ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, is to deliver a low-speed, dual pinion ring-geared mill drive system (RMD) for the Poltava mine expansion in Komsomolsk, Ukraine, visited by IM in 2014. This delivery will help to increase capacity of the mine’s processing plant. With its maintenance-friendly design the RMD solution minimises mechanical wear on ring-geared mills and reduces downtime and repairs while providing high availability of the grinding equipment.

The complete RMD system comprises two 4.5 MW synchronous motors, an ACS 6000 multi-drive, converter transformer and ABB’s advanced integrated mill controller. By operating on low-speed with motors driving the pinions directly, no gearboxes are required. For smooth operation and ease of maintenance the RMD comes with inherent features and functionalities such as variable-speed, frozen charge protection, the frozen charge remover function, controlled rollback and automatic positioning.

Deliveries are scheduled for October 2015 with estimated start of operations in 2016. Ferrexpo Poltava Mining has an estimated 3.6 billion tonnes of resources coming from two iron ore deposits located within the largest iron ore body in Europe. The traditional shovel and truck operation extracts approximately 30 Mt of crude ore per year. The mine upgrade will increase the production from 10.8 to 12 Mt of pellets per year and extend the mine life until 2038.