IM 2019 August 19 | Page 15

MINE HOISTS depth of 1,000 m, made it the largest ground- mounted friction hoist in North America. It was installed in a new hoist house installed by the EPC consultant who also extended the existing headframe, accommodating the new head- sheaves required. Nutrien and ABB are now working together to further increase the capacity of the hoisting system to over 50 t making it one of the largest hoists in Canadian potash. Within a 10 year period, Nutrien installed new production hoists in all of its mines. “Using a modern AC drive with a synchronous motor, we were able to increase ore capacity without any negative effects on the electrical network,” says Gartner. “In fact, there was an increase in electrical efficiency, as the hoisting system consumed less power than the older DC drives.” ABB says its hoist control systems ensure the hoist is operating in the most optimum manner resulting in reduced cycle times and major cost savings for potash operators. “Decreasing the overall hoist cycle by just a few seconds can generate millions of dollars of increased production for the potash industry,” states Gartner. “We do that by optimising the hoist cycle, making sure the hoist moves as quickly as it can in the shaft, and that acceleration rates are optimised with S-curves to minimise peak power during acceleration. At the same time, we employ those S curves during acceleration and deceleration changes to ensure that the electrical powertrain in the hoist system doesn’t cause a step change in tension on the ropes. By using modern hoist control systems we have much more precise control over the electrical powertrain & mine hoist.” According to Gartner, increasing numbers of global mining customers are looking to further improve mine hoist safety in terms of protecting both personnel and equipment – and that means mine hoist functional safety solutions. “ABB has now contracts with Canadian potash companies, and other global mining clients to design hoisting systems according to the IEC-based 62061 functional safety standard, which provides the next step in safety in the mine hoist system,” he explains. “ABB has introduced safety integrity level 3 (SIL3)-based brake systems and hoist safety monitors to the mine hoist industry, and is further developing ABB AbilityTM for mine hoists – cloud based digital platforms that collect massive amounts of data on equipment operation. We are working on various digital platforms that allow us to analyse that data and give operators better information about how the Rely on Richwood Load Zones. Worry-Free by Design. Clean-up costs, lost product, safety and environmental issues are a real risk to productivity. With a Richwood designed load zone, this application is saving 40 hours of clean-up and close to $19k in components every month. What would it mean for your productivity if loading and spillage issues were eliminated? Contact Richwood today for your free on-site evaluation. www.richwood.com hoist is operating which in turn allows them to further optimise the process within the rest of their ore-hauling system.” At De Beers Group’s Venetia underground diamond mining project, through a complete value engineering exercise, by selecting motors and drive equipment that is common between the friction hoists and the double drum hoist, ABB was able to economise on the spares and equipment used on the hoists realising a Worry-Free Load Zones The ABB delivery for Kittila gold mine in Finland includes one friction type production hoist with 2.5 MW of motor power as well as a 1.2 MW single drum personnel hoist BEFORE AFTER [phone] | [phone] | [email protected] ©Richwood2019 AUGUST 2019 | International Mining 13