ABB to supply gearless mill drive to Minera Escondida

October 12, 2010 - ABB will supply a gearless mill drive (GMD) system to Minera Escondida. The contract was awarded in June 2010 and equipment deliveries are scheduled for May 2011.

ABB's deliveries will comprise an entire 15,7 megawatt GMD system for a 26 feet ball mill, including transformers, ring motor and a complete electrical room entirely equipped. These types of drives allow the mill to start smoothly, without any mechanical stress and fulfill the customer s requirements for flexibility and adjustability to the process, enabling maximum control over the grinding process.

As of October 2002 four ABB GMD systems operate at Escondida's site. The recently awarded system will be the fifth GMD system installed at the Laguna Seca concentrator, at an altitude of 3200 meters above sea level.

Cristian Riquelme, Technical & Commercial Responsible for Large Drives Systems at ABB in Chile, stated: "Gearless mill drive systems feature numerous benefits offering superior reliability, increased process availability, extended life span and highest energy efficiency. ABB has the widest experience on this technology." In 1969, ABB commissioned the world's first gearless machine drive, which is still operating at the Ciment Lamberg-Lafarge cement plant in Le Havre, France.

ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people.