Innovative power system brings Black Rock Cave weighbridge online

The Black Rock Operations and Electrical Engineering teams have collaborated to bring the new weighbridge online at Black Rock Cave, achieving operational, economic and environmental improvements.

Weighbridges can handle high volumes of material, are extremely durable to withstand tough mining conditions, and can efficiently weigh thousands of tonnes per day. They also improve worksite safety as our truck drivers don’t need to leave the vehicle and can instead remain inside the cabin as the truck and its contents are weighed.

Lack of electrical infrastructure at the site presented a challenge in establishing the new weighbridge, requiring an alternative power source to be identified and connected before the weighbridge could be commissioned.

To minimise associated delays, the Electrical Engineering and Black Rock Operations teams coordinated to design and install a portable direct-current (DC) power system under short timeframes to get the weighbridge operating as soon as possible.

The new system is an off-grid power supply using solar energy to operate the weighbridge 24 hours a day.

The alternative solution was to permanently install distribution power lines, a transformer and a distribution board which would have been significantly more expensive, complex and time consuming.

Electrical Engineer, Andrea Fakos, says this new power system means the business can begin to collect weight data on the Black Rock ore immediately.

“Ensuring a reliable power source was available to the weighbridge within a tight time frame allowed us to minimise any further delays the operations teams may have experienced when relying on accurate weight data to inform their production numbers.”

“Additionally, the new standalone power system is not a permanent structure, meaning once the Black Rock Cave project is finished, the system can be relocated elsewhere onsite to supply power to another piece of equipment,” Andrea says.

“This is a considerable cost saving for the business, as we have eliminated the startup costs associated with constructing a permanent electrical power source each time a piece of equipment requires power.”

“Instead, portable DC solar power systems can be used across our operations as required.”

“The system also has remote monitoring which means we are able to monitor the power supply from elsewhere on site. We can minimise outages and anticipate any failures, helping to reduce production delays for the Black Rock Cave operations.”

“Being solar energy, it also protects the environment by minimising our emissions,” Andrea says.