The Knight Hawk project is a strategic win for BEUMER, allowing the company to broaden its mining sector footprint, according to Brad Williams, Vice President of Sales and Business Development for BEUMER’s Conveying & Loading Division, based in the Kansas City area.

“We are very accustomed to handling coal and coal residuals in the Power industry, but we are excited about the opportunity to focus on a project directly in the coal mining sector,” Williams said.

The curved troughed belt conveyor will carry coal from Knight Hawk’s new underground mine portal to its main coal preparation plant at Prairie Eagle. The overland conveyor will allow Knight Hawk to seal a portion of its underground mine and bring coal to the surface near its current mining activities. Commissioning of the new conveying system is scheduled for April 2019.

“This project is right up BEUMER’s alley from a technology standpoint, as it will become our third overland curved troughed belt conveyor installed in North America in the last five years,” Williams said. “Our curved conveyor technology allows for a single-flight system that costs less to install and operate than a conventional conveying system, and will offer Knight Hawk long-term financial and environmental benefits when compared with trucking.”

The original request for proposal called for four straight conveyors requiring three transfer towers,” Williams explained. BEUMER’s winning proposal features a single-flight curved conveying system that eliminates the cost of tower steel, and greatly reduces the quantity of components and necessary spare parts. It reduces the dust, noise, maintenance and operating costs associated with the transfer points, and offers 98 percent reliability compared with roughly 92 percent reliability of four conveyors operating in series.

Prairie Eagle is the hub of Knight Hawk’s coal mining operations, processing and shipping more than 80 percent of the company’s five million tons of annual coal production. Opened in 2005 as a surface mine, the Illinois facility was expanded to include two underground mines, Knight Hawk’s primary coal preparation plant, and multiple truck loading facilities. Prairie Eagle is widely recognized as one of the most efficient underground mines in the United States.

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