Increasing Transportation Efficiency by using High Strength Niobium Microalloyed Steel for Truck Dumpers

by Hugo Leandro Rosa, Mac Kimley Ferreira Cardoso, Jorge Luis Barreto, Leonardo Magalhães Silvestre, Érico França, Marcos Alexandre Stuart Nogueira

Publisher - CBMM Araxá Works, COMIPA, CBMM

Category - General Novel

Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração, CBMM, has a strong, sustainable program from the mine to final niobium products and their respective applications. As a company that has fully integrated the sustainability concept, one of the main tasks CBMM continuously pursues is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions at its Araxá works in Brazil. Transportation is always considered and CBMM’s fleet is constantly upgraded to optimize fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. This paper presents an example of a project that reduces the weight of CBMM mining truck dumpers by 25% by shifting from carbon steel to high strength niobium microalloyed steel. This weight decrease resulted in reductions of 8% in fuel consumption and 3% in total transport costs during the first twelve months of operation. Due to these improvements, the investment in new trucks with light design dumpers achieved payback in less than three months.

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