Conveyor Belt Market in Mining Industry - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Conveyor Belt Market in Mining Industry - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The global conveyor belt market in the mining industry (henceforth referred to as the market studied) is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.92% over the forecast period (2022-2027). The mining industry heavily relies on conveyor belts to transport materials taken for processing. Hence, the industry is witnessing an increase in conveyor belt investments as it makes operations cleaner, safer, and more productive.

Key Highlights

• For instance, In October 2021, Fenner Precision Polymers, a reinforced polymer technology company, announced the acquisition of Lumsden Corporation, a manufacturer of industrial conveyor belting and wire cloth for the quarry and mining industry and related solutions. The deal strengthens the position of Fenner Precision Polymers as a major supplier of highly specialized conveying solutions. It opens new opportunities like metal screening for infrastructure, mining, and road applications.
• Moreover, Chemprene LLC, a prominent maker of rubber-coated textiles in the United States, producing lightweight rubber conveyor belting, diaphragms, coated fabrics, and other precision molded products, plans to spend USD 14 million on its Beacon, New York, factory in 2021. Lightweight rubber conveyor belts, coated textiles, and molded diaphragms are also produced at the factory. The investment will enable the company to automate and increase production capacity at the 225,000-square-foot facility, resulting in increased efficiency.
• In the mining industry, drive technology significantly influences conveyor performance and system availability. Three-phase asynchronous motors plus gear units have proved a robust, quick-to-install, low-maintenance variant here. Players like Siemens have decades of experience in bulk material conveyor technology. High availability, proven technology, and low costs are the advantages of driving solutions for these applications.
• In mining industry practices, the required output and desired mining operator specify rotary speed as design parameters, determining the heat to be dissipated, which may strongly influence the dimensioning process. This has partly resulted in operating conditions that make a gear unit advisable larger than the output originally necessitates. If conveyor belts operate in climatic zones that are unusually warm or even inclined to extreme heat-cold fluctuations, a lot of attention must be paid to cool. For this reason, Siemens has developed correspondingly efficient cooling solutions for its three gear-unit series, comprising 46 conveyor belt drive sizes. So in many cases, a smaller gear unit may prove to be sufficient.
• The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts on the global economy across all industries, including mining. Like other industries, the mining industry is witnessing immediate challenges to stop the spread of the virus amongst the workers and ensure that the staff is safe and healthy.

Key Market TrendsTextile Reinforced to Witness Significant Growth Rate

• The internal structure of a textile or fabric belt carcass consists of a single or multi-layered series of synthetic fabric layers interlaced between rubber-based shock-absorbent layers. The top and bottom sides of the belt consist of hard-wearing, abrasion, and cut-resistant rubber covers. The covers protect the belt from damage, especially at the loading points of the conveyor. This provides the tensile strength to the conveyor belt used in the mining industry.
• The strength, extension, and flexibility of synthetic fibers used in technical woven fabrics are higher than natural fibers used earlier. The major fibers used are cotton, viscose rayon, nylon, polyester, glass, and aramid. The aramid tenacity is seven times that of steel, and aramid is also lighter than steel. It resists temperatures of 400-500 ºC, dampness, and chemicals and has high abrasion resistance. Thus, it is used in mining conveyor belts.
• However, currently used materials are the nylon/cotton and the viscose rayon/nylon combinations, but the most accepted is the combination of polyester/nylon (with the polyester fibers in the warp). Also, with these blend fabrics, no adhesion problems are encountered as with all-polyester woven fabrics.
• The belting manufacturers also supply tables for fabric belting, reflecting the number of plies proposed for a belt based on the different types and grades of materials to be transported on the belt.
• Also, over the past years, belt materials and their properties have undergone considerable changes. The growing need for increased tensile properties, abrasion resistance, and higher economy has encouraged belt users to collaborate with belting manufacturers and plane engineers to develop tougher and more economical conveyor belting.
• The fabric material is better than steel reinforcement in conveyor belts as textiles make it much more flexible, energy-efficient, corrosion-resistant, high strength, and lightweight.

North America to Dominate Market Share

• The North American region has been a prominent market for conveyor belts owing to their continued adoption across the industry. The growth of conveyor belts has been dependent on the inherent demand for mining in the region. Also, according to the United States Geological Survey 2021, In 2020, US mines produced USD 82.3 billion in minerals, down USD 1.5 billion from the estimated figure of USD 83.7 billion in the previous year. Metal mining production in the United States is expected to reach USD 27.7 billion in 2020, up 3% from the previous year. Gold (38%), copper (27%), iron ore (15%), and zinc (14%) were the major contributions to the total value of metal mining output in 2020.
• In the United States, government support for mining in the form of executive orders, such as for critical minerals development or in the form of regulatory changes, has aided the industry. Despite this, getting permits continues to be a deterrent to mining project development in the United States.
• Canada is home to one of the most active mining industries in the world. According to the Mining Association of Canada, the country ranks in the top five members involved in producing 13 major minerals and metals, including uranium, nickel, potash, cobalt, aluminum, diamonds, titanium, and gold.
• With the United States' high dependence on Canada for most of the commodities imported, mines in Canada are anticipated to grow relatively faster. As a result, strong demand for base and precious metals has driven exploration and expansion, thus driving the mining industry's growth in Canada.
• According to the Mining Association of Canada, in 2021, CAPEX intentions for the mining industry are expected to increase by 10% to USD 9.5 billion, indicating a partial recovery. Higher mineral and metal prices and a broader economic recovery have contributed to the increase. Although, spending plans for 2021 show that expenditures in the metal subsector would rise by 14% to USD 6.2 billion, with iron ore mining expected to rise by a whopping 75% to USD 995 million.

Competitive Landscape

The Conveyor Belt Market in Mining Industry is highly competitive with high barriers to exit of a firm from the industry. To retain their market position, the organizations keep innovating and entering into strategic partnerships.

• July 2022 - Wuxi Boton Belt Co, Ltd, based in China, announced the launch of the world's first carbon-neutral conveyor belts for delivery to BHP's Spence copper mine in Chile as a part of an exclusive project.
• April 2022 - BEUMER Group announced the launch of its hybrid conveyor technology under its U-Shape conveyor family for ports. The new technology leveraged its existing expertise in the pipe and troughed belt conveying technology.

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