ABB drive systems boost production at Canada’s Red Chris gold and copper mine – Mining.com
June 9, 2015
ABB, the 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 northwestern Canada to optimize the project’s grinding process and boost ore throughput.
ABB’s 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 Vancouver, B.C.-based 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 metric tons per day 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 percent 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.”
