Copper concentrate throughput at Imperial Metal’s greenfield project exceeds projections after installation of ABB’s reliable low-speed dual pinion ring-geared mill drive solution. ABB, leading power and automation technology group, has successfully installed and commissioned two low-speed dual pinion ring-geared mill drive systems (RMDs) at the Red Chris gold and copper mine in northwest Canada to optimise the project’s grinding process and boost ore throughput.
ABB says its drive system “is the most-mechanically friendly available and offers high availability as well as process reliability for the new open-pit mine owned and operated by Imperial Metals.
“Imperial chose ABB to supply a reliable and robust drive solution for its Red Chris project, which demanded a system that could accommodate a planned milling rate of 30,000 t/d over the mine’s expected lifetime of 28 years.” Commissioning began in November 2014 and was successfully completed, with both RMD systems operating at 100% load in February 2015.
“We are very pleased with ABB’s commitment to complete the project execution and final commissioning of the equipment,” said Tim Fisch, General Manager at Red Chris. “We have been able to produce our first copper concentrate with a much higher throughput rate than originally planned at this point of the startup thanks to the excellent ABB project and commissioning team from Canada and Switzerland.”
The Red Chris mine is located 80 km south of Dease Lake in northwest British Columbia, on territory traditionally occupied by the Tahltan First Nations people who make up a large portion of the workers at the mine.
ABB’s complete scope of supply included two dual pinion low-speed mill drive systems for a 34’, 2 x 5.2 MW SAG mill and a 24’ 2 x 7 MW ball mill, engineering and commissioning. The drive systems are comprised of transformers, ACS 6000 MV frequency converters, synchronous motors, advanced mill control, operations and maintenance features inherent to the ABB RMD solution.
Features include variable-speed operation, real time frozen charge protection, frozen charge remover function, controlled roll-back and positioning without a need for an additional inching drive. ABB also delivered the programmable logic controller (PLC) to control the mill auxiliaries.
“ABB’s RMD solution is currently in operation with more than 55 mills worldwide, attesting to the reliability of this grinding technology,” said Peter Terwiesch, President of ABB’s Process Automation division. “We are delighted that Imperial Metals chose to partner with ABB to supply this solution for its Red Chris greenfield project.”