Continuous unloading on LKAB’s new underground rail haulage level (1365m) in Kiruna

Unloading process (completely automated and manless): SCHALKE’s 108t-mining-locomotive is driving with twenty-one 17m³ bottom dumping cars from NMT (up to 1.500t in total) driverless using Bombardier’s Interflo150 system through NMT’s bottom dumping station

[@robc.5745]

The people that develop these automated systems never cease to amaze me.

[@bmck5002]

Not trying to be a smart ass. But 1+1 always equals 2. When a system is found that works in rhythm. It lasts forever. The system may be a math problem that takes less than a minute to solve. Keyword: system

[@marcusgault9909]

A Very simple system, BUT! it still took me a few seconds to figure out what was happening and why, in this ingenously simple foolproof design. KUDOS!

[@madyogi6164]

Brilliant way of doing things fast!

[@daiq9]

Totally awesome video!!! Hypnotic!!!

[@proraptor4146]

That was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Very clever

[@tlongworth19]

It's simple but not too simple. This definatly cuts down on fuel bills and cuts down worker time with offloading. Instead of pulling pins from the bins to offload or having to operate a separate machine to offload makes a huge huge difference in the mining industry.

[@skunkjobb]

"Cut down on fuel bills". It's actually an electric locomotive so cut down on the electricity bill then. You can't see any overhead line and that's because it's a side mounted contact rail instead with 759 V DC, about the same that is used in many subways. It's also driverless.

[@TheKurtsPlaceChannel]

Great video. Thanks for posting this. Have a nice day.

[@c_l_b3744]

Schalke: Do you want a railway or a conveyor belt? LKAB: Yes.

[@jackkilduff7160]

neat idea

[@timearegames5492]

You have to see the system in real life... Its much more impressive when u see it in real life... i was there in juli and it was so nice

[@petter5721]

Nice system!

[@victorschepers6286]

Petter ! =

[@gavinomeara]

Well that’s just amazing

[@TheBunkerdog]

Great design awesome 👏

[@cmac9029]

That’s cool!

[@rosewhite---]

the cars only carry 15tons so bottom dump is practical.

[@atzonaftaniel4798]

I have no idea what I just watched but it was entertaining though.

[@darkwolf4434]

LKAB is Sweden's biggest mining Company and what you saw was a train dumping ore

[@NeoDerGrose]

How does it work when the locomotive goes over the dumping station? Are those wheels at the side powered?

[@kristoffer816]

the locomotive got so heavy wagons so the train will be pushed over

[@NeoDerGrose]

Interesting. I only know that kind of operation from container terminals where electric trains roll through a section without overhead wire. In this case it's because of the cranes loading and unloading the train from above.

[@DJShadesUK]

NeoDerGrose If you look closely at the 6 yellow boxes (three on each side of the track before the pit) they each have horizontally mounted rubber tyres, attached to motors, which press up against the side of the engine unit and push it across the gap as it rides the (unpowered) steel wheels either side of the pit. Its pretty much the same principle as that used to push rollercoaster cars in and out of their stations, except those powered rubber tyres are usually mounted vertically and push on the bottom of the coaster cars.

[@NeoDerGrose]

You are right, I didn't notice them. This makes more sense since I think you had to be a bit faster to just roll through.

[@trendinvestor2893]

How many trains do they have working on this loop at a time?

[@schalkeschalkelocomotivesg1015]

they go back and forth (no loop); approx. 6-7 trains

[@sthpac69]

This makes more since than flipping one car at a time. Who ever thought that was a fast way must have been doing the numbers wrong.

[@whiteknightcat]

This isn't coal, and it's not a cross-country mine-to-plant operation. It's an internal process.

[@matsv201]

The surface train flips them. But they flip then roaling

[@danielrose1392]

Flipping the cars requires basically nothing to be installed on the car, maximizing the load. Makes most sense for long routes where transportation costs and not loading costs are your main concern.

[@user-kolhoz100let.]

Колесные пары крепятся к открывающимся люкам?Спасибо.

[@zinger011]

да

[@gsilva220]

*Train transfers from one track system to another* -The black mesa transit system....

[@jimjamothers3662]

OMG YES! Hahaha. I was scrolling down to see if anyone else thought "Black Mesa". It's the sound when the trap doors are reclosing that did it for me.

[@zeuserrikkian4475]

480p looks really good! 🙂

[@curtnicholson7771]

As tight as those cars are to one another they sure couldn't make much of a turn anywhere!

[@schalkeschalkelocomotivesg1015]

they are so close and including overlapping design so that during loading no ore can fall between them. However, this dsign is done for 110m curve radius.

