Northern Mining upgrades equipment at ore dressing plants No. 1-2

Metinvest Group’s Northern Mining and Processing Plant (Northern Mining) has completed the planned work at its ore dressing plants (ROF) No. 1 and 2 and slurry pumping station No. 1 during a three-day annual shutdown. It is reported by Metinvest.Media.

“We have started the planned shutdown of the slurry pumping station of the technical water supply and sludge management shop for repair. The main tasks include the replacement, repair, inspection and maintenance of pumping equipment, valves, water supply pipelines, etc.”, the statement said.

The main goal of the planned shutdown is to stabilize the operation of technical water supply systems. Particular attention is being paid to the equipment involved in this process, as its replacement is possible only if the processing complex – ROF No. 1, 2 and PCP No. 1 – is completely shut down. The plant’s specialists have diagnosed all the equipment in advance and identified what needs to be restored. To ensure efficient operation of the equipment, they planned the required amount of repairs to avoid further emergency downtime.

The most important stage of the repair work for ROF No. 1 was the replacement of two gate valves, which are pipeline valves used to shut off water flow in the mains.

“These valves have already served their useful life, so we dismantled them and installed new ones – smaller and more modern and functional. At the same time, we installed new valves in six process sections. This is necessary to ensure that water supply to them can be cut off in case of planned or unplanned shutdowns,” commented Oleksandr Golovko, Deputy Head of ROF No. 1 for Engineering.

During the shutdown, employees at ROF No. 2 also worked efficiently. Here, they replaced sections of the pipeline and the valve of water supply system No. 7, as well as sections of the pipeline leading to vacuum filters. They also replaced the hydraulic discharge pipeline, valves of the six-jet pulverizer and shut-off valves of the pump room.

The specialists also repaired components and equipment at slurry pumping station No. 1. Nine bottom valves and a rotary gate valve at the stationary pumping station were replaced, and the water supply system was restored.

After the scheduled three-day repairs, the equipment was launched on time.

Earlier, Northern Mining and Processing Plant allocated UAH 17 million to upgrade the LURGI 552A roasting machine in the pelletizing shop No. 2. In early October, the updated unit was put into operation after a quarterly overhaul.