Australian copper producers have been l warned to install comprehensive fire prevention and protection systems in their solvent extraction plants to avoid repeating the problems experienced by WMC Resources Ltd a few years ago at its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. Speaking during the recent ALTA Copper Conference in Western Australia, risk engineer Brenton Smith of International Mining Industry Underwriters Ltd said it was no longer acceptable for copper miners to rely on luck when in came to avoiding fires in their SX circuits. SX plants, Smith said, had a poor history when it came to fire safety, although he was sure this trend could be reversed. While SX technology was mature, he pointed out, it had been used in the uranium sector with few accidental fires. What differentiated copper SX from uranium SX, Smith explained, was the fact a different collector was used in the organic (which had a profound impact on fire prevention) as well as size, with copper-circuits being much larger than their uranium counterparts.
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机译：已警告澳大利亚铜生产商在其溶剂萃取厂中安装全面的防火和防护系统，以避免重蹈WMC Resources Ltd几年前在其位于南澳大利亚州的奥林匹克大坝矿中所遇到的问题的困扰。国际采矿业承销商有限公司（International Mining Industry Underwriters Ltd）的风险工程师布伦顿·史密斯（Brenton Smith）在最近在西澳大利亚举行的ALTA铜会议上发表讲话时表示，铜矿工在避免SX电路起火时依靠运气已不再可以接受。史密斯说，SX工厂在消防安全方面的历史很差，尽管他确信这种趋势可以逆转。他指出，尽管SX技术已经成熟，但它已用于铀行业，很少发生意外火灾。 Smith解释说，SX铜与铀SX的区别在于，在有机物（对防火有深远影响）以及尺寸上使用了不同的集电器，铜电路的体积比铀的大得多。
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