ABB wins Escondida service contract

Panorama

Publishing Date: 09 Jul 2009 9:22am GMT
Author: Mining Magazine

Crushing & Conveying

ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, has announced that it has won a five-year contract with BHP’s Minera Escondida mine to manage maintenance and increase productivity at the operation. Located in northern Chile, Escondida is the worlds’ largest copper mine, producing 1.2Mt of fine copper in 2008, nearly 8% of the world’s total copper production.

ABB will provide performance based maintenance services for the five crushing plants at the mine, as well as the 25km conveying system that transports copper to the processing plants. The services include management of all maintenance activities, as well as continuous improvement programs to increase overall process efficiency and improve the reliability and availability of all production equipment. The agreement involves 87 people and commenced on May 1, 2009.

“This contract highlights how ABB’s innovative approach to performance based services, combined with our industry expertise and commitment to helping our customers achieve their targets, provides a win-win situation for all parties,” commented Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB’s Process Automation division.