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COVER STORY
20
MODERN MINING
May 2015
T
he Husab project, located about
50 km to the east of Swakopmund,
is regarded as the most important
uranium discovery of recent years
and will elevate Namibia to the
third biggest uranium producer in the world.
First production is expected towards the end
of 2015.
The solution comes in the form of two
Cat C175 diesel engine motivators designed
specifically to power up the three 7495 electric
rope shovels supplied by Cat mining equip-
ment dealer Barloworld Equipment and move
them between pits. The motivators were cus-
tom built and packaged by Barloworld Power
in Boksburg for the specific application and are
the largest single units ever assembled by Barlo
world Power’s Customised Solution Centre.
“In 2012 Barloworld Power received an
enquiry to manufacture and assemble two
3 000 kVA, 6,6 kV trailer-mounted generator
sets to power up the new Cat 7495 electric rope
shovels and Cat MD6640 rotary drills that were
being supplied to Husab,” explains project
manager Andrew Richardt.
“The power requirement to start up the
rope shovel in order to move it is more than
4 000 kVA. This means two motivators are
needed running in parallel to perform the
start-up. Once the shovel is running, however,
one of the motivators can be shut down and
the shovel can be walked to its new location
powered by a single unit.”
The generator model selected for this solu-
tion was the Cat C175-16 rated for 3 000 kVA,
Customised solution
to power up
Centre:
One of the
motivators leaves
Barloworld Power’s
Boksburg facility bound
for Husab uraniummine in
Namibia.
Barloworld Power has designed and assembled a
customised start-up solution for Cat electric rope shovels
and Cat electric rotary drills supplied by Barloworld
Namibia to Swakop Uranium’s Husab mine in Namibia.
The Cat C175 diesel engine motivator in the foreground was designed and built by Barloworld Power to power up the Cat 7495 electric rope shovel in the
background for movement around the mine.