Gaining gold experience from Siberia
The Kyshtym Copper Electrolyte Plant is carrying out technical modernization of the Tankhouse, which will lead to an increase of annual copper cathode output from 140 to 230 thousand tons. Consequently resulting in increase of slime volumes intended for refining. Therefore making the question of Refining department modernization an important issue for Russian Copper company.
Nowadays the modernization is underway and the third one, slime fire-refining and selenium extraction complex is being installed and in addition new Refining department is being designed. It is planed that KMEZ will begin construction of this department after the commissioning of second stage of the Tankhouse, when all 336 new electrolysis cells will be put into operation.
Tender for the project development was won by Russian company IMG-Engineering with 15 years of experience in supply of technology, equipment and services for ore mining, metallurgical, chemical and energy plants in Russia and CIS. In the spring of 2021 specially assigned team of IMG-Engineering specialists, visited KMEZ, performed laser scanning of the building intended for technology and equipment placement, and proceeded with development of engineering documentation in coordination with customer specialists.
At project developer suggestion, Kyshtym specialists visited Krastsvetmet plant in Krasnoyarsk, where one of the largest refining divisions in Russia is located. To see and get acquainted with the production process and equipment for gold and silver refining to Siberia went Anton Shabalin – KMEZ Deputy Chief Engineer for technology, Andrey Karimov – KMEZ Head of Refining department, Sergey Kirillov – Manager of capital construction department, Yaroslav Andreev – Manager of KMEZ plant central laboratory, Alexander Kalachev – Manager of control & instrumentation department and Sergey Grabov — Tankhouse power engineer.
“On the very first day of our stay in Krasnoyarsk, a working meeting with the designers took place, we were presented with a draft technological scheme and proposals for the equipment layout” – says Anton Shabalin. “We carefully considered all the options and began discussion, understanding perfectly well that we will have to thoroughly analyse each item for a long time upon returning home.”
The main and only task for the next day was getting to know the production process. New ideas, new experiences were expected from the visit – and the expectations were justified.
“The plant has implemented a simulation model of refining production, which makes it possible to build a digital copy of the entire process,” Andrey Karimov shares his impressions. “It is used by all employees who supervise or provide production process. It helps in making informed management decisions, in analyses of the existing production effectiveness, in future modelling to simplify and accelerate budgeting.”
Not a single trifle escaped the guests attention, which in the future may be useful for their own KMEZ plant. For example, the factory entrance is equipped with a remote access control system with face, fingerprint and breathalyser. At Krastsvetmet there is a television broadcasting system, and within this system there is a program for registration and introduction of rationalization proposals, with rating of participants. The fact that in the video surveillance system implemented a program for automatic control over the use of personal protective equipment was also taken into account. The signal about a violation goes to the labour protection department, from there — to the head of the unit, who checks the signal and makes a decision on bonus reduction for the offender.
But the focus was primarily on technology issues: raw material sampling, processing of silver-gold alloy, purification of electrolyte from impurities, purification and monitoring of emissions and effluents.
“The assigned team has begun development of a draft design of the Refining department, being accurate on the process flow diagrams, equipment circuit diagrams, flow balance charts,” comments Alexander Sidorenko, Chief Engineer of JSC KMEZ. “For us, the experience of both Russian and foreign colleagues who have already walked a similar pathway is very valuable and important. We try to collect, accumulate, take into account and build on it when choosing technologies and equipment, as we strive to introduce the latest technologies into production. This was the case during the technical modernization of the Tankhouse and it will be the same during the technical modernization of the Refining department.”
