The company Almina – Minas do Alentejo, which has the concession for the Aljustrel mines, invested 11 million euros in the construction of a new secondary surface crushing plant, which will allow it to reduce dust emissions.
In a statement sent to “CA”, the Minas Gerais company explains that the new secondary surface crushing plant was installed in a more favorable location “to control and reduce dust emissions and consequently improve air quality”.
“The company thus replaces the installation that existed 16 years ago, building a new, more compact and more efficient unit”, adds Almina, recalling that the previous secondary crushing plant was located next to the washing plant, “in a layout spread across three buildings”, which were connected “through conveyor belts”.
In contrast, he continues, the new installation is 90 meters further away of Estrada Nacional (EN) 261 and, “consequently”, the village of Aljustrel, now occupying “only an existing covered space”.
Located at a lower elevation “in 11 meters compared to the previous one”, the new secondary crushing also allowed Almina to reduce “in 264 meters the length of the outer conveyor belts, thus reducing the number of dust dispersion points”.
In addition, the infrastructure “was implemented in accordance with a layout more simplified and modernized, using new generation equipment, more efficient and better suited to both the mining activity and the material to be explored”, emphasizes the company.
The new equipment also made it possible to “reduce the likelihood of dust dispersion, due to its base on a reinforced concrete slab with a single slope”, as well as “more efficient cleaning, avoiding the deposition of particles for long periods”, and “better control of particle dispersion, through the placement of nebulization systems around the entire perimeter”.
The reduction in energy consumption, “due to the use of more efficient ‘heavy duty’ equipment”, is another of the added values of the new secondary crushing highlighted by the company from Minas Gerais.
In the statement, Almina explains that this new unit made it possible to reduce “high maintenance costs”, but maintain “the installed extraction capacity, licensed by the TUA – Single Environmental Title and SIR – Responsible Industry System, of 7,008,000 tons/year”.
The company adds that it will continue “to comply with the Air Quality Monitoring Program”, maintaining that this investment “incorporates a list of strategic measures” that it has been developing, “with a view to reducing its impacts, promoting continuous improvement sustainable.”
