ABB equipment set for Kittilä gold mine in Finland

7th September 2018 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

The Kittilä mine has invested in multinational corporation ABB’s production and personnel hoists, and these are set to be installed and introduced at the mine during 2020/21

The ABB delivery includes one friction type production hoist with 2.5 MW of motor power and a 1.2 MW single drum personnel hoist. These are the first hoists in the Kittilä gold mine.

The delivery is part of the $186-million expansion investment in the Kittilä mine by mining company Agnico Eagle Finland, which started in the spring of 2018.

A shaft over a kilometre deep will be built at the mine, from which ore will be lifted with hoisting equipment supplied by ABB. The shaft will make it possible to use the deeper parts of the gold deposit in an economically viable way.

This will also improve the energy efficiency of the mine and reduce the use of fossil fuels, as it will replace the truck and off-road vehicle transport of ore and personnel. The processing capacity of the mine's concentrating plant will increase from the current 1.6-million tonnes to 2.0-million tonnes a year.

ABB will also deliver online remote support services for real-time hoist condition monitoring through ABB Ability.

Kittilä, located in the far north of Finland, is the largest gold mine in Europe.  The  mine already uses a varied range of ABB technology, including motors, an automation system, frequency converters and instruments.