[@anvilhead59]

Interesting. Different than the 1970's ASEA system that hinged along the side. The cars and locomotive were suspended by the same kind of wheels shown here. This process is quite a bit slower than what the ASEAs did in the San Manuel underground copper mine.

[@whataboutbob7967]

they need one of those at every drive thru

[@boristhebarbarian]

So if i get this right: the train comes from the mining face to the unloading site shown here and then the ore gets transported to the surface by conveyorbelt. Is that unloading zone at 1365m below ground level or is it 1365m long?? (seems a bit deep)

[@johndoe1909]

Underground. It's a deep mine for sure.

[@pingpongpung]

Now it only needs a sweeping system for those leftovers on the edges of the cars.

[@ph11p3540]

If that was used in a precious metal ore mine, that small amount of left over did would be grounds for job discipline or dismissal.

[@martinborgen]

@@ph11p3540 Well, it's Iron ore, and chances are the ore left over will end up in the system anyways...

[@Michael-by4jw]

What causes the bottom to open and then re shut?

[@schalkeschalkelocomotivesg1015]

there is a 3rd rail in the middle, see when last car is closing

[@arooaroo8370]

How how many capacity this locomotive and how many GBS

[@schalkeschalkelocomotivesg1015]

this is a 108t loco which is pulling up to 1500t

[@GrowlyBear917]

best close-up shot is at 3:17

[@djfaber]

remarkable that there's so much coal being dumped and yet everything is covered in a fine silica powder looking substance.

[@Mynameister]

it's not coal, it's ore

[@TheTerrorHamster]

Iron ore

[@numberwhite7082]

For size refrence. The yellow thing on the side of the cart is the same size as both your palms..

[@johnmoore8016]

how many tons in each wagon?

[@jakobbjerke4724]

It's 50t nominal, but in practicality closer to 30 is used to keep down wear and tear.

[@RazsterTW]

This unloader makes more sense than the Helix Dumper. Cost wise.

[@chris746568462]

Do these sell well when your salesperson says: " We fix the wheels to the ground and the rail to the train"?

[@hausaffe100]

talgo mounts rails on the train and their gauge changing stations and use a lot of lube too get stuff sliding

[@shirleymental4189]

What is that. Oil?

[@scotiajinker8392]

Amazing,but that’s going to take some amount maintenance.

[@theonetheonlyjj7445]

What hapens if you fall down there?

[@fritz46]

You'll get dirty.

[@mijiajosef3270]

Andrei George Jurj See the movie 300 for details.

[@didsombodysaysomthing4086]

Andrei George Jurj only one way to find out jump

[@hadawaco]

You'll probably die? unless a fail safe is able to stop the machine from crushing you into jam :)

[@dj6769]

You get all scratched up.........

[@Ramash440]

What do these things run on anyways ? I don't see any third rails or catenary here, and I sure hope they're not running diesel this deep underground.

[@catprog]

I think at 0:57 you see fixed motors in the yellow box pushing the train.

[@Ramash440]

@Jona v.K Yep, seems like catprog gave the correct answer back when I made the comment. Guess the notification just never arrived.

[@TheTerrorHamster]

@Jona v.K Yes, top pantograph between loading and unloading, side pantograph at loading and the tyres at unloading. No batteries

[@1-8-6-8]

It's a RockFlo system

[@stnicholas54]

What is that stuff the wagons are dumping ?

[@chestermanifold9023]

I assume coal

[@stnicholas54]

@@chestermanifold9023 Yes, of course it is. Thank you. It's just that I couldn't quite make out what they were dumping as the light, during the first minute of the unloading process, was very poor.

[@kallie1338]

@@stnicholas54 Its Iron ore

[@stnicholas54]

@@kallie1338 Iron ore - I see. Thank you kindly.

[@erikafurberg6271]

Magnetite

[@DavidHuber63]

We are always finding faster ways of relocating our mountains top to the bottom of our sea.

[@44robnl]

I'm surprised there are no dust clouds.

[@Tuberuser187]

Coal mines have lots of dust abatement like ultra fine mist sprinklers fired through fans, the dust is harmful to respiratory health and an explosion risk so they work to keep it to minimum.

[@Groza_Dallocort]

@@Tuberuser187 this is iron ore. The last coal mine in Sweden closed down back in 1979

[@Tuberuser187]

@@Groza_Dallocort Awesome, I notice an EVE profile pic too~

[@Groza_Dallocort]

@@Tuberuser187 yeah capsuleer since 2012

[@narf0339]

gravity, you have work to do.

[@dapto234]

What country is this in.

[@TheTerrorHamster]

LKAB Iron Ore Mine at Kiruna, Sweden

[@free2roam674]

We humans are fast becoming redundant. I recently watched a video about grain harvesting. One man to run the massive combine and 4-5 to pull the grain wagons. It used to take many more, and soon it will all be done AI. Progress??

