Major iron ore handling project in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro – The TAIM WESER group has been chosen by LLX, the logistics company of the EBX group, to design, manufacture, supply animplement transport systems and iron ore stockyard machinery for the new project at the “Superporto Sudeste” – a modern port terminal in the Sepetiba Bay, in the city of Itaguaí, some 80 km from Rio de Janeiro.

The new terminal will be for private and mixed-use and will serve primarily to export the iron ore mined by MMX, the mining company of the EBX group, in Minas Gerais, a state neighboring Rio de Janeiro.

The new port is located only 2km from the MRS railway network, thus facilitating a direct connection for the reception of iron ore, from both MMX as well as from other producers operating in different areas of what is known as the “Iron Quadrilateral” region of Minas Gerais, who are currently not able to export the mineral due to the lack of logistics facilities.

Porto Sudeste will occupy an area of 52 hectares and will have a storage capacity of 2.5 million tons of minerals. At the outset, the terminal will be able to move 50 million tons of minerals a year, with the possibility of reaching 100 million tons per year in the future.

The Porto Sudeste project has a budget of Euro811 million and is scheduled to enter into operation in 2012.

Equipment to be supplied

TAIM WESER is to supply all the equipment needed for transport operations, storage and the loading of iron ore at the port stockyard. The equipment consists of a complete conveyor belt system and four combined stacker/reclaimer machines to be installed in the two new iron ore storage yards.

The transport system to be supplied by the TAIM WESER group through its subsidiary, TAIM CADE DO BRASIL, is comprised of a complete belt transport circuit for iron ore, from reception up to its loading onto ships, including all the conveyors for the two storage stockyards. The total length of the belt circuit is approximately 13,000 m.

The conveyors havea capacity of 12,000 t/h, a belt width of 1,600 and 1,800 mm and speeds of 4.5 and 4.8 m/s. It is also important to mention that the transport system will come equipped with all the auxiliary equipment, including transfer towers, silos, bypass chutes, monitoring equipment, magnetic separators, weighing systems, etc.

The four stacker-reclaimers will be responsible for the storage and stacking of iron ore into the stockyard. The machines have a stacking capacity of 10,000 t/h and a reclaim capacity of 12,000 t/h. 

Each machine is supplied with its own rail track. Some of the outstanding features of the machinery include the length of the boom, which is 60m long, and the 12m span between rails.