The first of four major parts of the permanent secondary crusher is being transported from Kamloops to the Copper Mountain Mine site in Princeton. The upper main frame arrived at the mine on March 6 and weighs over 55 tonnes. It was transported by a special heavy duty transport rig (see photo). The remainder of the Raptor’s major pieces are scheduled to arrive by the end of March, followed by assembly. The largest and heaviest piece is the lower main frame, weighing just over 100 tonnes. This part will be transported at night under a special permit due to the size of the specialized transportation truck required to safely move this large piece of equipment to the Copper Mountain Mine site.
Copper Mountain Mine’s new High Performance Raptor 2000 rock crusher is the centerpiece of its $40 million secondary crusher program. One of only four in the world, the Raptor 2000 comes disassembled in a number of pieces and must be re-assembled at the copper mine site in Princeton, BC. The largest piece is the lower main frame which weighs 100 tonnes and measures approximately 19 feet by 17 by 7. Three other main components (the upper main frame, the bowl short head and the adjustment ring) each weigh just over 50 tonnes. The Raptor 2000 is the largest model on the market and is fit for the most demanding high tonnage applications.
The Raptor 2000 is so large it had to be shipped from Italy to the Port of Halifax for offloading on to land. From Halifax the pieces have been transported by rail to arrive in Kamloops BC where they will be loaded onto special trucks and driven south to the mine site near Princeton. The Raptor 2000 will be assembled there and becomes operational in mid-2014. It will be used by Copper Mountain (www.cumtn.com) to pre-crush rock and increases the mine’s daily processing rate from around 32,000 tonnes per day in December 2013, to reach or exceed the planned nameplate 35,000 tonnes per day that was projected when the mine first opened in August 2011. Management at Copper Mountain is confident that the crusher will improve mill throughput to nearly 40,000 tonnes per day, which would improve mine profitability and provide a better margin to ensure operation during times of lower metal prices, thereby sustaining employment and stability for the town of Princeton.