SIEMENS is undertaking the engineering, design, production and supply of the electrical equipment for the conveyor system at Oyu Tolgoi Copper-Gold Project. The delivery will comprise the new conveyor system with gearless and conventional drives from thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions.

The new system will extend the existing open cast mining facility and is expected to bring 95,000 tonnes of copper ore to the surface from the underground operations per day. Initial underground production is expected to commence in 2020.

The conveyor system has to overcome a difference in height of almost 1400 metres and the order value is in the tens of millions of Euros.

Siemens is supplying thyssenkrupp with state-of-the-art electrical equipment consisting of 8DA10 (gas-insulated) and NX-AIR (air-insulated) medium-voltage switchgear, transformers, low-voltage energy distribution, Sinamics SL 150 and Sinamics S150 frequency converters as well as low-speed synchronous motors with a nominal power of 5.5 megawatts and smaller squirrel cage induction motors.

The delivery also includes pre-assembled ‘E-Houses’ for installing the equipment as well as power factor correction and harmonic filtering equipment. To fulfil the requirements of the underground environment the dimensions of the E-Houses were reduced to an absolute minimum.

The transport system consists of a total of nine conveyors – seven underground and two at surface. Four of these conveyor belts have a gearless design, each with two 5.5 megawatts drive systems.

As a leading global provider, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions specialises in planning and supplying advanced mining and conveying systems.

By using Siemens technology, the industrial group has already achieved one of the longest and most powerful conveying systems in the world.

Siemens has been supplying thyssenkrupp with innovative, reliable and powerful drive systems and electrical equipment for international mining projects for more than six years. This close and successful collaboration has allowed Siemens to win the copper mine project in Mongolia.

The mine is about 550km south of the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and is in the province of Umnugovi in the Southern Gobi region of Mongolia. The Oyu Tolgoi mine complex is a joint venture between the Mongolian government and Turquoise Hill Resources with Rio Tinto as the majority owner of Turquoise Hill Resources.