Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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achievement by supplying an innovative, tailored total control package. Armed with extensive experience on similar mining projects, IMI Precision Engineering was confident it could provide a solution that would be both more cost effective and more efficient than what was required by the original specifications from Lycopodium, B2Gold's EPCM. A subsidiary of the engineering group IMI PLC, IMI Precision Engineering has a sales and service network that extends throughout 75 countries, technical centers in the USA, Germany, U.K. and China, and manufacturing facilities around the world. "Lycopodium encouraged us to submit a bid because we had supplied a very suc- cessful package for them on a previous project," said Gavin Snoxall, IMI Precision Engineering sales director for Australia. "We thought we could improve the design and lower the cost compared to the original specification." Lycopodium and B2Gold accepted the separate control panel and air component supply-only bid because it met and exceeded their requirements while saving money and eliminating the need for multiple component suppliers. Ultimately, IMI Precision Engineering supplied actuators to operate pneumatic launder and diverter gates, as well as approximately 40 control panels. These control panels provide centralized opera- tion for launder gates, diverter gates, and a series of localized control valves across Otjikoto's beneficiation plant to control the flow of slurry and other solutions used to separate the mine's gold from crushed ore. The centralized control panel packages are integrated into the plant's master digi- tal control system. If any component fails anywhere within the plant the problem is indicated by an electrical signal in the con- trol loop—in this case a fault alarm will be indicated in the control room. Controlling localized valve functions from several centralized locations also means maintenance and issue resolution can take place centrally, saving the mine time and therefore money. Because the panels contain no high voltage components, many parts can be adjusted by hand or a screwdriver. The "plug-and-play" design meant B2Gold could connect the unit to existing equipment without tools, and the units are easy to click on and off of their mounts. In addition, the cabinets that house the con- trol panel components are stainless steel and weatherproof. The units have been trouble-free follow- ing installation. "The panels have per- formed to expectation with not a single issue throughout startup and operation," according to Wayne Johansen, instrumen- tation superintendent for B2Gold Corp. DECEMBER 2015 • E&MJ; 67 www.e-mj.com C O N T R O L S & S E N S O R S weirminerals.com trioproducts.com Minerals Building Complete Solutions. Maximizing Process Effciency . Inside the cabinets, connections are low-voltage and safely adjustable by employees using simple tools.