It is the true portrayal of HPAL Team B of Ramu Nico Management (MCC) Limited – one of the top 100 teams of China Minmetals – that they built Ramu’s mainstay of achieving production and meeting standards by ploughing assiduously. They are pioneers taking root in the bridgehead of “The Belt & Road”, creating brilliant achievements with indomitable fighting spirit, and writing immortal eulogies with high sense of mission and duty.
The great progress of the project over the years benefits from not only Ramu’s consistency with its production and operation principles of “Efficient, Excellent, Economical”, but also many members’ hard work and selfless dedication like HPAL Team B
In terms of process control, HPAL Team B strictly follows the relevant operating procedures and instructions, as well as actively cooperates with other departments by participating in and improving the control of process indicators. In their daily work, the team members closely monitor the concentration of the slurry from the mine; timely adjust the amount of the flocculant added; and strictly implement the instructions on process control in the operating area such as autoclave acid feeding instructions, autoclave temperature control instructions, and preheater pressure control instructions, etc. – in order to ensure the nickel and cobalt leaching rate in HPAL area hence to facilitate downstream process better. By doing so, HPAL Team B has set an excellent example for other teams with its pass rate of process indicators control being over 99% all the time.
Besides daily process indicators control, equipment inspection is also an daily essential task for HPAL Team B. The team highly focuses on equipment management and actively maintains the equipment to make sure problematic equipment can be inspected timely and repaired properly. They keep detailed inspection records of the equipment under their supervision to ensure the operation status of the equipment before, during and after shifts can be traced, and adhere to the principle of “Early Inspection, Early Detection, and Early Treatment” to remove any seeds of potential equipment problem, as a result of which no severe equipment failure has occurred, stable running of the equipment is ensured, and utilization is improved.
In addition, HPAL Team B also participates in the equipment perfecting by putting forward a number of suggestions according to the summary of their daily equipment operating experience. The team cooperates with the relevant departments to continuously optimize the thickener system, making the concentration of the underflow slurry of the HPAL thickener increased from 31% in 2014 to average concentration of 37.5% in September 2018. The daily average dry ore input in autoclave increased from 9,150 tons in 2015 to 11,500 tons in 2019, exceeding the design load by 25%; the average life expectancy of check valves also increased from 60 hours in 2014 to 800 hours in 2019.
HPAL Team B is also a pioneer of the company’s localization. The localization work in the team is not smooth, and cross-cultural communication and the training of national employees have become a roadblock on the localization of the team, which not only limited the efficiency of production organization, but also laid hidden hazards in safety management. To solve this problem, the team organizes Chinese members to study local Pidgin language every day, and the Chinese members now can use Pidgin for simple work communication. At the same time, Chinese employees and national employees are paired to work together. Through master-apprentice training, special training and skills competition, the working skills level of the team members has taken a big leap, complementing the company’s localization policy.
Safety is the foundation of HPAL Team B. At the daily pre-meeting, the team leader explains safety precautions, checks members’ PPE, and makes sure everyone start work safely. They also held regular safety trainings, learn and implement Australian safety standards, and check for and rectify potential safety hazards in actual production with the company’s safety system as its working standard. With their continuous efforts, the safety awareness has deeply rooted in every member’s mind, which minimizes the working risks. Till now, the team has kept a record of zero safety incidents and zero environmental incidents three years in a row.
The winning of Top 100 Teams of China Minmetals in 2018 of HPAL Team B has proved its strong cohesiveness, executive ability, and combat effectiveness. They have accomplished all kinds of production tasks in extremely hard working conditions safely and excellently, shouldering Ramu NiCo’s vision of delivering the most successful nickel laterite project to PNG and its people.
Employees checking equipment integrity
Employees checking equipment integrity