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32 Markets Endress+Hauser

It is as if the door of an oven had been opened. Swel-tering dry heat embraces the people leaving the planeon the landing strip of the Cannington mine right inthe middle of the outback of eastern Australia, 800

kilometres west of the coastal town of Townsville. Thedistance to the nearest settlement is 83 kilometres:McKinlay, a hamlet with a population of 17; one ofthe locations where Crocodile Dundee was filmed.Temperatures are already above 30C shortly aftereight in the morning. The air is shimmering. Fliesare obtrusively buzzing around the women and menwho were flown in by a turbo-prop plane. There is notower and no airport building. The passengers fromthe plane wait under a metal roof for the bus whichwill take them to the mine. The airport is bustling thismorning. Shifts are changing at Cannington. Some

people are facing nine days of work, others returnhome for five days off.

A town on borrowed time

The silver, lead and zinc deposit of Cannington wasdiscovered in 1990. BHP Billiton Cannington beganunderground mining activities in 1997. The companybuilt a small village for the workers in the middle ofthe desert, complete with a sports centre, a swimmingpool and a gym, a store and a medical centre. A lot oftrouble but its worth it even though the orebodywill be exhausted in 20 years: nowhere else in theworld is more silver and lead being mined at presentthan here.The ore extracted is processed further on-site. Thematerial is first milled from about 180 millimetres in

Modern treasure hunters

Coal and iron, zinc and lead, gold and silver, oil and gas, diamondsand opals Australia boasts a wealth of treasures. Raw materials

account for more than half of the countrys exports. With its

devices, technology and service, Endress+Hauser is helping to

develop the rich mineral deposits.

Treasures from the

ground: Australias mines

process most of their ore

on site (above).

The hot briquetted iron

plant near Port Hedland

towers like a giant over

the desert (centre). The

Cannington plant extracts

lead, zinc and silver out of

the rock using mechanical

and chemical processes

(below).


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34 Markets Endress+Hauser

diameter down to fines with a diameter of 20 micro-meters. Then the material is washed out in a flotationprocess: chemicals help to separate the silver, lead andzinc from the rock and yield a 72 percent lead concen-trate and a 50 percent zinc concentrate which bothcontain silver.

High-tech endurance testThe split flotation processes are controlled by approxi-mately 140 Endress+Hauser instruments. To control thisarea of the plant, BHP Billiton Cannington uses ProfibusPA unusual for the industry, says John Immelman,Managing Director of Endress+Hauser Australia. Profibustechnology is still not used extensively in Australia. Forthis reason, Immelman speaks of a brave decision. Adecision that has proved its worth, since BHP BillitonCannington has made Profibus PA the standard for futureexpansions.Profibus technology helps to save costs. The plant can beoperated with half the staff that would usually be neces-

sary. The technicians and engineers are full of praise forthe training given in Sydney and for the support providedin the initial phase. The Endress+Hauser devices have agood reputation. Above all the robustness and reliability

of the instruments make a lasting impression.

Ships in the middle of the desertThe huge freighters silhouette the horizon like amirage. In the dazzling heat of the airport at Port Hed-land, they appear to be at anchor in the middle of thedesert. Who would suspect this isolated spot in thenorth-west of the country to be the busiest port in all ofAustralia? More than 500 ships, each up to 230 metresin length and with a loading capacity of up to 250,000tons of freight, are loaded here with iron ore each year.BHP Billiton operates six iron ore mines in the region.

The largest is located at Mount Whaleback. The hugehole mined here in search of ferriferous rock is five anda half kilometres long and one and a half kilometreswide, making it one of the largest open-cast iron mines

in the world. Freight trains with up to 336 carriagestransport the ore for 420 kilometres to Port Hedlandwhere the material is taken from stockpiles to thedocks by conveyor belts which stretch for kilometres.Just a few minutes drive from the airport, a steel mon-ster rises out of the barren grassland. The reactor tow-ers of the hot briquetted iron plant reach 119 metresinto the sky. The iron ore is converted to metallic irongranulate in a chemical reduction process where heat isapplied and hydrogen and carbon monoxide are added,resulting in an increase in the iron content from around65 to more than 90 percent.

High-tech in the desert:

The BHP Billiton Canning-

ton flotation plant is con-

stantly under attack from

the sun, dust and wind.

Everything is coated in a

fine layer of dust an en-

durance test for every me-

asuring device. A Profibus

system forms the backbone

of the process control

system. The technicians

monitor the processes

from the air-conditioned

control room.


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BHP Billiton has invested 2.6 billion Australian dollars(approximately 1.6 billion euros) in the plant, whichhas been in operation since 1999. But its an invest-ment with a future the soap-shaped iron briquetteslanding at the end of the process on the conveyor beltwith a loud bang net far more money on the commodi-ties market than raw iron ore. This plant is uniqueworld-wide BHP Billiton developed the technologyfor the plant itself.

A haze of red dust everywhereThe wind blows rust-coloured dust over Port Hedland.

It penetrates every crevice and settles on windows and

floors and even on the legs of office chairs. The tap

runs with lukewarm water since the sun heats up the

tank of the Port Hedland water tower like a boiler. Air

conditioning units make sure temperatures are bear-

able inside. But outside, where the ore-bearing rock is

processed, searing heat prevails. No other region in

Australia experiences so many cyclones.

Hundreds of instruments help to control processes ina typical iron mine. Climatic conditions alone consti-tute a severe test for each one of them. In addition,processed materials have a highly abrasive effect.

Wear and tear is so extreme that some instrumentshave to be replaced every month. Endress+Hausersmarket share in the mining industry is growing not bychance. Robust design, excellent quality and a highdegree of reliability ensure increasing attractiveness.

Trusting partnershipImported ore is also processed in Australia. QueenslandNickel (QNI), another subsidiary of BHP Billiton, is theinternational leader in nickel processing. The companyproduces high-quality nickel and cobalt products in the

Yabulu refinery, 25 kilometres to the north-west ofTownsville. The ore is shipped in from New Caledonia,Indonesia and the Philippines and railed to the refinery.QNI and Endress+Hauser have a relationship of a specialkind in the area of services for two years, Endress+Hauser has been training tradesmen and apprentices ininstrumentation and process automation. We are invest-ing jointly in a new generation of specialists, says Man-aging Director John Immelman.In automation technology it is crucial to select the rightinstrument for the right application. For this reason,Endress+Hauser experts keep QNI technicians and engi-neers informed about new trends in the industry im-portant in a country where there is no single course ofstudies for instrumentation and process automation and

where specialists are in short supply. John Immelman isconvinced that the Endress+Hauser training courses in-crease the awareness of how important the area ofprocess technology actually is.

In brief

With its headquarters inMelbourne, BHP Billiton is theworlds largest diversified resourcescompany. Its portfolio includesaluminium, energy coal and metal-lurgical coal, copper, ferro-alloys,iron ore and titanium minerals,and substantial interests in oil, gas,liquefied natural gas, nickel, dia-monds and silver. The companyhas approximately 35,000 employ-ees working in more than 100operations in 20 countries. In2003, BHP Billiton achieved aturnover of US$ 17.5 billion withearnings before interest and taxesof US$ 3.5 billion.

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