Firetrace International’s intrinsically safe Firetrace^® automatic fire detection and suppression system has been chosen to protect existing underground mud pumps and electrical cabinets at Inmet Mining’s Çayeli copper and zinc mine in Rize on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey. Eleven systems have been installed in the mine, which mills 3,000 t/d of ore. Each is providing dedicated, around-the-clock protection to vital equipment on which the mine’s operations depend. According to Faik Tellioglu of MCS Fire Protection and Consulting Services Ltd, Firetrace International’s Turkish authorised distributor, Firetrace was selected because the systems are completely self contained and are proven to withstand the harsh and dirty underground mining environment, plus the systems could be accommodated inside the narrow control panels. 

Additionally, Firetrace requires neither electricity nor external power, so does not contain any components that produce sparks or which can hold enough energy to produce a spark of sufficient energy to cause an ignition. Each of the Firetrace systems comprises an extinguishing agent cylinder that is attached to proprietary Firetrace Detection Tubing via a custom-engineered valve.  This leak-resistant tubing is snaked throughout Çayeli mine’s cabinets and enclosures to ensure fast detection and suppression of a fire at its source. Heat or flame will immediately cause this tube to rupture and the suppression agent is automatically released, extinguishing the fire precisely where it starts and before it can take hold. An important consideration for the mine’s management was that, unlike many suppression systems, Firetrace can only ever be activated by a real fire, so there is no prospect of false alarms or agent discharge that might otherwise curtail mining operations.

The Çayeli project uses both the Firetrace Direct System and the Firetrace Indirect System.  In the Direct System, the Firetrace Detection Tubing performs a dual function, operating as both the detection device and the suppressant delivery system, whereas the Indirect System uses the Firetrace Detection Tubing as a detection and system activation device, but not for the agent discharge. The rupturing of the tube results in a drop of pressure causing the indirect valve to activate. This diverts flow from the detection tube and the agent is discharged from the cylinder through diffuser nozzles, flooding the entire cabinet. 

Two risk-specific suppression agents were chosen for the project; 3M^TM Novec^TM1230 Fire Protection Fluid is being used to protect the mine’s electrical cabinets, while ABC dry chemical powder is safeguarding the Geho mud pumps.

Firetrace International says its “Firetrace is the only UL [Underwriters Laboratories] listed, FM [Factory Mutual] approved and CE [Conformité Européene or European Conformity] marked tube-operated system in the world that is tested as an automatic fire detection and suppression system with, globally, 150,000 successfully completed installations.”