[@TerranREBEL]

Wouldn't the curved rail at the bottom heat up from the friction of the bottom plates of the cars and the coal sliding over them eventually? hot coals being probably bad to drop in the bunker and all... maybe a bar across the opening end of those bottom plates (lids?) that sticks out into guide slots in the sides of the tunnel under those rollers might work? and avoid the possible inferno of doom which might otherwise ensue, at least in my admittedly super-pessimistic imagination.

[@someguy4915]

Yeah they probably didn't think of issues like overheating... The bottom doesn't just scrape over bare metal but instead the bottom is attached to the wheelset which rolls over the rails, causing very little friction, nowhere near enough to cause real heat...

[@TerranREBEL]

@@someguy4915 oh thank goodness! If you are right it would take a lot of seized wheels before issues ensued... disaster in my head averted, narrowly!

[@martinborgen]

Probably there's a wheel somewhere, but even then, it's iron ore, and I'm not sure the friction would be that bad anywyas, even if it was just a slide.

[@TerranREBEL]

@@martinborgen Iron, eh? now my not inconsiderable lack of research is showing... ooops! i suppose the more than slight difference in flammability should help to affirm the imaginary disaster's complete demise. Thanks for that!

[@ale3462512]

@@Foxtrott_4 are you assuming this is coal because of the colour? Kiruna mine is an Iron ore underground mine, very rare but they exists.

[@edsonalvesdosreis1422]

Itau 12:59

[@CodeIrminsul]

Hi. What is it unloading here?

[@stnicholas54]

Iron ore I'm told.

[@CodeIrminsul]

@@stnicholas54 you are told? 🤔

[@stnicholas54]

@@CodeIrminsul Yes, by a previous commentator.

[@schalkeschalkelocomotivesg1015]

Yes, iron ore

[@erikafurberg6271]

Magnetite

[@primus108]

why are the cars only partially filled?

[@dierks67]

Bruce Symington Maybe it's to heavy?

[@jakobbjerke4724]

To avoid overfilling (dropping ore where it shouldn't be) and to reduce wear and tear of the system (nominal load 50t, normal load 30t).

[@danielrose1392]

Such loops are often only a 5 minute drive. Not worth spending the time to carefully load at the maximum.

[@karol6322]

Pellets😍

[@th1alb]

that's one complicated way of doing a simple task

[@philip_wahlberg]

Oh hello Einstein how would you do it? Peter Gizmos

[@erikafurberg6271]

Very cheap... only cost, gravity..

[@chadhickey9527]

Looks like an expensive operation.

[@kallie1338]

The whole operation for that level 1365, cost of approximately 12 billions(Kr in swedish currency). Not sure if that price include tunneling.

[@superwiseman452]

coal? where is this mine?

[@auze7798]

Malm, Sweden, Kiruna

[@LV-426...]

Irone ore.

[@Hypercube9]

I wonder how much the coal on the EDGE of each dumpster weighs, what it's value is, and if anyone has does a cost/benefit analysis on having basically a leaf blower or one of those dryers at the end of a car wash blow it off of the edge so it can be sold vs. transporting it back to wherever and getting reloaded and using more fuel in the process. If this unloading is actually continuous and one train takes ~4 minutes to deliver it's load, then that's 15 trains/ hour. 360 trains/ day. 7,560 train cars/ day EACH with I'm guessing maybe a pound or two of coal NOT getting dumped at this station. That's between 8-15 TONS of coal NOT getting dumped when it should EVERY DAY!!! Now IDK the price of coal, but I assume it's higher than the cost to run a fan or something to blow that little bit off of each car! Not to mention the added cost of hauling that coal back to the mine! Plus the environmental cost (and potential fines) of having that coal get blown off during the trip!

Its iron ore they are mining here

[@pearlyhumbucker9065]

@Hypercube9 By the way - your calculation is wrong. You assume the material on the edges gets lost in the process and must be filled new on the edges at every roundtrip. But that is clearly not the case. The material laying on the edges will fall into the bin on the way back of the train. Or it may stay there - nevertheless it must not be reloaded, it is on the train. Reloading the train will fill up the amount of material at the edges that has fallen down in the bin on the transport, if there is material sitting the new material will simply fall down in the bin. The material from the last round trip still is on the train - in case it stays on the edges it will stay there for the whole workshift(s) and will not get lost until the train may get a washout someday...... For the 21 cars in that train and an assumed 2 pound worth of iron ore sitting on the edges you get 42 pounds of iron ore making roundtrips the whole workshift until the washout will clean the cars, this process then recycles the used water and the iron ore from the washout will be returned to the loading process. Remind you this train is NOT a train that delivers material to the harbour - it is an internal transportation device in the mines. LKAB´s "normal" trains for transport of the iron ore to the harbour look completely different to the train in the video..... Maybe you should get the facts straight prior to posting? Isnt it somewhat funny to swagger about some coal delivering process when the material they handle here is iron ore???? You really are "Hyper". Your head is a Cube? If not - do you know the head is normally round so that the thoughts can change the direction?

