Ivanhoe’s Kipushi zinc mine in the DRC officially reopens
The restart marked exactly a century since the mine first went into production.
SRA Corporation is focused on the development of its zinc projects in the state of Tennessee. SRA’s goal to become a major zinc producer through re-opening the Mid-Tennessee Zinc Mines is coming to fruition as production is now underway.
As part of this re-development SRA management and their operating contractor, Dynatec Mining Corp, identified the need to improve communications at their underground mines. The mining complex comprises a number of mines with the Gordonsville Mine being the first to upgrade their communications by installing a VDV Leaky Feeder radio System.
The basic justification was to implement an underground communication system to allow better management of the people and equipment in the mine. The leaky feeder radio system was a logical choice to begin this communication upgrade at the mine.
The Gordonsville mine has over 400 miles of underground drift, so the initial VDV Leaky Feeder installation covers 28 kilometers (17 miles) of underground travel way utilizing multiple head ends tied together via fiber link. Currently they are running 80 amplifiers and 10 stope antennas, with more line amplifiers and coaxial antenna cable being rolled out over the next year to extend they system into more areas of the mine.
Gordonsville currently have 380 radios which are a combination of portable radios, base stations and mobile radios installed in some of the heavy machinery. The radios are the Motorola digital radios. The reason that Dynatec chose the Motorola radios is when they are used in digital mode, the radios have a talk permit tone that tell you when you key up whether the radios are in the coverage area.
The implementation of this project has been through our eastern USA distributor, CSE Corporation, and a local radio communication business, Wireless Plus Inc.
Wireless Plus Inc. is a full line Motorola sales and service shop location in Madison, TN. The owners have a combined 54 years of experience with Motorola two way radios, with a customer base that ranges from the mines to a professional hockey franchise to a Police Dept. The key thing for MST and CSE is the high quality local support Wireless Plus can prove to our mining customers.
We are confident this partnership will assist Gordonsville in getting a good return on their investment in our VDV Leaky Feeder technology, and we appreciate Dynatec and SRA for choosing our underground radio system.
Comments
Alann Parker
A leaky
feeder radio is very useful radio system. It is a communication system
usually used in underground mining and other tunnel environments. It consists
of a coaxial cable and radio waves, functioning as an extended antenna.Leaky Feeder Radio