Black Thunder
- Owner: Black Thunder Coal Company
- Project: Coal Handling System Expansion
- Location: Black Thunder Mine, Wright, Wyoming
- Scope: Feasibilty Study, Engineering and Procurement
Project Background
Feasibility study, engineering and procurement of a 7,000 TPH coal handling system expansion with a 4 km overland conveyor.
The coal handling expansion includes a single near–pit crushing unit, with a 1,000–ton capacity dump hopper and a passive dust control system to accommodate 340–ton haul trucks.
The dump hopper includes a drag chain feeder to feed a crusher unit. The crusher unit has a capacity of 7,000 TPH to crush –60–inch x 0–inch ROM coal and produces a 2–inch x 0–inch product.
The coal is then conveyed from the crushing unit by an overland conveyor with a capacity of 7,000 TPH of crushed coal, a distance of approximately 2½ miles and over 300 feet of lift to the new train loadout silos.
The overland conveyor is powered by four 1,750 HP drives. Control systems allow equal drive sharing of the load during all starting, running and stopping conditions.
An intricate static and dynamic design analysis of the overland conveyor provides for all design considerations over the operating range and conditions of the conveyor.
The elevated portion of the overland conveyor is enclosed in long–span tubular galleries.
The train loadout consists of two 18,500–ton capacity silos each including an under–silo batch loading system.
A three–stage sample station is included to sample the crushed coal to ASTM standards.
It is significant to note that a number of the concepts developed by Roberts & Schaefer in the 1988 project were included in the 2006 project including: the passive dust control system, overland conveyor support system, non–enclosed and at–grade drive systems. Also significant is that the new project has long–span conveyor tubes (300 ft) with intermediate struts, which are some of the longest spans in the industry.