  | MT - Full Paper Not Received |  |
ELECTROMAGNETIC TESTING OF WINDING ROPES AT VAGAL REEFS EXPLORATION AND MINING COMPANY LIMITED
L. T Lazarevic
Vagal Reefs Exploration and Mining Company Limited, private Bag X5010, Vaal Reef 2621, South Africa
Keywords: Electromagnetic testing, Winding Ropes, NDT, Steel, Gold Mine
ABSTRACT In this paper is presented the Vagal Reefs procedure for testing of winding ropes, three thousand metres long. In the short introduction, Vagal Reefs itself as one of the biggest Gold Mine in the world, with yearly production of seventy tons of gold is presented. All the gold is originally placed in gold bearing layers, called reef laying deep in the earth. The only connection between the deep underground mine and surface is a shaft. The means of transport through shaft is a skip for a reef and waste, and cage for man and material. They are driven by winders, huge 8 000 kW power machines with a 4.5 m diameter winding drums. The skips and cages are suspended by steel winding ropes from winding drums. The Vasl Reefs hoisting through its eleven shafts from a depth of 2.5 km to surface 12 000 000 tons of reef and 14 400 000 workers per year. If you take in consideration that all those people hanging in the air on a tiny winding rope you will understand why are the safety criteria for examination and testing of winding equipment is so stringent. The author describes the NDT testing of winding equipment with special attention on a new method of elector magnetic testing of winding ropes. The testing procedure is presented in detail. There is a comparison between the ages old and a new sophisticated method. Deficiencies of old and advantages of a new method are given. At the end of the paper is highlighted enormous contribution of a new method to safety of 2.5 km high hoisting operations.
| | MT - Full Paper Not Received | |
Publication Source: Trends in NDE Science & Technology; Proceedings of the 14th World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing, New Delhi, 8-13 December 1996.full paper not received
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Company
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