Our goal is the success of our customers

AT: What is your take on current developments in plant facilities for the mining sector?

BZ: Business in new plants is currently stagnant, not least on account of the economic and financial crisis. So right now we are primarily concentrating on helping our customers operate their plants as efficiently as possible by integrating new processes and process technologies in existing plants and through the use of innovative automation solutions. When demand for coal, non-ferrous metals and iron ore starts to rise again, we inspect investments to be made in new and existing mines primarily in South America, Australia and in Asia in new and also already existing mines. Here the trend is towards larger mines with correspondingly higher investments. And Siemens supplies integrated solutions that extend from extraction through transport to the beneficiation of coal and ore. So far, drive and automation systems have been one of the most important mainstays in this segment. Expertise has, however, been widened to process engineering solutions. There used to be a clear separation between the individual companies in regard to their specific offerings. Today the trend is towards a comprehensive product portfolio, to supply customers with integrated solutions for the entire production process, including service.

AT: What form do these integrated solutions take?

BZ: Drive and automation play an important role in the entire logistics process chain in coal and ore extraction - from extraction and transport up to crushing and grinding. Excavators, conveyor systems, trucks, crushers and mills all need drive systems. And here the demand for environmentally friendly and energy-saving systems is at the top of the list. Our cooperation with the Chilean copper mine Los Pelambres is the best example for the range of integrated solutions from one source. Since 1999 Siemens has maintained the 13-km-long belt conveyor at Los Pelambres that transports the copper ore crushed at 3200 m above sea level to the processing plant at 2000 m height. To separate the ore from the rock, the stone chippings are ground in ore mills driven by two gearless drives from Siemens (Fig. 1). These gearless drive systems do not require any mechanical parts between motor and mill. The speed can be infinitely adjusted, enabling precise adaption of the drives to meet different requirements such as changing material hardness or different operating modes.

And this is where process engineering comes into play. As a solution package for the mining industry, Siemens has developed a new flotation process to separate the different metal components in ore. The flotation cell with a pneumatic injection system is combined with the column method; an agitator is therefore not necessary. The key features of these newly developed flotation cells are the special floatability of extremely fine particles and up to four times higher concentration. Compared to conventional processes, this new Siemens system enables energy consumption to be lowered, for example in copper mines, along with a reduction in operating costs. After the first cell we installed as a pilot project in Los Pelambres (Fig. 2) delivered very good results, a second flotation cell was put into operation there.

As for service, Siemens engineers are on site and look after, among others, the maintenance of the entire conveyor system. In addition, the equipment is monitored by sensors around the clock. If a fault message is issued, Siemens employees can use an integrated control and communications system to log directly into the plant, find the cause of the fault as quickly as possible, and then rectify the problem. As a result plant downtime is reduced considerably.

AT: What are your company‘s goals for the next five to ten years?

BZ: For mining we will definitely extend our process-engineering portfolio, since there is still a need to optimize automation processes as well as drive systems. After all Siemens has a strong engineering department that concentrates on forward-looking technologies. The challenge in the years to come is to develop environmentally friendly process solutions that lower energy and operation costs while increasing productivity and sales. Our goal is the success of our customers.

AT: Mr Zehentbauer, thank you very much for the interview.