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52 www.resourceworld.com d e c e m b e r / j a n u a r y 2 0 1 6 TaKraf Gmbh takes on some big projects. In August 2014, TAKRAF was contracted by Vattenfall Europe Mining AG to supply and install a new cross-con- veyor system for the F60 conveyor bridge in their open pit coal mine at Welzow-Süd, Brandenburg, Germany. Since 1923, TAKRAF has been building conveyor bridges. The largest conveyor bridges in operation, called F60, continue to transport material at East-German lig- nite coal mines. These conveyer bridges are the largest movable industrial machines in the world. Conveyor bridges transport material excavated from an open pit and can span hundreds of metres. They are mobile and move along the pit via a rail system. Conveyor systems continuously trans- port extracted mine materials in a clean and efficient manner, over long distances, through curves, and over unlevel surfaces. The scope of the project included the fabrication and respective conversion of hopper cars and chassis as well as the scrapping of system components which would no longer be used. The project was especially challenging because of a tight schedule. Production started immediately after the award of the contract, and the first parts arrived at the site after five months. Through close coordination, the fab- rication and erection teams, managed operational obstacles and the project came together. The hopper cars were relocated in April and on time; it was an impor- tant milestone with regard to the mine operation. The next milestone was reached on schedule in May 2015 when the complete conveyor bridge was moved by about 10 metres in order to couple the new cross- conveyor system to the bridge. The scope of work also included the renovation of the lubrication system as well as corro- sion protection at the construction site. It took until the end of June to assemble the cross-conveyor system. The scrapping, conversion and adaptation work, which was carried out in parallel, was executed with the help of a TAKRAF transport crawler with a load capacity of 250 tonnes. All personnel involved in the project team in the fields of engineering, fabrica- tion and site erection had to work in close concert to enable the successful realization of the contract within the pre-determined schedule. TAKRAF said the project went smoothly and remained on schedule due to expertise developed over many years of tackling the construction, reconstruction and modernization of large, complex mine infrastructure projects. The entire cross- conveyor system was completed in June 2015. After three days of commissioning of the conveyor bridge complex by experts from Vattenfall, the bridge went back into mine service. TAKRAF has already begun to work on another project at Vattenfall, the changing of the large bogie and the roller table at the F60 conveyor bridge at the Nochten open pit mine. TAKRAF is a leading supplier of equip- ment and systems for open pit mining and bulk handling. Headquartered in Leipzig, an additional engineering and production site is located in Lauchhammer. TAKRAF's product range includes planning, develop- ment, design and delivery of equipment and systems, including the manufacture of key components for open pit mining equipment and bulk handling systems in TAKRAF's own workshop. The company's equipment and systems for bulk handling are used in port facilities, storage areas, power plants, the smelting industry, and in the cement industry, among other places. n MININGWORLD F60 Conveyor Bridge used to transport material at open pit coal mines. Photo courtesy of TAKRAF GmbH. TAKRAF delivers new cross-conveyor system for F60 overburden conveyor bridge