Scada Replace Dcs-control Mag 04 2005

MC Limited began as a gold exploration, mining and management company in Western Australia in 1933. Since the 1950s the company has diver- sified and expanded to become a significant pro- ducer and exporter of processed minerals and metals. WMC began exploring southern Australia for copper in 1961. In 1977 drilling revealed a large prospective ore deposit located in the Stuart Shelf geological province at Olympic Dam (Figure 1). Mineral reserves are now known to be 11.4 Mt of copper, 0.34 Mt of uranium (as uranium oxide), 400 tons of gold and 2,790 tons of silver. Between 1988 and 1995 production rates increased signifi- cantly and continue to increase. With increased production, came a need for further expansion which will be executed in two phases. The first increases the production rate from 85,000 tpa copper to 150,000 tpa with capacity for 200,000 tpa, and the second increasing overall production to 350,000 tpa. A copper production rate of 200,000 tpa will yield average production of approximately 4,630 tpa of uranium oxide, 2,050 kgpa gold and 23,000 kgpa silver. Future expansion may generate production rates of 350,000 tpa copper, 7,730 tpa uranium oxide, 3,630 kgpa gold and 49,600 kgpa silver. Expanded Mining Operations While underground mining operations remain mostly unal- tered, an extensive new plant maximizes the mine’s ore extraction capabilities. The metallurgical plant features a new ore stockpile, a new autogenous mill, and additional flotation cells in the copper concentrator section. The hydrometallurgical plant expansion includes the tailings leach area and the copper-uranium solvent extraction area. A new smelter complex has a nominal capacity of 180,000 tpa copper, while an associated acid plant has a capacity of 1,640 tpd sulfuric acid. The copper refinery has been expanded to a nominal capacity of 179,000 tpa electro refined copper and 23,750 tpa electrowon copper. In addition, a new gold and silver refinery has been constructed. OEP Establishes Requirements To manage the expansion, WMC appointed an Olympic Expansion Project (OEP) team made up of WMC consult- ants and contractors. The OEP team sought an open solution to their control system needs. The original facilities were controlled by an ABB Mod300 DCS system using proprietary hardware and software. The new facilities will have more than 400,000 real-time PLC variables, 40,000 physical I/O points and 20,000 serial I/O points. The new controls will use an open, non-proprietary system that can be easily maintained and expanded in the future. In addition to the technical requirements, OEP wanted a partnership approach to the management and development of the system. Citect and Allen-Bradley offered OEP a com- bined solution using Allen-Bradley plant floor controllers (PLCs), the Citect SCADA package and a Microsoft SQL ser- ver. Ethernet was selected as the best communication method as the open, non-proprietary platform allowed a multitude of vendor hardware to be supported across the site. This new control system was chosen following a comprehensive analy- sis based on the technical solution offered, cost effectiveness and Citect and Allen-Bradley’s partnering abilities. Citect engineered the project over 18 months, with a manning level of 42 engineers at its peak. Project teams cor- responded to designated process areas including: smelter, hydromet, concentrator, refinery, mine, auxiliaries, infra- structure and existing plant upgrade. A separate team addressed the development of project standards and documentation pertaining to the control system. Development tools provided by Citect allowed a single development database for SCADA configuration, PLC pro- gramming, and much of the documentation, which greatly minimizing the engineering effort. PROPRIETARY DCS SCADA SYSTEM REPLACES AGING, PROPRIETARY DCS More Than 450,000 Real-Time Variables From PLCs, Physical I/O Points and Serial I/O Points Provide Detailed “Information Anywhere” By Duncan Dodds, Project Manager , Western Mining, Olympic Dam, Australia W 60 A P R IL / 2 0 05 w w w.c o nt r ol g loba l .c o m FIGURE 1. OLYMPIC DAM MINE WMC’s Olympic Dam facility has been through several expansion phases, the latest of which employs Citect’s SCADA software to replacing an aging DCS.

Scada Replace Dcs-control Mag 04 2005

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