Jamalco reports record bauxite haul, credits RopeCon cable system
Published:Friday | September 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Jamalco has hit a new milestone of 10 million tons of bauxite hauled from its Mount Oliphant mine to the rail station where it is loaded for shipping to its alumina refinery in Clarendon, parent company Alcoa announced this week.
The record was achieved in less than two years using a Rope Conveyor (RopeCon) system, a 2.11-mile (3.4-kilometre) cable conveyor system that moves bauxite through mountainous terrain, said Alcoa, which owns 55 per cent of Jamalco.
Mount Oliphant has an elevation of 843 feet or 257 metres.
"The RopeCon system is the only one in the Alcoa network, and we selected it primarily because of its sustainability features," said Jerome Maxwell, managing director of Jamalco, in a company-issued release.
Alumina refining is an energy-intensive process.
Last year, the refinery produced 1.34 million metric tonnes of alumina - shy of its 1.425 million tone capacity - which was primarily exported to North America. It takes about two to three tonnes of bauxite to refine a tonne of alumina. And it takes about two tonnes of alumina to produce one tonne of aluminium.
Alcoa said Jamalco has saved US$$1.5 million (J$129m) in energy costs since it began operating the conveyor system in 2007.
RopeCon generates approximately 1,200 kilowatts of braking energy per hour, "which is used to power the mine and is also fed back into Jamaica's power network," it said.
As described by the aluminium company, RopeCon consists of a belt with corrugated side walls and integrated wheel sets running on fixed track ropes guided over 11 tower structures. As the conveying system is loaded with bauxite and begins its descent, the drives begin operating in continuous braking or regeneration mode, generating the electrical power, Alcoa said.
"Switching to the RopeCon system saves 1,200 truck journeys a day along with the associated emissions of CO2, noise, and fine dust," said Maxwell. "It is definitely a reliable solution for transporting bauxite whenever you have to cross steep terrain."