Keynote session - Mine Hoist Plant Design Fundamentals

2019

Richard McIvor, McIvor Engineering and Maintenance Services Inc.

It is important to ensure that the basic mine hoist plant design fundamentals are incorporated into any new mine hoist plant project before detailed design engineering is commenced.  Some of the basic design fundamentals to be considered are: hoist rope fleet and flight angles for good hoist rope coiling, hoist rope harmonic frequency study to ensure that the hoist rope does not run at full speed at a rope resonance frequency, head frame and shaft clearance diagrams to establish the optimum positions for the loading and dumping of the shaft conveyances, access in the head frame and shaft collar for hoist rope and shaft conveyance installation and removal.  Failure to consider the hoist plant fundamentals before detailed engineering commences will result in extra costs for hoist plant redesign or a significant increase in operating and maintenance costs for the mine due to increased hoist plant downtime to perform tasks and a lower mine operating efficiency.

Keywords: Fleet angle, mine shaft and headframe clearance diagram, hoist rope resonance frequency, drum hoist, friction hoist, shaft conveyances, shaft guide rope