Electrical cabling that cuts costs in underground mines

Aug 20, 2023

Established in 2002, Powerhouse Distribution is not only revered within Australia, but its products are now sought-after across the Asia-Pacific region. And now the company has a new innovation for the mining industry.

Powerhouse Distribution has built its full-service business on an ability to source unique, high-quality electrical equipment, for an array of specialist applications critical to mine sites and civil engineering projects.

The company has maintained close relationships with specialist manufacturers in Australia and overseas including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Finland, Italy, the US and Canada, in order to provide industry with custom-made applications and solutions.

This has led Powerhouse Distribution to develop the Flexible Orange Circular SWA (steel wire armored) Enhanced electrical cable, which delivers cost savings and improved safety outcomes for underground mining operations.

The Circular SWA Enhanced is a product of Powerhouse Distribution founder and managing director Percy Maguire’s profound industry knowledge and experience.

For more than fifty years, Maguire has held a raft of industry roles including trade, managerial and advisory appointments, while maintaining a deep engagement in the design, development, manufacture, and supply of electrical cabling.

“I started Powerhouse Distribution by myself in 2002 as an agency company for manufacturers who didn’t have representation in regional Queensland,” Maguire told Australian Mining.

“Over time, I moved away from being solely a distribution agency into becoming a supplier, importing cables for use on some of Australia’s largest mine sites and on major infrastructure projects such as WestConnex.”

“Most of our business is now diversified around Australia, New Zealand and into Asia-Pacific, and we’re looking at becoming less an electrical products distribution company and more a specialist cable supply company.”

As Powerhouse Distribution’s appetite to service Australia’s largest mining operations and civil engineering projects remains stronger than ever, Maguire and his team have designed, patented, and brought to market the Circular SWA Enhanced.

“We’ve sent it out around the countryside and the engineers who have installed the cable and have said it will reduce the termination time, which normally takes an hour and a quarter. This is 40 minutes,” Maguire said.

“So, it’s a game changer when it comes to installation, due to the countless hours, days – or even weeks – saved from the installation period.”

The Circular SWA Enhanced is made up of the following components:

• a flexible conductor made of plain annealed fine-stranded copper which complies with AS/NZS 1125 (Class 5)• a specially formulated compound to meet 110°C operation• a galvanized steel wire armor• a specially formulated compound sheath with low smoke zero halogen (LSZH) properties, including a LSZH-110 bedding

Maguire said the Circular SWA Enhanced tries to kill a few birds with one stone.

“Most large SWA cables are like trying to wrestle a crocodile and the conductors are rather rigid because they might only have 19 strands in it. This is a flexible conductor which has several hundred strands,” Maguire said.

“We’ve increased the compound and made a special compound on insulation. And by increasing the compound’s insulation property, you get a greater current carrying capacity out of the conductor.”

The Circular SWA Enhanced also has enhanced safety attributes due to the LSZH properties in its outer sheath.

“In an underground coal, gold or iron ore mine, or in an underground tunnel, or potentially anywhere, should there be a fire, low smoke zero halogen does not emit any toxic fumes,” Maguire said.

The SWA Enhanced has 25 per cent less copper, which saves on raw material costs, but that’s not the only cost incentive.

“If you can imagine you’re a kilometre underground in the dark and you have a product that’s almost as flexible as an extension lead into a switchboard, and you can terminate it with the lamp on your head. That’s the difference,” Maguire said.

“You’re going to save costs on all of your components on top of that. Everything is going to be cheaper, due to a smaller diameter, the amp rating is within a couple of amps, so you’re getting the same properties for a smaller cable.”

Powerhouse Distribution has received strong feedback from the cable’s early samples, with end users excited by the cost savings and increased efficiencies from decreased installation times. The Circular SWA Enhanced improved safety profile has been another fancied attribute.

“Customers who have been able to pick it up in recent months, hold it, feel it and twist it, and based on their own engineering expertise and calculations, can see the savings that can be made by utilizing the Flexible Orange Circular SWA Enhanced cable,” Maguire said.

This feature appeared in the September issue of Australian Mining.

2019 YUCHAI NEW 23TON YC230LC-8 WITH HYDRAULIC HITCH + HAMMER PIPING

$145,000

Underwood, QLD

2009 HYUNDAI R380LC-9

$60,000

North Bendigo, VIC

2022 RHINOCEROS XN10-8

$12,990

Airport West, VIC

2020 CATERPILLAR 330GC 07B NEXT GEN

$279,950

Glenvale, QLD

2001 HITACHI EX1800-3

$240,000

Big Hill, VIC

2019 AUZTRAC XT1000

$14,950

Tuncurry, NSW

2023 DJJ U27

$46,090

Silverwater, NSW

DJJ YC10

$24,090

Silverwater, NSW

2017 CATERPILLAR 305E-2CR

$46,000

Mulgoa, NSW

LIUGONG 9018F

$34,000

Yoogali, NSW

2020 CATERPILLAR 330LC NEXT GEN 07B

$318,450

Glenvale, QLD

2019 CATERPILLAR 305.5E2

$69,850

Glenvale, QLD