Ok Tedi Mining Limited recently completed the refurbishment of its filter units at its Kiunga Operations as part of its Plant Asset Renewal (PAR) Program.
The PAR program is a progressive replacement and refurbishment program of the processing, dewatering and ship loading facilities which are over 35 years’ old posing a high safety and business interruption risk. The program will cost approximately US$240 million and will be implemented over the next 2 years.
The filter units located at the Kiunga Operations site are a critical part of the production process, and its purpose is to dewater the copper concentrate slurry and produce material that does not exceed the safe moisture level limit for shipping.
The project included a major overhaul of the two vertical pressure filter units installed in 2006 and an upgrade of the Control System.
Kiunga Operations Manager, Dexter Wagambie said, “We were having plant reliability issues since the filter units were aging and the refurbishment project was timely.”
Mr Wagambie said immediate results were visible since the completion of the refurbishment.
“These units are designed at 125 tons per hour with more than 24 hours’ slurry and no downtime. The units can produce 2,850 tons per day (tpd). Prior to the overhaul we were averaging 2,152 tpd.”
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