Mexican Installation Latest for VDV Leaky Feeder
Mine Site Technologies (MST) has been providing communication systems to underground mines for 14 years. One of our core technologies is the VDV Leaky Feeder Radio system, which has been installed in over sixty mines, mostly in Australia, particularly Western Australia from our Kalgoorlie office.
The release of the latest version of VDV, utilizing the Infinity Series Amplifiers (see picture below), has been used as a jumping board to international installations. Recent installations have occurred in Canada (Kidd Creek & Snap Lake), USA (Barrick Goldstrike), Chile (Punta El Cobre) and Mexico (Fresnillo). These installations have been mostly managed from MST’s Sudbury office in Canada, with support of local distributors.
We have just completed our first Mexican leaky feeder installation. It was technically interesting, as it is one of the larger systems installed recently, and was the first to use our new remote diagnostics package and video transmission system. The Mexican project was for the upgrade, extension and segmented replacement of the existing underground communication system at Penoles’ flagship silver mine, Fresnillo. It was a very satsfying installation, following a very competitive tender process.
The project is the first leaky feeder installation to use our new Infinity web diagnostics system, developed in conjunction with the Infinity broadband amplifier. This system allows the mine to diagnose faults on the system from any PC on the mines LAN.
The video portion of the system relies on the Infinity Series Amplifiers advanced bandpass amplifier to enhance security quality images from the most remote areas of the mine, and monitors the crushers and transportation systems to ensure there are no delays in productivity.
The 4 channels of video are strategically placed along a single section of the leaky feeder infrastructure which required the latest Infinity Amplifier to be able to handle multiple voice channels, real time multiple video, full remote diagnostics, AGC and remain in the power consumption window quoted. The system currently deploys 85 Infinity Amplifiers and associated peripherals.
The system also had to incorporate several levels in the mine that were still operating old El-Equip amplifiers for simple voice applications. The interface into these sub-systems had to accommodate the lower power (DC voltage) requirements of the old system, whilst sustaining the full 32 Volts of power to the MST VDV Infinity lines.
We acknowledge, and are grateful for, the support of the Fresnillo engineers in selecting VDV and of our local representative, Topo Machinery, in securing such a good client.