INCO Ltd Copper Cliff, Ontario

Aligned ceramic cylinder pattern is selected when large particle impact is the design criterion.

INCO Ltd. extends lining wear life with Durex ceramics

Any operation that mills 44,000 tons of nickel and copper per day needs a lining system tough enough to minimize downtime. That’s exactly what INCO Ltd. in Copper Cliff, Ontario, got when it called Durex. INCO runs 13 mines, one mill, and one smelting operation in the Sudbury Basin area of Ontario. INCO and nearby Falconbridge Ltd. combined are the largest underground mining operations in North America.

A recent skip/dump chute application at INCO’s South Mine demonstrates how Durex saves INCO maintenance time and money. From the skip, muck (ore) is dumped into a bin, then to a dump chute 6 ft. wide by 30 ft. long by 4 to 5 ft. deep. At the South Mine site, the 5,000 tons of material dumped every day (six days a week) is heavy, sharp abrasive, and large—sized to -6 in. with slabs as big as 14+ in. Originally, the chute was lined with 60 durometer rubber with a wear life of six months. Changeout of the linings took four people eight hours each for a total of 32 man-hours. Durex recommended a 3-in. rubber/ceramic lining system covering the entire bottom of the chute and halfway up the sides. After four years on the job, the rubber/ceramic lining system shows about 60% wear. INCO now plans on chute lining changeout every four or five years or more—a huge improvement over every six months.

Durex solutions not only extend wear life, they can add productivity as well. At INCO’s North Mine, a truck dump chute conveyed ore and rock. Its lining was 2 1/2 in. thick 425 Brinell steel material with rubber sideliners.

"Our maintenance crews were changing out the linings every six to seven months," says Jean Jutras, maintenance planner at Copper Cliff North Mine. "Changeouts often happened in winter months, which increased complications and lost time. Now, a year after installing the Durex rubber/ceramic liners, both the feed and discharge ends show less than 20% wear." Equally important, Jean says that the rubber/ceramic lining system now allows the truck dump chute to handle about 25,000 tons per week of ore and rock—basically all of the production material.