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Conveyors

Optimal transport of bulk materials with FLS belt conveyor systems

Belt conveyors are the highways through your mine and mineral processing plant. Whether it’s our overland, heavy-duty, or innovative Rail Running Conveyor, our conveying systems make bulk material handling safer, more sustainable, and lower cost.

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Key benefits of FLS conveyors

  • Robust and reliable performance

    Belt conveyors are a robust and durable material transportation solution, offering availability of up to 99% per flight. Maintenance requirements are also less than truck-based systems – and they don’t require refuelling or empty return trips! Our conveyors regularly demonstrate best-in-class availability and ease of maintenance, designed for decades of operation with minimum downtime.

  • Environmentally friendly - Cut emissions and improve safety

    Belt conveyors, powered by electric drives, are a crucial component of our MissionZero Mine vision, as they eliminate the greenhouse gas and particulate emissions that come with truck-based systems. They also enhance safety by reducing the number of interactions between vehicles and between vehicles and people.

  • Reduce material transport costs

    With benefits that increase with longer transport distances, conveyors lower operating costs related to labour, power, and maintenance. Our mining conveyor systems thus provide the most cost-effective solution for transporting bulk materials.

Our conveyors

Custom design and flexibility

We have supplied over 180 overland conveyor systems capable of handling up to 37,000 tonnes per hour over distances of up 100 km. Each system is custom-designed and designed to the unique requirements of your application, considering the type and volume of materials to be handled, route topography, and prevailing climatic conditions.

  • Up to 99% reliability/availability per flight
  • Flexible routing over horizontal and vertical curves
  • Can handle most capacity requirements

Gearless conveyor drives and horizontal and vertical curves

Gearless conveyor drives significantly reduce the number of mechanical drive train components, increasing drive system reliability and efficiency while allowing higher installed power on a conveyor pulley. We are the market leader in the application of conveyor gearless drive solutions with over 29 conveyor installations worldwide and installed power per pulley ranging from 2150 kW to 6000 kW.

The longer the transport distance, the less likely the material can be moved in a perfectly straight line. FLS engineers have pioneered complex horizontal and vertical curvatures to allow the conveyor to better follow natural terrain, pit wall designs, or existing road access. Horizontal curves also allow a reduction in conveyor transfer stations, which tend to be the most demanding portion of a conveyor’s maintenance and operations cost. 

Maintenance & Service of FLS conveyors 

Conveying may be seen as a commodity, yet it plays a critical part in overall plant productivity. FLS has built a team with the knowledge, experience, and processes required to provide superior conveyors systems. We work closely with you to ensure our offering directly addresses your project risks and right cost level, helping engineer a conveying system that effectively meets your needs. Once in operation, we continue to ensure your conveyor system operates as safely, reliably, efficiently, and cost-effectively as possible.

Superior conveyor reliability and efficiency starts with a comprehensive understanding of the conveyor system and its components. FLS’ Digital Twin for Belt Conveyors processes live operating data from your conveyor into a clear understanding of how your conveyor is running: a digitised overview of your operation that can identify areas for optimization, spot problems before they become failures, and increase overall performance.

Digital Twin Conveyor

Your digital conveying operations

Digital Twin for Belt Conveyors gives you a digitised overview of your conveying operation so you can identify areas for optimisation, spot problems before they become failures, and increase overall performance.

Based on this digital twin, our Conveyor Health Checks use proprietary digital twin technology to deliver data-driven insights into overland conveyor system operation. This helps determine how to best support you with spare parts, upgrades, retrofits, and other services. Health checks are particularly useful when:  

  • Establishing an operating benchmark at the start of an upgrade/revamp
  • Discovering the root cause of failures in unreliable or problematic conveying systems
  • Optimising operations to cut costs, improve safety, and increase operating life

Want to talk? Reach out to our experts

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Datasheet

Conveyor downloads

The foundation to futureproof conveyor operations

Frequently asked questions

FAQs about Conveyors

Overland conveyors are a continuous long-distance system for transporting large quantities of bulk materials over long distances and various terrains.

Heavy-duty mining conveyors are a robust material handling system designed to transport substantial loads in harsh mining environments. These conveyors are essential for moving materials such as ore, coal, and aggregates from extraction points to processing facilities or loading sites.

Belt conveyors comprise the belt, rollers and the drive system. The belt carries the material along the length of the conveyor, while the rollers support the belt and prevent sagging. The drive system provides power to the system and includes one or more electric motors. The motor turns a large drum called the drive pulley, around which the belt is wrapped under tension. When the pulley rotates, it causes the belt to move.

The Rail-Running Conveyor (RRC) is an innovative belt conveyor system, whereby the belt is supported by lightweight wheeled carts, rather than traditional conveyor idlers. This reduces friction and belt tension, lowering power consumption and maintenance requirements. 

Conveyor operating costs vary based on several factors, including the length of the conveyor, load, and elevation changes. Key cost components include energy consumption, maintenance, and labour. Belt conveyors will often offer lower operating costs over the lifetime of equipment than truck-based transport due to lower energy costs (compared to diesel costs), maintenance demands, and labour costs. 

The capital investment required for a belt conveyor will depend on the topography, length and capacity, and power requirements. Conveyors tend to be more capital intensive that truck-based systems; however, despite the higher initial investment, they often prove more cost-effective in the long term. 

The true steepness limit depends on the specific material conveyed and conveyor speed; however, belt conveyors can transport material across complex terrain, including angles as high as 18°.

Both horizontal and vertical curve radii limits are determined by how well the belt tension can be controlled in the curve, and how flexible the selected conveyor belt is. Each project limitation is therefore different. FLS engineers have designed conveyors with horizontal curve radii as small as 260 m; however, most projects require radii to be much larger.  

Modern developments in conveyor efficiency, such as the FLS Rail Running Conveyor, and distributed power theoretically allow conveyor systems to traverse hundreds of kilometres. FLS engineers have supplied the longest conveyor system (multiple flights) in the world at 98 km at the Bu Craa mine, Western Sahara, and supplied single flight systems as long as 21km in length. 

A conveyor belt will typically last at least three years, but can last up to a decade or more, depending on maintenance and operating conditions. Belt life is impacted by the type of material handled, the quality of inspections, cleaning, and repairs, and operating conditions. Frequent belt replacement may indicate issues with the system design or that the belts are unsuitable for the applications.