Paakkola Conveyors to supply homogenization and conveyor system for intermediate stockpiling of crushed ore at Kemi mine

The winner of an international bidding competition, Paakkola has been awarded the contract to supply a crushed ore homogenization and conveyor system for Outokumpu's Kemi mine, a part of their ferrochrome capacity expansion project.

“Paakkola will design and supply an automatic homogenization system on a turn-key basis for the Kemi mine site. The advantages of the system are high utilization rates, work safety and environmentally sound techniques. We use our own proven components in our technical solutions. Paakkola Conveyors Oy will manufacture and shop-test the equipment at their Tervola conveyor factory with delivery scheduled for the fall of 2011", explains Tommi Juntikka, the managing director of Paakkola Conveyors Oy.

“Our automatic homogenization system is a considerable step forward in our desire to become a specialized international supplier of demanding conveyor systems. At present, we are the only domestic supplier of such systems”, continues Tommi Juntikka.

An automatic homogenization system employs a belt stacker for layering chrome ore coming directly from a mine into a circular-shaped 14 metre high pile. The ore is conveyed from the pile to an enrichment process by a rotating scraper reclaimer and chain conveyors. This produces a uniform chrome ore which improves the quality and effectiveness of the enrichment process. The total volume of the covered homogenization stockpile is 46,500 tonnes, of which the active volume is 36,000 tonnes.