Product category:
Plant Design and Construction
News Release from: DavyMarkham | Subject: Nickel mine hoist
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 26 August 2005
Nickel mine hoist project completed on
schedule
Sheffield-based AK Heavy Engineering is nearing completion of a $25 million mine hoist supply and installation contract, at the Nickel Rim South project in Sudbury, Ontario
Sheffield-based AK Heavy Engineering is nearing completion of a $25 million mine hoist supply and installation contract, at the Nickel Rim South project in Sudbury, Ontario A double drum service hoist and single drum auxiliary hoist have already been commissioned at the ventilation shaft head, and shaft sinking operations are already underway
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 17 Mar 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Double drum production and service hoists have been installed at the main shaft, together with another auxiliary hoist; these have now been commissioned and, apart from the production hoist, roped up ready for operation.
This was one of the largest turnkey contracts undertaken by AK Heavy Engineering in recent years and involved project managing the complete mechanical and electrical content, working in temperatures down to -30C in winter and as high as 28C in summer.
The customer was newly-merged Falconbridge Limited, a world leader in copper and nickel exploration and major processor and recycler of metal-bearing materials.
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The Canadian Sudbury Basin is one of the earth's richest known deposits of nickel and copper, formed by a major meteorite impact nearly 2 billion years ago.
The inferred resource estimate at Nickel Rim South is 13.4 million tonnes of grading 1.8% nickel, 3.3% copper and significant palladium and platinum.
The current Falconbridge plans are to sink two shafts as deep as 1785m (5860ft).
AK Heavy Engineering, itself one of the world's leading suppliers of mine hoists and associated equipment, has been involved on the Nickel Rim South project since August 2004.
It subcontracted the electrical engineering and associated drive and control system to global power and automation technologies corporation, ABB, which supplied massive synchronous low-speed hoist motors and its innovative medium voltage drive converters, as well as hoist control consoles and brake programmes.
In addition to local supervisors permanently on-site, AK Heavy Engineering Director, Gordon Scott, spent considerable time at Sudbury, project managing the hoist mechanical and electrical installations, coordinating with other contractors and attending daily construction meetings with site superintendents, for planning complex work schedules and advising on critical safety issues.
Despite the harsh environment and potentially hazardous conditions, only one minor time-lost accident was recorded.
An early technical challenge was removing and refurbishing a 4600mm (15ft) diameter double drum hoist, previously deployed at the world's largest underground copper mine in San Manuel, Southern Arizona.
The 30 tonne shaft and 30 tonne drums were actually transported from sites in Arizona and New Mexico to Canada, for total electrical and mechanical refurbishment and uprating for operation at a line pull of 91,000 lbs, when used for shaft sinking duties.
Thanks to the integrity of the original steel and the non-corrosive desert climate, the hoist was shotblasted and painted to 'as new' condition, saving the client some $2 million.
A 250 tonne mobile crane was then used to lift the refurbished service hoist over the ventilation shaft site, before backfilling around the foundations and building a hoist house around it, which enabled working inside during the harsh winter months.
Installation was completed before Christmas 04, with final commissioning in February 05, and a 25 tonne overhead crane was erected for lifting the smaller auxiliary hoist and other machinery.
Meantime, the hoist house over the main shaft was completed in December 04 and a 45 tonne overhead crane erected for lifting the three remaining hoists and other heavy items like the 45 tonne shaft assemblies.
Production of the four newly-fabricated hoists was on-going concurrently at the AK Heavy Engineering Sheffield works, which were then shipped to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and overland freighted to Sudbury.
The main shaft and vent shaft auxiliary hoists, each with a 3500mm (10ft) diameter single drum, single rope configuration, are virtually identical in specification, except the latter incorporates a larger motor and high speed coupling to facilitate a higher rope speed.
They are to be used for personnel and material transfer during shaft sinking, then for man riding during mine production, and are built to comply with Ontario OHSA and SABS standards down to 2300m.
The 5500mm (18ft) diameter main shaft production hoist and 4600mm (15ft) service hoist both feature a double drum configuration and a sophisticated, yet mechanically simple shaft-mounted motor arrangement.
The smaller service hoist is being used initially for shaft sinking duties and subsequently as a multi-rope Blair hoist for the transfer of men and equipment, so incorporates an extra disc brake path for raising personnel with a single drum.
Both hoists are driven by large 3.3 megawatt AC motors, each with a normal torque rating of 843kNm and based on ABB's highly reliable, synchronous AMZ 2000 design, for high levels of efficiency and a long service life.
The ABB drive and control systems are located in a separate electrical room at the main shaft and integrated into the hoist house at the ventilation shaft, with each fed by an incoming 13.8kV power supply.
The drive converters are ACS6000 medium voltage variable speed AC drives, which will maintain a power factor of better than 99% throughout the hoist cycle and generate negligible harmonic distortion.
There are in fact two separate control systems, one regulating the hoists operating at speeds of around 12m/sec and the other controlling separate winches that raise and lower the in-shaft Galloway stages.
During shaft sinking operations, men and machinery work on the suspended stages, lining the shaft and installing ventilation equipment as they are progressively lowered, while the main cage and service buckets pass routinely through hatches on each stage; so precise control of winch/hoist movement and safety interlocking between these systems are critical.
The initial shaft depth is 1800m (5900ft), although the hoists can accommodate a shaft depth increase to 2300m, or more than a mile and half deep.
AK Heavy Engineering has completed the main shaft and vent shaft installation programme on schedule, so that Falconbridge can now proceed with the critical tasks of shaft sinking and underground mine development, on track.
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