For many years, transfer chutes occupied an unfortunate place in the bulk materials handling hierarchy. They were a necessary but largely overlooked link between “real” equipment like crushers, screens and conveyors. That mindset is changing fast. This is according to Mark Baller, Managing Director of Weba Chute Systems, who tells Gerard Peter that front-end engineering design (FEED) has become a non-negotiable in the company’s approach to transfer chute design. 

Today, more mining companies and EPCMs are discovering what some specialists have known for years: if you get the transfer points wrong, you compromise the entire plant. That is why FEED has become a major differentiator in how Weba Chute Systems engages with projects globally.

Baller explains, “In the modern mining world, there is a greater emphasis put on technology with people wanting reliable, proven results rather than just equipment delivered. The whole industry has moved towards engineered and proven and reliable results rather than just buying random equipment.”

Baller is candid about where transfer chutes used to sit in the project mindset. “I call them the stepchild of the bulk materials handling industry,” he notes. “It’s the one you don’t talk about, and in the past, the transfer chute was seen as a bit of platework that was between other pieces of materials handling equipment.”

However, once a company starts investing unplanned downtime, that “bit of platework” suddenly becomes a major risk factor. “If you go into a process and into a plant,  up to 50% to 60% of plant downtime can be linked back to a failure caused by a transfer chute. This can be as a result of failure of another piece of equipment due to poor loading or blockages which cause plant downtime.”

For Weba, FEED is the disciplined framework that ensures transfer chutes are engineered as performance-critical assets, not afterthoughts. It’s where root causes are addressed before they are cast in steel.

Timing is everything

According to Baller, FEED is not just about what is done, but when. A case in point: For a US greenfields project, where Weba Chute Systems was the specified provider, the company was brought in early at the FEED stage. “The earlier we get involved, the better it is for the project,” he says. “Often when we get involved later when the layout of equipment has already been set out, and we are now trying to put a round peg in a square hole.”

During FEED, Weba Chute Systems worked closely with the project house to interrogate transfer heights, conveyor interfaces and space allowances for maintenance and inspection. Because the plant was still in its conceptual and pre-detail phases, these discussions could translate into tangible improvements without derailing budgets or schedules.

Once the FEED work had defined workable configurations and transfer geometries, the project progressed into what the client terms functional engineering design, which is essentially the final design ahead of fabrication. “Functional engineering design is now going one step further.  You are now getting into the final design of the item. That incorporates auxiliary equipment like belt cleaners and access points to the chute. On this project they want maintenance platforms within the chute for safe maintenance,” Baller adds.

The result is a plant where chute performance is not an afterthought, but an integrated design outcome with transfer points sized, positioned and equipped to support uptime, safe access and downstream efficiency.

The project is a practical demonstration of Weba Chute Systems’ core message: when specialist chute engineering is embedded at FEED, the project avoids expensive rework later and sets itself up for long-term reliability from first ore to nameplate and beyond.

The outcome is a plant layout optimised around proven flow principles from day one – rather than asking the chute designer to “make it work” around a fixed, sub-optimal configuration.

DEM as verification, experience as a foundation

Most modern projects now deploy Discrete Element Method (DEM) software for transfer points. Here, Weba Chute Systems’ philosophy is distinct. For the company,  it’s not a design tool; it’s actually a verification tool.

Weba Chute Systems’ FEED methodology follows a three-step logic. First, it draws on the experience of more than 5 000 chute installations and established design principles. Next, the company designs for reality, not theory. It factors in climate, ore variability, moisture, particle size distribution and operating philosophy. Thirdly, it uses DEM to verify and refine, not to guess a solution from scratch.

“We take our practical learning and our practical experience and combine that with engineering calculations and we design a chute. We will then use the DEM to verify the design that we have done based on engineering principles and our vast practical experience,” Baller explains.

He is clear that simulation alone cannot capture the actual realities of mining. “DEM software is only as good as the information you put in,” he cautions. “When we are mining material, it’s the condition of the material, the atmospheric conditions and the particle size distribution. There are so many factors that can affect the flow that it’s impossible to simulate all these changes within a DEM environment.”

FEED as a tool for exposing bottlenecks

Because FEED looks at the whole flow system, it also becomes a useful mechanism for identifying operational bottlenecks before the plant is built. “Sometimes the client allows excess transfer height, or they’re trying to do something from an operational point within a chute that we, from our experience, know has pitfalls. We are in a position  to advise the client and ask them if they have considered doing it in an alternative manner,” Baller adds.

In many cases, the issues that later manifest as underperforming crushers, overloaded screens or mistracking conveyors can be traced back to feed conditions at the transfer point. “Almost all the failure or performance equipment underperformance is related to the feed or the way the feed is introduced into the equipment. If that feed is not happening in the way it was designed, the efficiency and the life of the equipment is affected,” Baller emphasises.

By treating transfer chutes as the start of downstream performance, rather than just a connection, FEED allows Weba Chute Systems to engineer out many of those bottlenecks in advance.

Baller adds the company is not simply fabricating steel. “We don’t sell chutes. We are selling an engineered solution for transfer point problems and issues. It happens to come in the form of a transfer chute, but it’s an engineered solution for a specific set of problems that a client has.”

The economic impact of that philosophy is measurable. Baller adds, “What we have found on most of our chutes, the client’s return on investment is considerable. In hard rock applications it is under 12 months and in coal mining, it can be 24 months. For a chute to pay itself off, it literally just has to save you a couple of hours a year.”

He cites a platinum mine example where an apron feeder belt was being replaced every three months at over R1 million per change. A Weba chute, costing less than a single belt change, extended belt life to three years.

Looking ahead

Weba Chute Systems is now taking its FEED philosophy into the operational phase through digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI). The aim is to close the loop between design, performance and continuous improvement.

Baller states the company is investigating the use of AI within the company and also within the client service environment of its business. “Where AI is very powerful is analysing data, which, doing it manually, is extremely time-consuming,” Baller states.

The company is also piloting electronic wear monitoring and near real-time performance dashboards for transfer points. “By using AI, we will be able to put all that information together and give the client an almost live dashboard of the performance of his chutes within his plant.”

The principle, however, remains constant, whether at the FEED stage or in live operations. “At the end of the day, it’s to make the client’s life easier. It’s to make their plant more productive. We add value to our clients. The more value we add, the better it is for our clients,” Baller adds.

In an era of higher expectations on throughput, availability and cost control, FEED-driven transfer chute design is no longer a luxury.  “It is the foundation of engineered performance and a clear line of differentiation in a sector where “just a chute” can make or break the plant,” Baller concludes.