New ventilation fans commissioned as RP2.0 expansion reaches another milestone
A major piece of the RP2.0 expansion is now live, with two new surface ventilation fans successfully started up and delivering excellent results across every performance measure.
Rosh Pinah Zinc has successfully commissioned two new surface ventilation fans, marking another important milestone in the RP2.0 expansion project. The fans draw air through a newly developed 207-metre ventilation raise shaft that runs from surface down to 200 level, strengthening airflow to support the mine's expanded operations.
Howden Industries, part of the Chart Industries group, was appointed to supply and install the new fans. The team arrived on site at the beginning of April to complete onboarding and site establishment, shortly after Namibia Construction handed over the completed civil works at the end of March. Fan components soon began arriving by truck as the installation got under way.
At that stage, Master Drill was still shotcreting the top 15 metres of the new vent raise shaft. Through careful planning, dedication and hard work, the team completed the mechanical installation of both fans around 20 June, before handing the site to DRA for the electrical, control and instrumentation (EC&I) works.
DRA, together with Raylec, carried out the EC&I installation. This included the motor control centre (MCC), cable racks, and the upgrade of the 11kV reticulation from temporary construction power to the permanent 11kV supply feeding the ventilation fan area.
With commissioning targeted for the first week of August, Howden's team returned during the last week of July to complete the final mechanical tasks — among them the motor direction test, which could only be carried out once the EC&I installation was finished. This was followed by the shaft connection between motor and fan, with alignment and balancing completed by Howden's specialist alignment technician.
On 4 August, the team was ready to start up Fan No. 2. After some interlock issues were quickly rectified by DRA technicians, the fan was brought online and run for the required minimum of four hours to allow thorough testing. Vibration, airflow, temperature and sound levels were all measured, and every reading came back excellent. The following morning, 5 August, Fan No. 1 was started up under the same procedures, returning the same excellent results.
The successful commissioning of both fans is a credit to the close collaboration between Howden, Namibia Construction, Master Drill, DRA and Raylec — and another clear demonstration of the progress being made across the RP2.0 expansion.
