbatement then this market ready solution needs to be considered immediately on current and future Overland Conveyor projects.
