Xingfa’s 55km long phosphate concentrate pipeline transport built - First phosphate pipeline transport project in China Hubei

Recently, after 16 months of construction, China Xingfa Group’s 55km long phosphate concentrate pipeline transport project was completed on the 19th of March. This is the first phosphate pipeline project in Hubei Province. After completion, 2 million tons of phosphate will ″flow″ out of Xingshan through this pipeline every year.

Phosphorus is an important non-metallic mineral resource, which is not readily regenerative. It is widely used in the economic sectors of agriculture, medicine, food, light industry, chemical industry and national defense. Over the years, phosphate mining mostly happens in easily accessible mines while inaccessible mines are abandoned, attributable to the price pressure of phosphate concentrate which cannot sustain the profitability of mineral dressing, especially with low-grade ore and refractory ore.

In the past, 2 million tons of raw ore from Xingshan Houping Phosphate Mine would require truck transportation of above 50 kilometers to be sent to the cargo berth for shipment to the downstream factories for use in production. There is only one road from the mine to the port, which causes enormous pressure on local traffic. Today, the pipeline transport not only improves the environment along the road, but also facilitates the green and low-carbon development.

″The project takes a total investment of RMB300 million yuan, the transportation cost of 2 million tons of phosphate from the mine down here is RMB 40 million yuan per year, meaning that after the project becomes operational, the transportation cost can be recovered in about 8 years,″ said Li Maobin, the construction senior engineer of Xingfa Group.

″The particle size and moisture content of the phosphate concentrate handled by the project fulfill the transportation requirement; in addition, the downhill pipeline from Houping to the port has an elevation of 800 meters, which can be fully utilized, with the use of regular slurry pump, to the benefit of lower energy consumption,″ said Dr. Liu Xin, Xingfa Group’s mining engineering dept.

According to Lin Guoce, pipeline transport researcher of Xingfa Group, due to the weak acidity of the slurry, in order to increase the service life of the steel pipes used in the pipeline, the pipes are treated via special measures to increase anti-corrosion and anti-wear property to ensure a service life of above 30 years.