Västerås, Sweden, December 13, 2002 – ABB, the global power and automation technology group, announced today that it has received an order to revamp the ore hoist in the Vitåfors East Subvertical Shaft of LKAB’s Malmberget iron ore mine. In addition, ABB has an option to revamp the identical ore hoist in the Vitåfors West Subvertical Shaft in the next two to four years.
The order includes a new power supply, thyristor converters, control system and an AHM 110 Hoist Monitor. In addition, ABB is responsible for the engineering, installation and commissioning of the upgraded mine hoist. The revamp is scheduled to take place over a shutdown period of ten days in May 2003.
“This is a complex project with a very short time for the revamp of the ore hoist supplied earlier by ABB,” says Kjell Carlsten, Regional Sales Manager, Mining, ABB Industries AB. “The customer decided to continue its co-operation with ABB to ensure that full production will be reached after the very short downtime. ABB also has extensive experience of such mine hoist revamp projects extending over many years. With its process and engineering know-how and the ability to execute complex revamp projects in the shortest possible time, ABB is giving the customer added value.”
ABB originally supplied both these 4-rope friction hoists with skips in balance in the late 1950s.
Mining at LKAB’s Malmberget Iron Ore Mine, located in Gällivare, 120 km from Kiruna, started in 1892. Annual production is about 12 million tonnes of run-of-mine ore, mainly magnetite, which is upgraded to pellets and sinter fines. LKAB has taken into use a new haulage level at a depth of 1,000 meters. After crushing to –150 mm, the ore is transported on conveyors to the existing hoisting system on the 815-meter level.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impacts. The ABB Group of companies operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 146,000 people.
For more information, please contact:
kjell.g.carlsten@se.abb.com