[@oljefri]

It's iron Ore...

[@whiteknightcat]

Well, Hypercube? Any rebuttals?

[@bahn2452]

You say completely automated and manless but it looks like there is someone in the cab??

[@jakobbjerke4724]

This was a trial, of course there's staff to monitor the progress. They sat with their hands in their laps.

[@hadawaco]

Machinery as big and as complex as this will always require humans to be watching, so many things can go wrong, but for the most part it is automated.

[@DerangedDragon99]

The Arizona Power coal trains, there are two, are largely unattended most of the time.

[@louielouiepks]

Crash Test Dummy. Not trying to be rude, just first thing I thought about.

[@danielrose1392]

Such tasks are often automated to improve efficiency, not to cut the labor cost. The speed limiting factor here is probably the following equipment further transporting the coal. With automation, you can aim for a good processing capacity without overloading or wasting time.

[@dimievers5573]

driverless ?? then why is there a driver in the loc ??

I think only this unloading part is driverless, so that's why

[@schalkeschalkelocomotivesg1015]

it's really driverless; video was done during commissioning where a driver wqas in the cab overlooking everything.

[@Daysed.and.Konfuzed]

This place looks like Black Mesa.

[@angedolittle9975]

why am i here?

[@ArtStoneUS]

Only God knows

[@cbonz7734]

It isn't manless because there's a guy driving the loco and guys standing around.

[@TheTerrorHamster]

This was early after starting operation on the new level. The guy in the loco is still testing and observing while the system is presented to the people around. I have seen the loco driving with no one in it

[@olafmichelson8017]

The metro

[@2Je11ies]

That train driver has the most mundane and mind numbing job in the world.

[@rpriesol]

A train driver? Do you mean a computer, since this is a self driving train :)

[@LatitudeSky]

Roman Priesol sure looked like someone in a high visibility jacket was in the cab.

[@jakobbjerke4724]

Trial. He just monitors the system.

[@cthunter41]

Yes he does, I used to work at a rock quarry where some nights I would sit on a train for 12 hours going a quarter mph In a giant loop while it got loaded.

[@matsv201]

This is LKAB. Hardly anything is maned he is probably just there for the runin period. And most of the maned stuff is driven with remote controlled. It's cheaper. Saving almost a hour of worktime getting to work

[@jacholas1887]

The coal knew too much..

[@JG-dKaPiXL]

446000 vue et seulement 535 abonnées vraiment dommage abonnée vous les gens moi c'est fait :-)

[@olafmichelson8017]

Exodus

[@mollevej30]

Smart. But lets get some nuclear power!

[@kattn01]

This is iron ore. LKAB is world famous for exactly that.

[@eagledustoff37shortserious65]

Person making the video sucks! Zoomed in way to close and constantly moving around makes one sea sick!

[@Pops1970]

Way to go...eliminate as many jobs as you possibly can

[@phorewhoresman1897]

Title reminds me of what I do to my girlfriend when she is asleep.

[@justimagine2403]

Like it or not, coal is the way.

[@davidpearson3304]

Maybe or maybe not..... but this isn’t coal in the video.

[@ralphaverill2001]

Great. Now figure out what to do with the facility when coal becomes a real fossil fuel; something we used to use.

[@tomwolf2603]

its iron ore, so nowhere near coal :D read up on LKAB in Kiruna on wiki an ull know what they do..

[@ralphaverill2001]

Tom Wolf It sure looks like coal to me. Iron ore is brown and usually pelletized at the mine. It takes a lot of coal to make steel. The difference between iron and steel is carbon, usually in the form of coke. Coke is derived from coal by cooking it in a low oxygen oven.

[@tomwolf2603]

@@ralphaverill2001 I know what coal and coke looks like.. This is iron ore at Kiruna /Gälivare/ Svappavaara thats the only location LKAB mines at and thats exclusively iron ore, coal we got only in mid sweden and some smaller deposits here in the south. LKAB is also working on hydrogen burned furnaces to process their ore and completely omit the use of coal wich to my knowledge is a first in the world. source: www.hybritdevelopment.com/

[@ralphaverill2001]

@@tomwolf2603 Thanks for straightening me out. (It still looks like coal!)