5.0 UTILITIES
5.1
POWER
Power Supply.
Electric power to the Hydromet Plant will be fed from a sub-station at the Upton
Regional Industrial Park. Power to the Hydromet Plant will be provided by PreCorp at 25 kilovolt
(kV). A 10 megavolt-ampere (MVA) 25kV/4.16kV transformer and its ancillary equipment will be
installed to reduce the voltage to the distribution network voltage of 4.16kV. A capacitor bank
will be installed to correct the power factor. The current design does not include any redundancy
to feed the plant in case of failure of the main transformer. An emergency generator will be
installed to provide power to critical equipment and utilities only.
A motor control center will be built in the mill building. Large motors will be directly fed from the
distribution line, while small motors will be fed through two 2 megavolt-ampere (MVA) 4.16
kilovolt (kV)/480 volt (V) secondary step-down transformers at 480V. The Hydrochloric Acid
Regeneration Unit will be fed through a 2MVA 4.16kV/480V secondary step-down transformer.
Power Consumption.
The expected power consumption for the Hydromet Plant is estimated to
be up to 3,200 kilowatts (kW).
5.2
WATER
The Hydromet water supply will be provided by a connection to the Upton, Wyoming municipal
water network. A process water tank of capable of storing 77,700 gallons will be installed at the
Hydromet Plant to supply water to the various unit operations. The tank will be filled by the
condensate from the Hydrochloric Acid Regeneration Unit, reclaim water from the TSF, and by
fresh water from the City of Upton. Gland seal water, potable water and fire water network will
be fed directly from the city water supply.
5.3
NATURAL GAS
The Hydromet Plant is expected to consume 352 MMSCF (million standard cubic feet) of natural
gas per year.
Natural gas will be used as the primary energy source for the hydrochloric acid
regeneration process and building heat.
5.4
COMMUNICATIONS
A reliable, state-of-the art communication system will be installed at the Upton Plant to provide
employees with voice and data communication channels. A parallel wireless communication
system based on hand-held mobile and based radios will be available for the operation and
maintenance personnel. The Hydromet Plant will have a direct communications system
connecting to the Bull Hill Mine and Sundance central office.
5.5
CONTROL AND AUTOMATION
The Hydromet Plant will be automated. All equipment and stream flows will be automated and
primarily controlled from the control room. Instrumentation will be installed in the Hydromet Plant
to provide quantitative information on the plant operation (flow rates, temperatures, pH,
production rate, etc.). Local controls will be installed where required as back-up to the
automated system. Laboratory technicians will manually perform chemical analyses on the
various process streams. Measurements such as pH will be automated, but a constant manual
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