Jwaneng Diamond Mine in Botswana has awarded Citect Professional Services a R5.2 million contract to upgrade its Recrush plant control system.
By value, Jwaneng is the richest diamond mine in the world, producing up to 15 million carats of diamonds per year.
The project involves the replacement of 18 A-Series Mitsubishi PLCs with the new System Q Mitsubishi PLCs. Citect will also deliver the upgrade of the CitectSCADA system to the latest version. All PLC software will be programmed to new standards, which will allow for better maintainability, diagnostic and control functionality.
To ensure that no downtime occurs during PLC hardware changeovers, the implementation will be scheduled during the mine's maintenance shutdowns.
Citect's Professional Services has a successful track record in deploying PLC and SCADA systems in limited downtime periods. Their expertise enables them to determine the exact amount of hardware that can be changed over during the short maintenance period while ensuring enough time remains to commission the specific PLC program before the plant start-up commences again.
The motivation for the control system upgrade at the plant includes replacement of hardware that is becoming obsolete, and that the original design exceeds 10 years and the spare I/O and memory capacity originally provided has almost been exhausted through plant enhancements and extensions.
This project will provide an opportunity to replicate and where possible, enhance all the functional capabilities of the existing control systems.
Jwaneng selected Citect as a result of their experience and successful track record in Mitsubishi PLC implementations, as well as the ability to deploy complete automation solutions without incurring downtime.
"This project is an example of what can be achieved when a close partnership exists between supplier and client. Jwaneng Mine has been a key account for Professional Services for the last five years and we are proud to be part of this project. Our team is committed to provide a modern control system that will last throughout the plant's life cycle," says Danie Badenhorst, Professional Services Director, Citect Africa.
Citect Professional Services is a division of Citect SA that provides business consulting, engineering design and business process improvement and technology implementation services. It delivers full functional solutions from inception, through implementation to the achievement of business goals and objectives.
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