7 December, 2011

Nexans has been awarded a major contract to supply power, control and instrumentation cables from its specialized POWERMINE® range for CHINALCO’s new Mount Toromocho open-cast copper mine in Peru. In cooperation with Anixter USA, its distribution partner for this project, Nexans is providing more than 1,200 km of cables to the Aker/Jacobs Engineering turnkey EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) contractor for the mine, which is scheduled to begin production in 2012.

Nexans has developed its comprehensive POWERMINE® range of customized cable solutions to ensure optimum safety, reliability and efficiency for mining operations. At Toromucho, Nexans cables will power surface mine equipment such as conveyor belts, lighting, power for various buildings, crusher machines, a maintenance concentrator, and other surface operations.

For this contract, the Nexans facility in Canada is supplying 1,000 km of power, control and instrumentation cables of the type THNN, XHHW, Ultra-VN, Ultrex-XL and Firex. These cables comply with USA Type National Electric Code (NEC) specifications. Nexans Chile is supplying 200 km of 5 kV and 15 kV medium-voltage (MV) flexible rubber jacketed power cables.

The Mount Toromucho mine

This mine is being developed by the Aluminium Corporation of China (CHINALCO) in a remote location, 130 km from Lima, the capital of Peru, at an elevation of 4,600 metres. The mine is estimated to have recoverable reserves of 5.7 million tonnes of copper, 148,000 tonnes of molybdenum and 188 million ounces of silver, giving a life of over 25 years at an average production rate of 210,000 tonnes copper annually.