ABB is to deliver four low speed dual pinion drive systems to Detour Gold’s new gold mine in Canada. Construction of the 55,000 t/d open-pit operation is expected to start later this year, following receipt of permits for gold production commencing in early 2013. The scope of supply includes the drive systems for two SAG and two ball mills, each consisting of synchronous motors, a converter transformer and a frequency converter ACS6000 including active rectifier units which will allow the mill drives to achieve a power factor of 0.90 leading. ABB will also deliver the programmable logic controller (PLC) for the drives and mill auxiliaries as well as two containerised E-houses for the two ball mill drives.

Each mill drive will have a rated power of 2 x 7.5 MW. These systems include the largest low speed dual pinion mill drives in the world. The low speed concept operates without a gearbox and the motors will drive the pinions directly, greatly reducing wear on the equipment.

ABB’s dual pinion mill drive systems provide real time frozen charge protection which is especially important for the operation of the ball mills. Also its dual pinion drives solutions provide the option of variable speed, which enables the end user to increase the availability of the complete production line. Deliveries of the equipment will start in October 2011.

The project is around 8 km west of the Ontario-Québec border and 180 km northeast of Cochrane, in the relatively under-explored Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northeast Ontario. The property encompasses 274 km2, including the Detour Lake deposit, which contains an open-pit reserve of 8.8 Moz of gold. Detour Lake is expected to be among the largest gold operations in North America.