Improving reline performance at Quebec Iron Ore’s Bloom Lake iron mine

Champion Iron, through its wholly owned subsidiary Quebec Iron Ore, owns and operates the Bloom Lake Mining Complex, located on the south end of the Labrador Trough, approximately 13 km north of Fermont, Québec. Bloom Lake is an open-pit operation with two concentrators that primarily source energy from renewable hydroelectric power. The two concentrators have a combined nameplate capacity of 15 Mtpa and produce low contaminants, high-grade 66.2% Fe iron ore concentrate with a proven ability to produce a 67.5% Fe direct reduction quality iron ore concentrate. Benefiting from one of the highest purity resources globally, the company is investing to upgrade half of the Bloom Lake mine capacity to a direct reduction quality pellet feed iron ore with up to 69% Fe.

Ambitious production targets

With its high iron ore concentrate production targets, Quebec Iron Ore ensures that production flows at Bloom Lake reach the plant’s nameplate capacity of 15 Mtpa. To achieve this, a wide range of equipment is used, including crushers, grinding mills, screens, spiral classifiers, and dewatering filters. Effective maintenance plans, including scheduled relining events, are crucial to maintaining maximum efficiency.

In this context, and in support of the company’s teams, the collaboration of experienced partners is essential. The mine’s process equipment setup includes primary crushers, grinding mills, screening, and spiral classification followed by filter dewatering, all requiring maintenance plans including relining events for maximum uptime. For Quebec Iron Ore, it is essential to work closely with experienced partners who can collaborate well with the mine’s on-site personnel and teams.

Reducing downtime with Megaliner and reline expertise

At the heart of the concentrator plant are two Metso autogenous (AG) mills that operate 24/7. To ensure optimal production efficiency and prevent any potential bottlenecks, a range of factors are carefully considered to minimize downtime at both mills. One important factor is the choice of liner. Metso’s Megaliner concept was selected several years ago and helped to reduce downtime with fewer parts and people in the mill. Another factor is the speed of relining. When the mills are alternately shut down for relining, the process, including the removal of worn liners, inspections, and the installation of new ones, must be done efficiently and safely.

An important factor for the mine was striving to maximize liner wear life for the site’s two AG mills. Ore pulled from different areas of the mine face could have varying magnetite content, which can directly affect liner life. Metso experts collaborated with site personnel to analyze and evaluate the best options to increase uptime and reduce change-outs. Fewer reline events result in less worn liners needing disposal, which can positively impact the site’s sustainability ambitions.

A complete solution for relining brings results

Quebec Iron Ore’s maintenance teams turned to Metso to consolidate as many steps as possible for the reline event and improve efficiency. As the OEM of the two AG mills and the Megaliner mill liners for the mill’s shell areas, Metso was in a position to provide a complete solution. Metso successfully leveraged its newly formed Canadian reline team, alongside additional support from Technical Sales Support (TSS) and Field Services personnel, to plan and execute the relining of an AG mill in early 2023—completing the project ahead of schedule. In October 2023, the same mill was relined in 64 hours (about two and a half days) a full ten hours under the original plan of 74 hours with zero safety incidents. In addition to the reline itself, a seal change-out as well as a Visuals and Vitals mill inspection, coupled with wear inspection, was conducted in the same timeframe. This was a major benefit for the customer as additional maintenance activities were performed by the same service provider on the mill without extending downtime.

Teamwork for success

The ability of Metso’s in-house reline crew to complete the relining event ahead of schedule is a testament to their strong teamwork, camaraderie and effective collaboration with other Metso teams working on-site.

Using a continuous improvement approach also helps the team improve every time they perform a reline. Brandon Reichardt, Technical Reline Support Specialist, sums up the approach: “We are always looking for areas to improve. When we have delays, we review every minute on that reline and ask why and how we can avoid it in the future. My job is to analyze data from the event and look meticulously for areas where we can work more efficiently as well as optimize reline performance.” 

For Caleb Vlasveld, Metso’s Mill Reline Service Manager, strong reline performance comes down to both good communication and experience. “On the job, we will often have other teams from Metso performing work in parallel. When this happens, we ensure that we come together as one unit, planning maintenance activities together to be sure we work seamlessly. Additionally, having an experienced team is critical for safe and efficient relines. We’ve been building the in-house Canadian reline team over the past year with both new and veteran crew members, many of which have more than 10 years of experience performing relines on all types of mills in various applications.”

More than just a reline

Taking advantage of the planned downtime to inspect can also pay off in terms of spotting potential issues with the mill or with the wear patterns of the liners. During the October 2023 reline of the AG mill, Chris Bouvette, Technical Sales Support at Metso, was able to conduct a thorough analysis of the worn liners to look for higher than normal wear areas and after analysis, predict future liner life and provide recommendations.

“We have been able to perform inspections and analyze the wear life of the liners using simulations and propose a potential solution involving the addition of ceramics for any high wear areas, stated Bouvette. This will help get more life from the liners and reduce waste. This also fits in well with Quebec Iron Ore’s focus on sustainability. As part of its Integrated Sustainability Framework, the mine is always actively looking to improve policies and practices related to the life cycle of its products and processes.”

Looking ahead, our focus is to support Quebec Iron Ore in consistently enhancing reline performance, helping them achieve their targets for performance, safety and sustainability.