A new deal for ABB covers project planning, commissioning and long term maintenance management to maximise efficient operation at Vale’s iron ore and pellet plant and distribution centre in Oman. ABB Oman has signed a three-year maintenance agreement for Vale’s state-of-the-art iron ore pellet plant and distribution centre. This will be a continuation from the current agreement where ABB is responsible for the management and planning of the entire commissioning phase of the project.
Vale is investing $1.3 billion in the new direct reduction iron ore pelletising plant and distribution centre, located in Sohar Industrial Port in Oman. For Vale, it will be the first pelletising operation outside of Brazil. The initial annual production capacity of the plant will be 9 Mt and once completed the site’s distribution center will have a capacity of handling 40 Mt.
Scheduled for start-up in late 2010, the facility will cater to the Middle East steel industry’s growing demand for iron ore and pellets. The new plant will operate with 720 employees, of which 202 will be part of ABB’s maintenance team at the site. ABB will be active in both hiring and providing ongoing development of local Omani Nationals within the work team.
The ABB agreement will cover the development and execution of all maintenance activities at the plant. ABB will manage the entire maintenance crew to ensure that mechanical and electrical maintenance regimes, shutdown management, planning and scheduling, as well as reliability maintenance are completed according to the ABB’s maintenance outsourcing concept.
“By combining our engineering and project management excellence with the ABBs’ maintenance concept during the commissioning period, we will provide higher process and equipment reliability, maximum operating efficiency with reduced life cycle cost for this plant from day one,” said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, Head of ABB’s Process Automation Division. “Our long term working collaboration with Vale and deep process knowledge of their operations were important factors in securing this contract”
Over the years, ABB has delivered numerous automation solutions, services and related support to Vale’s mining operations all over the world.