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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS
FEBRUARY 2015
20
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,
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-
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.
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