The conveyor belts that transport iron ore and coke to the raw materials storage silos for the blast furnaces at the steel mill in Minas Gerais were changed.

In 2021, Techint Engineering & Construction signed a Managed Labor contract for Usiminas, one of the leading flat steel companies in Brazil and the main supplier to the automotive industry. The company has since then been performing electromechanical assembly services to help to revitalize the plant located in the city of Ipatinga, Minas Gerais. One of the key activities that took place in 2023 involved changing out the G and K systems. But what do these letters mean, anyway?

The systems are identified with letters of the alphabet and are in fact conveyor belts that transport granulated iron ore, iron ore pellets and coke (a fuel derived from mineral coal) to silos storing raw materials for use in the blast furnaces, considered to be the heart of the reduction area. These systems are thus like blood vessels, continuously pumping fuel to feed the heart of the station.

Different sizes and functions

System G

Measuring 579 linear meters and weighing 655.5 tons, System G is responsible for transporting granulated iron ore to the raw material storage silos for the blast furnaces. The changes made by Techint E&C, a process that lasted six months, expanded the system’s load capacity from 350 ton/hour to 750, by enlarging the belt width from 30” to 42”. The renovation was carried out as part of the process to overhaul blast furnace 3.

System K

A total of 399 linear meters were assembled, and another 96.4 meters were added to the system. Conveyor belt K feeds the blast furnace raw material storage silos with coke and weighs 824.2 tons. The operation to replace it took six months, during which time they were able to maintain a load capacity of 400 tons/hour. The task also contemplated optimizing the conveyor belt routes and creating a new direct branch which would also supply blast furnace 3.

A major operation for the managed labor project

As Construction Manager of Techint E&C, Lantiel Soares was responsible for coordinating the operation, and he confesses that this was the biggest challenge of his career. “Being at the blast furnace repair shutdown held in 2023, where there were so many companies working on related services and other belts in operation, required a huge amount of planning and a special focus on safety,” he says.

In fact, there were over 600 people from four different companies working in the plant at the peak of work, totaling 350,000 hours of work. During this activity, the Screening Building was revitalized, where ore is sieved according to fine or coarse grain size, and the Transfer Houses were refurbished. These are metallic structures which have the function of transferring material between belts.

The work was successfully completed, emphasizing the vital importance of the contract. “Today, I believe that Techint has developed a great capacity for handling this type of demand, and we owe this mainly to the complex work we undertook to coordinate the reform of the G and K systems,” concludes Lantiel.