Gigantic bucket wheel at the start!

One of the largest bucket wheels in the world is located in Ontario, at the Howe Ross mine near Ottawa.
The operator: Tomlinson Group
(Main business areas: construction and infrastructure, construction Materials, environmental services).  
The manufacturer: STICHWEH

From low to high performer

At the Howe Ross mine, one of the largest operations in the Tomlinson Group, raw material extraction and processing was very costly and inefficient until a few years ago: First, a 16-inch suction dredge from DSC Dredge LLC was used to extract the raw material.
“At that time, the mining conditions were difficult and the suction dredge operator was inexperienced”, Andrew Renia, Aggregates Manager at Tomlinson, reports.
Production was in the range of 400 MTPH to 500 MTPH from a slurry of roughly 10,000 GPM.
During this time dredged product was discharged into a secondary pond where the solids were excavated and loaded onto trucks for transport to a stockpile. At the stockpile wheel loaders transferred the aggregate to feed hoppers, which metered the material into a washing and sizing plant.

Pitch for better solution

“Time to optimize,” thought Renia, aggregates manager at Tomlinson. Several alternative concepts, including washing and dewatering bucket wheels, were evaluated. DSC engineers were also tasked with optimizing the suction dredger parameters and positioning. In addition, STICHWEH was invited to submit proposals for a solution with a bucket wheel.    

STICHWEH’s recommendation was for an 8 meter diameter bucket wheel, which is one of the largest in the world. But they didn’t want to buy a pig in a poke – certainly not with this record-breaking size. 

References were requested, several Stichweh customers were contacted, and consistently positive feedback was obtained:

• None recalled a recent replacement purchase.
• On average, owners of STICHWEH bucket wheels purchased spare parts at intervals of about 10 years.
• Annual maintenance included only an oil change in the gearbox.   

The result: record-breaking!

The STICHWEH solution convinced, among others, by the simplified production chain consisting of suction dredger, E 8014 H bucket wheel, conveyor and charging hopper.

One year after the commissioning of the STICHWEH bucket wheel at the Howe Ross mine, production has now reached a capacity of up to 1,000 MTPH thanks to the teamwork of technicians and engineers from Tomlinson, DSC and STICHWEH.  Not only is the transport of raw materials from the suction dredger to the plant easier and less expensive, but the raw materials are also drier and easier to handle. And all this with an installed horsepower for the bucket wheel is only 50.

Learn more: STICHWEH washing and dewatering bucket wheel