Iron Ore Company of Canada Linatex® 808 Hard Wall Mining Hose

Minerals

Case Study

Above: Linatex® Hard Wall Mining Hose (808)

Right: Screen feed hoses attached to distribution box. On left is a Weir hose in operation. On right is competitor’s hose which has been worn through and bandaged while awaiting replacement

INDUSTRY Linatex® hoses save IOC CAD$338,800 over Iron ore mining two years and outlasts incumbent hose by 10x CUSTOMER Background The challenge Iron Ore Company of Canada The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) in During a site visit, the team at Weir Minerals Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, along with IOC’s Maintenance Manager and APPLICATION Canada produces iron ore pellets and high- Planner identifi ed that the incumbent screen Screen feed hoses grade iron concentrates, with average iron feed hoses were only lasting 6 to 8 weeks grades over 66%. Located in the Labrador before it needed to be replaced. Further EQUIPMENT Trough, a region known to have substantial investigation revealed that these hoses were Linatex® 808 Hard Wall iron ore deposits, IOC was founded in 1949 of very low cost and quality. Mining Hose by the M.A. Hanna Company. During a trial period, IOC decided to test The site includes a mine with fi ve operational hoses from four manufacturers in process pits, a concentrator and a pelletizing plant. conditions simultaneously, including a IOC also owns and operates the 418-km custom Linatex® 808 Hard Wall Mining Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway, Hose from Weir Minerals. The challenge which transports the iron ore pellet and for Weir Minerals was to meet the pricing concentrate from Labrador City to shipping expectations of IOC while exceeding the terminals and water ports in Sept-Iles. wear life of the competition. Today, IOC is managed by Rio Tinto, and The solution is owned by Rio Tinto, Mitsubishi, and After careful examination of the installation the Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income and the wear life of the previous hoses at Corporation. IOC, the engineers at Weir Minerals decided As a leading producer and exporter of iron to design a more robust version of the ® ore in North America, IOC can produce 23 Linatex 808 Hard Wall Mining Hose. The million tons of iron ore concentrate per year. custom hose was manufactured with extra thick Linacure® wear liner to last longer by better absorbing the energy from the impact of the fl ow. The solution cont. The hose also contained a wear indicator wire, which helped the maintenance team better plan for hose replacement or rotation before any failures occurred. Furthermore, Weir Minerals engineers standardized the hose length to fit in every installation at IOC in order to reduce the number of spare parts needed to be stocked in the warehouse. The total cost and life expectancy for the hoses from Weir Minerals for all 14 screens at IOC was CAD$165,200 with an 18 to 24-month life span. The results Above: Weir Minerals hoses in preparation for shipment to customer The custom-designed hose provided by Weir Minerals far exceeded the wear life of all other competitors. The Linatex® 808 Hard Wall Mining Hose lasted as long as 3 years, while the competitor hoses failed at 3, 4 and 12 months performing the same application. When compared to the incumbent hoses at IOC, Weir Minerals hoses lasted more than 10x longer. Operators at IOC needed to replace the two incumbent hoses operating on one screen six times per year, while the custom Linatex® hoses had no maintenance or downtime related issues during the same time. Replacing the incumbent hoses with the custom Linatex® 808 Hard Wall Mining Hose will save IOC CAD$338,800 over 2 years for all 14 screens, not including the added downtime to replace the hose and the mill tonnage that would need to be cut back if there were two screens down simultaneously for hose replacements.

Comparison table

Linatex® 808 Hard Wall Incumbent Hose Mining Hose Wear life (weeks) 78 - 104 6 - 8

Hoses needed every 2 years 2 24

Cost per hose CAD$5,900 CAD$1,500

Cost per screen every 2 years CAD$11,800 CAD$36,000 Total cost savings of the Linatex® 808 Hard Wall Mining Hose is CAD$338,800 over 2 years for all 14 screens at IOC

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