Codelco picks Foxboro’s SCADA system for copper mine in Chile

Foxboro, MA—Division Norte of Corporacion del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), Chile’s national copper mining company, recently awarded a $2-million contract to Invensys Systems Chile SA to install Foxboro’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for electric distribution at Codelco’s Chuquicamata mining complex.

By Control Engineering Staff September 7, 2004

Foxboro, MA— Division Norte of Corporacion del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), Chile’s national copper mining company, recently awarded a $2-million contract to Invensys Systems Chile SA to install Foxboro ’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system for electric distribution at Codelco’s Chuquicamata mining complex.

The new SCADA system will remotely monitor, supervise, and control the mine’s electric distribution system. Chuquicamata is one of the world’s largest and most modern copper mines, and accounts for more than 70% of CODELCO’s total copper production.

As part of a complete electric SCADA solution for the mine, Invensys is also retrofitting controls at 26 electric substations using Foxboro’s latest remote terminal unit (RTU) technology, and implementing a comprehensive suite of energy management system (EMS) and distribution management system (DMS) applications.

This project is the second major Foxboro electric SCADA system that Invensys Chile, a unit of Invensys Process Systems, has implemented for CODELCO in recent years. The earlier project, for Codelco’s El Teniente division is in the final stages of installation.

Founded in 1976, following nationalization of Chile’s largest copper mines, CODELCO is the world’s biggest copper producer. The firm is organized into five divisions: Codelco Norte, Salvador, Andina, El Teniente and Talleres. CODELCO produces about 1.6 million tons of copper per year, and has the world largest copper reserves at 77 million tons.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news editorjmontague@reedbusiness.com