Siemens provides an eco-friendly speed boost to Kaltim Prima Coal

Siemens, the world’s leading technology supplier of
innovative and environmentally-friendly products and solutions for industrial
customers, today announced the successful installation of the world’s fastest
overland conveyor belt for PT Kaltim Prima Coal, one of the largest open-pit
mining operators in the world. The installation consists of a series of
superior automation and drives solutions that enable them to benefit from
a shortened engineering and procurement cycle, as well as improved risk
mitigation. The new solutions have also helped lessen the company’s carbon
footprint by reducing the overall energy required by conveyor belt operation by
up to 10%.

To overcome the risks of operating conveyors at high
speed, PT Kaltim Prima Coal decided to partner with Siemens to install the
superior Integrated Drive Systems (IDS) technology combined with Siemens
automation technology to replace the older technology on several existing
conveyors. The technology is also installed on two newly constructed overland conveyors.
One of which is the Melawan overland conveyor, which is a curved conveyor that
runs at a speed of 7.5 metres per second. The second conveyor belt, “OLC2,” is a
straight conveyor belt that runs at a speed of 8.5 metres per second and
connects PT Kaltim Prima Coal’s coal preparation plant and port stockpile, Both
conveyors transport coal over a total distance of 25 kilometres. Their
respective speeds makes them the fastest two overland conveyor belts in the
world.

Stefanus Arif, Head of Digital Factory Division and
Process Industries and Drives Division of PT Siemens Indonesia said “With
production industries under immense pressure to reach increasingly higher
levels of productivity at the lowest possible cost, the ability to achieve high
degrees of effectiveness has become more important in today’s mining industry. We
are proud to see PT Kaltim Prima Coal reaping the benefits of our latest IDS
technology, even going as far as achieving the world’s fastest overland
conveyor belt speed, whilst reducing energy requirements.”

With a desire to increase productivity whilst ensuring
sustainability of operations, PT Kaltim Prima Coal turned towards automation to
meet their needs. “We are constantly looking towards the future and exploring
new ways to innovate, improving operations and making our
processes more environmentally sustainable. IDS technology from Siemens is the
best fit for us thanks to its capabilities and relevant solutions that suit our
needs. Since the implementation, we have observed the reliability of the
technology to smoothly run the conveyor at high speed with a significant
increase in energy savings and without any complications,” stated Poltak
Sinaga, General Manager at PT Kaltim Prima Coal.

Based in Sangatta, East Kalimantan, PT Kaltim Prima
Coal manages a mining area of more than 90,000 hectares and produces more than 50
million tonnes of coal per year, which equates to about one-sixth of
Indonesia’s expected coal export in 2016. However, with China’s slowing demand
for coal, coupled with potential coal export from India, Indonesia’s coal
miners will have to produce coal at a faster rate and at the same time lower
prices in order to remain competitive.