ABB wins $18 million Australian mining order

ABB will provide an $18 million worth of electrical and automation system for six underground mine incline conveyors in southeastern Australia.

Once completed in 2013, the Newcrest Mining’s Cadia East gold and copper project will be Australia’s largest underground mine.

Newcrest is a leading international gold company and one of the world's lowest cost gold producers. The company is Australia's largest gold producer and a global top 10 gold mining company.

ABB’s scope of supply for the project includes a state-of-the-art conveyor control system that will optimize the overall performance, reliability, energy efficiency, and operational flexibility of the conveyor system over its lifetime. ABB will design, engineer and supply a full electrical solution with modular switchrooms, transformers, 33 kV ring main units, water chiller systems, motor control centers and mine conveyor control program to manage ABB’s ACS 6000 multi-drives and motors. Delivery is scheduled for the first quarter of 2011.

“ABB’s global engineering resources and mining industry expertise, combined with our proven technology, provide a technically robust and energy efficient system that will optimize performance over the entire productive life of this mine,” said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB’s Process Automation division.

The Cadia East orebody is one of the world's largest gold deposits, comprising a total mineral resource of 2,347 million tonnes containing 33.2 million ounces of gold and 6.59 million tonnes of copper. The mine is expected to be in operation for at least 30 years.