SEW-Eurodrive has supplied a comprehensive drive package to a major Greenfield copper mining project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The package comprised nine drives in total, of which the five main 500 kW ones weighed 12 t each. The remaining four consisted of two 90 kW drives on the decline sacrificial conveyor, and two 30 kW drives on the tip-truck sacrificial conveyor.
Working through a local project house with which it has a longstanding relationship, SEW-Eurodrive received the initial inquiry in August 2018. Project sales representative, Thato Sookane explains that the final units were delivered to site in September 2019, followed by installation and commissioning.
Due to the hot and humid conditions near Kolwezi, the drives had to be installed with thermal sensors to monitor the input and output bearing temperature, and the oil sump temperature. This was to ensure optimal performance at all times. Positioning sensors were also installed, in addition to cooling units due to the size of the drives, and sun covers to protect the surface of the drives from the worst of the harsh sunlight.
The fact that this is an underground copper mine means that decline conveyors are integral to removing the ore. SEW-Eurodrive has collaborated with the project house since the beginning of the project, ensuring that all of its specific requirements for this particular application were met and incorporated in the final design.
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