ABB’s gearless mill drive system should improve energy efficiency and provide increased process availability at Teck’s Carmen de Andacollo copper mine. ABB has successfully completed the commissioning of a 13.4 MW gearless mill drive (GMD) system for the Hipogeno project. The GMD powers an 11 m SAG mill at the mine in central Chile. Carmen de Andacollo is an open-pit truck-and-shovel operation at an elevation of 1,000 m, adjacent to the town of Andacollo, some 55 km southeast of La Serena and 350 km north of Santiago. Teck holds 90% of the mine, with the remaining 10% held by Empresa Nacional de Minería, a Chilean government entity.

ABB’s deliveries comprised an entire GMD system including transformers, ring motors and a complete E-house. With a GMD acting as a variable speed drive, mills start smoothly without any mechanical stress. GMDs provide maximum control over the grinding process and allow for adjustments, meeting customer requirements for process efficiency and flexibility. ABB gearless mill drive systems provide improved energy efficiency, superior reliability, increased process availability, and an extended life span for all equipment. They allow bi-directional operation, have integrated frozen charge protection and offer positioning and creeping without an auxiliary drive. The mine’s expanded production capacity will be 80,000 t/y of fine copper.

ABB and Teck have had a long and successful collaboration over the years. Marcelo Cifuentes, head of electrical maintenance at Teck, states: “ABB’s solution has helped us to successfully transition from a solvent extraction and electro-winning (SX-EW) plant that has an annual production of about 20,000 t of fine copper type “A” to a concentrator plant that will produce around 80,000 t/y of fine copper. The transfer to this new technology, incorporating the same workers in SX-EW, has been a milestone for us and for the community, since much of the workforce in Carmen de Andacollo comes precisely from Andacollo Town.”