$5.9m project to boost Pilbara iron mining

ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, has been awarded a $5.9 million substation upgrade contract by Hamersley Iron.

The substation is located at the Paraburdoo iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The upgrade will enable a new gas turbine to be connected to the existing power grid.

The substation upgrade is part of Rio Tinto’s Power System Upgrade Project, designed to progressively add new generating capacity to provide for the various mine expansion projects within the region.

The substation project involves upgrading the existing outdoor 33 kV air-insulated switchgear (AIS) with more reliable indoor Zx1.2 gas insulated switchgear (GIS).

“The upgrade will be a rationalisation of the existing 33 kV switchgear where ABB will be replacing all existing outdoor switchgear with new gas-insulated indoor switchgear. The adoption of this new technology will increase operator safety and reduce the number and frequency of maintenance-related outages,” says Rory McDonald, ABB substation manager.

The 33 kV substation with gas-insulated switchgear will interconnect a new gas turbine into Hamersley Iron’s existing power transmission grid — increasing power generation capacity and boosting production capacity at Rio Tinto’s Pilbara mine sites.

The project is to be completed by the end of January 2009.