Dependable Process Automation Systems
Extracting gold from ore requires a dependable process automation system. Frequent maintenance and the inability to find parts for an outdated Bailey DCS control system threatened to halt mill production at our client’s Kettle River-Buckhorn mining project.
Operation managers at Kinross Gold Corporation felt the vulnerability that comes with using an aging system and its subsequent degrading, but upgrading everything from the termination to the wiring to the main hardware—in the middle of the project—wasn’t an option. That’s when they contacted Western States Controls.
Migration solution to DCS
After carefully assessing the current infrastructure, our team of expert engineers designed an efficient and cost-effective migration solution to Foxboro A/I DCS. Manufactured by Schneider Electric to be a form-fit replacement for legacy Bailey I/O modules, the Foxboro system allowed us to use the existing cabinets, racks, and process wiring, saving substantial downtime and installation costs. We added new network connectors, A/I Series controllers and workstations; and converted the Bailey CAD logic to AI function block logic. The migration took hours instead of days or weeks. Additionally, we installed a FreeWave Radios for remote communication between Foxboro I/A and Foxboro A2 Eurotherm, a smaller system at one of their remote locations.
Improved efficiency and safety
Foxboro A/I is scalable and customizable, designed to safeguard Kinross’s future asset investments as well as optimize their current investments; and it easily interfaces with other systems. The Kettle-River-Buckhorn migration improved the efficiency and safety of the ore processing as well as the speed of communications between locations.
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