Case Study – Mining logistics

Toromocho mining project

Moving 1,500 tons of freight 11-thousand miles by ocean, rail and mountain road.The Toromocho Project is a US$ 3.2 billion copper mining project in Central Peru. Noatum Logistics was contracted to provide end-to-end logistics services for equipment and materials to service the mining operations. The customer is one of the largest aluminum producers in the world, and operator of copper, non-ferrous metals, and rare metals projects. In Peru, it has the concession and asset rights for the Toromocho Project, one of the country’s largest copper projects

The challenge

An initial assignment was for the movement of Autoclave and Flash Vessel pieces from their manufacturing plant, located 30 miles inland from the Shanghai port, to the mining project 90 miles east of Lima, Peru. The equipment pieces were over size and over weight, requiring special loading/unloading procedures; ocean, rail and ground transportation; and infrastructure modifications. The equipment was essential to mining operations and needed to arrive on schedule and damage free.

The solution

Noatum Logistics developed a detailed plan specifically for the move and then identified and engaged service providers qualified to handle the project’s unique requirements.

In Shanghai, both the Autoclave and Flash Vessel pieces were rotated and temporary saddles installed for better cargo handling, a process requiring a trailer with 10 axles and a load capacity of 160 tons.

At Callao, the unloading process took 72 hours, 108 rail wagons and 20 flatbed trucks to handle the 247 thousand cubic feet of freight.

The cargo then traveled to a nearby warehouse where a telescopic crane with fiber slings unloaded the equipment pieces in preparation for the move to the mine.

Accompanied by police and emergency medical personnel, the freight traveled by hydraulic modular at night to avoid traffic congestion around Lima.

Leaving the city and the project control center, the expanded convoy, now with additional police, a technical assistance van, two support trucks, and a supervision van, followed the transport plan which specified the departure schedule, break times, closure times, maximum speed and infrastructure modification requirements.

The solution included building 19 lay-bys, reinforcing 13 bridges, and lifting a train trestle and bridge almost eight inches to allow the freight to clear.

The result

The mining equipment moved on schedule from Shanghai to Central Peru, a distance of more than 11 thousand miles. Noatum Logistics identified and planned for critical points in the move to minimize delays and damage to the freight. The mining equipment traveled from the port at Callao to the mine site in six days.