The AC drives manufacturer Vacon has signed a contract worth nearly two million euros with Finland-based Talvivaara Project Ltd. Vacon will deliver more than 300 AC drives with the total power of approximately 37 MW to Talvivaara’s nickel mine under construction in Sotkamo in the Kainuu region, Finland. The most important factors for their choosing Vacon as the AC drives supplier were Vacon’s technical solutions, especially the ATEX-certified temperature supervision of motors which are placed in potentially hazardous areas.

“We are very pleased that Talvivaara Project Ltd has chosen Vacon as their AC drives supplier. Our technical solutions and services ideally meet the needs of the mining industry where the reliability of equipment and prompt customer support are highly essential. We are enthusiastic about starting cooperation with Talvivaara also because both companies share the same drive for entrepreneurship,” says Heikki Hiltunen, Executive Vice President, Vacon.

Vacon will deliver more than 300 AC drives in the power range of 1 − 630 kW to control pumps, fans and conveyors at the Talvivaara mine, which is expected to be operational at the end of 2008. The use of AC drives enables process control, and allows significant energy savings to be achieved, especially in the control of pumps and fans. At the Talvivaara mine, the Vacon AC drives will control, among others, the pumps used in bioheapleaching, the dissolution of metals from ore.

Vacon AC drives require only a small space for assembly, and they endure well in hot, dirty and dusty ambient conditions.