Capital Equipment News February 2015

Hytec Services Africa installs FLUID DISPENSING SYSTEM FOR REMOTE TANZANIAN MINE

H ytec Services Africa (HSA), a Hytec Group company, recently completed the supply and installation of a lube and coolant dispensing system at African Barrick Gold’s North Mara Gold Mine, locat- ed in a remote corner of northern Tanzania. The dispensing system enables more re- sponsive, immediate and efficient servicing and maintenance capabilities for the mine’s heavy mobile material handling fleets, com- prising haul trucks, graders, loaders and shovels. The maintenance of heavy mobile equipment in operation at North Mara Gold Mine was pre- viously constrained by the significant distance between the main equipment workshops and the remote workshop located at an open cast pit. A more automated dispensing system, to facilitate faster fluid ‘top ups’, was required for a more effective operation, for which HSA was contracted. The system covers the complete fluid man- agement and distribution process, from the bulk offloading of fluids from tankers into 20 000 ℓ holding tanks (coolant and trans- mission oil are stored in 1 000 ℓ tanks), as well as the steel pipe infrastructure for trans- fer into remote hose reels, from where ma- chine services can be carried out. The dispensing system consists of seven steel dispensing lines dedicated for engine oil, transmission oil, two variants of hydraulic oil,

rials, equipment and personnel to the site. The remoteness of the North Mara site, located near the Kenyan border, required three days’ travelling to reach from South Africa, present- ing numerous logistical hurdles to contrac- tors, and requiring meticulous planning in the assembly of components, pipework and tool loads for transport to the site. Components for the project were supplied by several Hytec Group companies, including Hydraulics & Automation Warehouse, Hytec Fluid Technology and Tectra Automation, while Hytec’s drafting, project and work-shopping services provided integral project engineering functions. b

coolant, compressed air, as well as a waste oil pipe for the safe removal of used oil from the site. Grease points were also provided. Each oil and coolant flow is filtered through Bosch Rexroth duplex filters, while the bulk tanks are protected with Hy-Pro desiccant breathers. HSA, together with Hytec, executed the design and layout of the entire dispensing system. All the stands for the bulk offloading pumps, filter stands, waste oil pumps as well as the cabi- nets for hose reels were designed and built by Hytec. Hytec’s Installation and Servicing de- partments were involved in the pre-assembly of pipework in South Africa, as well as its final installation on site. HSA coordinated the proj- ect, including the logistics of delivering mate-

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