PED System for Barrick Mine in Tanzania
Barrick is installing a PED System at their Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in Tanzania. Engineers at Buyanhulu have been evaluating the PED and BlastPED System for some time to improve the efficiency of their blasting operations. As part of this review the use of the PED Transmission System to provide remote switching of fans via ControlPEDs was also assessed.
Hence it has turned out that the initial installation is based on using ControlPEDs for fan control. The resultant energy savings give the mine a payback in a matter of months. The initial system consists of:
- A single PED Transmission Headend.
- 2,800 m (9,000 ft) underground antenna to provide complete signal coverage throughout this very large mine.
- 55 ControlPED Receivers to interface to fans throughout the underground levels.
Due to the high cost of electricity the ability to remotely control fans was identified as having major cost saving potential. Analysis of various remote control methods then identified ControlPEDs as the most cost effective method to reliably achieve the required remote control.
Additionally, with the PED transmission infrastructure installed for the ControlPEDs, the extension into remote blast initiation using BlastPED is simply and matter of adding BlastPED Receiver/Exploders to the system over time. The option for personal communications via the PED receivers, to complement other personal communication systems already in use at the mine, is also available as required.
A similar use of the PED System at a number of other Barrick operations gave addtional confidence in the proposed solution. An example being Barrick's Eskay Creek Gold Mine in Canada, where both BlastPEDs and ControlPEDs have been in use for the last three years.
Once again we are appreciative to Barrick for their continued support of our underground communication solutions, and are confident of the cost and safety benefits they will continue to receive from their implementation of MST technologies.