(From: CVG Ferrominera)
Mining
The iron ore production is carried out based on mine plans long, medium and short term, which are prepared based on the quantity and quality of reserves and the demand required by customers. For the evaluation of resources, planning and design of the sequence of excavation in mines using computerized systems.
The processes involved in the exploitation of the mineral are:
Exploration: The initial step in the iron ore mining is the exploration for the deposits, with the aim of identifying the amount of resources and its physical and chemical characteristics.
Drilling: This is done with 4 rotating electric drill with drill holes drilled between 0.11 m and 0.31 m in diameter at depths of 17.5 m and drilling patterns 7mx12m and allowing banks 10mx12m effective exploitation of 15 m high.
Blasting: This is used as the explosive ANFO, a substance composed of 94% ammonium nitrate mixed with 6% of diesel and ANFOAL composed of 87% ammonium nitrate, 3% of diesel and 10% of aluminum metal.
Excavation: Once the ore broken by the blast effect is removed by electric shovels from the fronts of production. It has 5 electric shovels with buckets from 10.70 m 3 and 3 buckets of 7.6 m3.
Hauling: There are 22 trucks of 90 t capacity in charge of hauling the ore to be deposited in gondola cars located on platforms or loading docks. The supply of iron ore crushing plant The Canyons is done with trucks of 170 t.
Railway Operations
Gondola wagons, once loaded at the docks from the mines, are taken to the rail yard where trains are formed with three locomotives of 2000 HP and 125 wagons of 90 tons, before being transferred to Ciudad Guayana at a distance of 130 km .
Rail System: Includes the railway networks of Puerto Ordaz - Ciudad Piar, Puerto Ordaz interconnection with the Port of Palu, the rail network to direct reduction plants in the industrial sector of Matanzas (Sidor, Ferrominera pellet plant, Orinoco Iron, Comsigua and Posven). With a total of 320 km of track was the biggest rail network in the country.
Resources: Each year, carries approximately 30 million tonnes of iron ore processed (all-in-one), thin, thick, pellets and briquettes to and from the mills which is done with 38 engines with outputs ranging from 1750 and 2000 HP trucks and 1784 capacity: 1300 gondola cars 90 tonnes of capacity to transport ore from the mines, 467 or discharge hopper cars by the fund for the transport of fine ore, pellets and briquettes and 17 wagons flip side to carry bulk ore.
Control of Operations: Central control of the operations were performed with a centralized traffic control system (CTC) and an automatic traffic system blocks. Communication is done via radio link. All operations are controlled from headquarters in Puerto Ordaz.
Railway Features: The maximum axle load is 32.5 tons, the maximum gradient is 3.1% and the minimum 0.045%. The gauge or width of the track is 1,435 mm. The rails are 132 pounds per yard. The speed limit for the current traffic is 45 km / h trains loaded and 55 km / h empty trains.