Khumani Sishen BASF, Sanders USA HVAC,Pamodzi Shaft 3 Black Rock Mining
  Operations Laezonia Quarry Lubumbashi
Overview Team Brochures
Case Study on Sishen Project
Client:
 Murray & Robberts - Bateman they worked together in a joint venture project to do the engineering, procurement and construction management for the Sishen Expansion Project (SEP). This is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world and is well known for its high grade and consistent product quality.
Plant:
 Kumba Iron Ore, more in particular, the Sishen Expansion Project
Location:
 Kathu, Northern Cape
Duration:
 Two years

 

Introduction:

IRITRON built the control systems for a complete new iron ore crushing & beneficiation facility, doubling the size of the existing mine. This included control systems to operate feed bunkers, hoppers, washing and screening (sieves), slimes, thickeners, dewatering, process water, taster systems and product beds.

What was our brief for this project?

A brief overview was given to IRITRON by the client and it was up to IRITRON to ensure a feasible working solution. A Siemens S7400 PLC was used with 9000 I/O and over 35 000 SCADA tags were used to build the systems. An inherited historian was reconfigured, and the scope included redundant Application Object Servers (AOS) and trending capabilities.

Which solution did we propose?

IRITRON used ArchestrA 2.1 for the objects platform and InTouch 9.5 for SCADA (Supervisory Control, Analysis and Data Acquisition) and added to this a total of ten viewing nodes. We also used Topserver as the communication link between the servers and the S7-400 Siemens PLC to improve the communication speed.

What value did we add for the client?

IRITRON installed a state of the art automation system for the Sishen Expansion Project.

What was special about this project?

The immense pressure the team had to work under.

Which team did this project within IRITRON?

Allen Heyneke – Profibus design, simocode programming, PLC programming
Carlo Zeelie – PLC programming
Chris Faurie – Instrumentation design
Nico Croeser – SCADA and Archestra Design
Rheinhardt Peens – PLC programming and Archestra Design

  

Who was the Team Leader?

Chris Faurie

What was new or fun to do in this project?

This was the first InTouch installation using ArchestrA by Kumba Resources and it set a benchmark for the development of other plants, like that of Sishen South. IRITRON installed this state of the art technology successfully. The installation also included wireless communication, Profibus and Siemens applications.

Where did the challenge lie?

The biggest challenge lay in the co-ordination and control of the massive amount of data coming from the plant that had to be logged and transferred. The response time was very short (2 seconds) for it to be available to the operators of the plant to control it. Added to this was the challenge of the huge amount of instruments that were present in the plant and the automation of all of these devices.

Developing the standards for such a massive operation to the client’s satisfaction was a huge challenge due to the many different types of equipment involved on such a project. It was also exciting to make this new technology work in an environment of some of the largest crushers in the world and for a brand new Jig Plant being built for the Sishen Expansion Project.

Nico Croeser, Allen Heynecke, Rheinhardt Peens, Chris Faurie and Carlo Zeelie