The Milpilas Mine, located in Mun. de Nacozari de García, Sonora, Mexico, commenced production in 2006. They are owned and operated by the prestigious Servicios Industriales Penoles, S.A. de C.V., one of the largest net exporters in Mexico’s private sector for silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper. With their throughput constantly increasing, the Milpillas Mine is an important Sonoran mine that uses underground blockcave mining to extract copper.
Milpillas discovered other applications for Alderox® in their operations. Using a handheld sprayer (Figure 1) with approximately 120 psi, they apply the product in the underground ore pockets and skips (Figure 2). As a result, there is no more buildup in the pockets and skips and the mine does not need to stop operations to clean out equipment.
Photo Gallery
Peñoles Miner applying product in skip
Peñoles miners with handheld bucket top sprayer system
Following Milpillas’ success, another Peñoles operation, La Herradura, started testing Alderox® in loader buckets, drill chains, truck undercarriages and truck fuel tanks. La Herradura is an open pit gold mine employing 190 ton production trucks. The mine recognized that Alderox® was best used on vehicle undercarriage to prevent overheating and rust issues. When the mud adheres to the truck undercarriage components, especially the fuel tank, it retains moisture and causes both overheating and rust. Alderox®, by eliminating ore buildup, is able to prevent such issues and indirectly increase equipment run-time before an unscheduled maintenance call.