Company takes GBP 6.5 million export order

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 22, 2007

Davy Markham has signed a contract with CVRD for a dual-purpose, double drum 5m diameter mine hoist, which will be used for skipping and personnel handling duties.

Sheffield heavy engineering specialist, Davy Markham has secured an important GBP 6.5 million export order from leading Canadian mining and refining company, CVRD Inco, the world's largest nickel producer.

The contract is for a dual-purpose, double drum 5m diameter mine hoist, which will be used for skipping and personnel handling duties at the newly-reopened Totten #2 shaft, on the edge of the Sudbury Basin in Northern Ontario, the largest concentration of nickel-copper bearing minerals in the world.

Nickel is in increasing global demand, as a key component in the production of stainless steel and rechargeable batteries for hybrid electrical vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, and CVRD Inco commands some 20% of global sales.

The CVRD Inco order is for the design, manufacture, supply to site and commissioning of the double drum, single clutch hoist, complete with all electrical controls and drives, which are being sub-contracted by DavyMarkham to power and automation group ABB in Montreal.

Capable of handling payloads up to 16,329kg, at speeds of 40km/h and hoisting distances down to 1262m, it will be operated initially in single-line mode for skip hoisting duties throughout the shaft sinking stage, then converted to normal double-drum configuration for transporting personnel during production.

Powered by a directly connected 2983kW motor, it meets the latest Ontario and Canadian HandS standards for mining plant and is designed with replaceable drum shells, plate liners and rope risers, enabling it to be re-used in a deeper shaft should the need arise.

Canada is the world's second largest nickel producer and some two-thirds of its total output comes from ore deposits in Sudbury, some 400km north of Toronto, from a large body of igneous rock believed to be the product of a meteorite impact.

CVRD Inco, formerly INCO, has been operating in Sudbury since 1902 and its mining and refining operations there, consisting of six underground mines, a mill, smelter and refinery, are now amongst the largest in the world.

The Totten mine is located to the south west of Sudbury and mining activities originally ceased in the 1970s, although a recent feasibility study indicated a strong exploitable nickel concentration in adjacent areas, with inferred reserves estimated at nine million tonnes.

DavyMarkham is one of the world's leading suppliers of mine hoists and associated equipment and its market history dates back more than a hundred years, a fact commemorated by a steel mining structure at the entrance to its Prince of Wales Road headquarters.

The company has a strong track record of work in Canada, including a number of major turnkey projects, and has extensive experience of commissioning mining plant in Sudbury, where winter temperatures can fall as low as -30C.

The latest CVRD Inco double drum hoist will feature a one-piece forged alloy steel shaft supported on three self-aligning roller bearings, equipped with an oil lubrication system.

It will be fitted with brake operating systems capable of three consecutive full-speed, fully loaded emergency stops without encountering any deterioration in the stopping effort.

The hoist is scheduled for delivery early next year.