Mipac recently replaced the control system for the thickeners and hyperbaric filter (HBF) plant at Xstrata Mount Isa Mines’s copper operation ahead of schedule and under budget.
Mipac carried out detailed electrical engineering design, supplied specified design deliverables and converted and factory tested the DCS application software so it was ready to be installed in the new control system. Mipac also designed how the new system should be integrated and cutover, as well as configuration.
Obsolete Yokogawa MicroXL DCS and PLC systems were replaced with latest-generation Yokogawa CS3000 DCS equipment, utilising PC-based operator interfaces.
“The project did have its challenges,” Mipac Operations Manager Don Robinson says. “It was a brownfield site, several stages made consistent resourcing difficult and there were tight shutdown schedules but everyone at Mipac showed a very high degree of ownership of their roles and a real commitment to bring the project to a successful completion.”
Xstrata’s Tom Puusaari recently expressed his appreciation to Mipac in an email:
“The design work led by David Wilson, the installation work supervised by John Gowlett, and the on site commissioning anchored by Dave and George Wood enabled Major Projects to deliver this project on time under budget and without incident. The resourcing of this project was spot on.
“The difficulty in carrying out the staged brownfield installation and commissioning while the rest of the plant was operating, and having the detailed design in place to support this, should not be underestimated.”
