In October 2024, a major construction group won the contract for a gold mining project in Sierra Leone. The project timeline required completion of civil works and commissioning of mineral processing equipment by April 2025. Since mining operations heavily rely on steam—from ore drying to chemical preparation—stable thermal energy supply was essential.
However, the project faced extreme challenges: the mine site was located more than 300 km inland from the nearest port, with poor road conditions making the transport and on-site installation of large boilers very difficult. Moreover, the rainy season was approaching. If the boiler could not be commissioned before May, the entire schedule would be delayed by at least three months, resulting in significant financial losses. The client urgently needed a fast-deploying, stable, and heavy-oil-compatible boiler solution.
EPCB One-Stop Boiler Solution
After evaluating multiple suppliers, the client chose the EPCB 1 Ton Containerized Oil-Fired Boiler. Thanks to its highly integrated modular design, EPCB successfully solved the mine’s biggest challenges—transportation, installation, and reliable operation.
EPCB Boiler Technology Highlights
Containerized All-in-One Design
The EPCB containerized boiler adopts a fully prefabricated, all-in-one design. The boiler body, oil system, pumps, control cabinet, and pipelines are pre-installed, tested, and verified at the factory. This guarantees full system compatibility and stability.
Upon arrival at the site, the system only requires crane positioning and external connections for water, electricity, and fuel. The boiler is then ready for operation—no extra civil works or secondary installation needed. This approach significantly shortens project timelines and is especially suitable for mines, construction sites, ports, and remote projects. It ensures rapid steam supply, helping clients meet deadlines and avoid costly delays.
Optimized Fuel System
Recognizing that African mines often use heavy oil with high impurity content, EPCB optimized the fuel system to ensure reliable long-term performance:
Stainless Steel Heavy Oil Filter: Made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel, upgraded from 80-mesh to 60-mesh for finer filtration, effectively blocking impurities and protecting burners and pumps.
Dual Heavy Oil Pumps (Duty + Standby): Two pumps installed in parallel ensure uninterrupted fuel supply. If one fails, the other automatically takes over, preventing downtime.
Intelligent Oil Tank: Equipped with electric heating, liquid-level alarms, and temperature control to maintain fuel fluidity in low temperatures, preventing clogging and ensuring stable combustion.
Diesel Purge Function: Before shutdown, the system automatically switches to diesel to clear heavy oil from pipelines. This prevents nighttime blockages caused by temperature fluctuations, improves startup efficiency, and reduces maintenance needs.
Burning & Control System
EPCB uses internationally recognized brand burners with reliable performance and easy maintenance. Key features include:
One-Button Start/Stop: Simplifies operation, reducing dependency on highly skilled operators.
Flexible Fuel Switching: Supports automatic switching between heavy oil and diesel.
Triple Pressure Control: Combines start/stop control, automatic load adjustment, and overpressure protection, ensuring safe and stable operation under varying conditions.
Water System & Energy Efficiency
Given the demanding energy requirements of mining operations, EPCB designed the boiler with high efficiency and safety in mind:
Dual Water Level Protection: Both glass level gauge and electrode sensors monitor water levels, preventing dry-firing and boiler damage.
Dual Pump Configuration: Feedwater and circulation pumps follow a duty + standby model for uninterrupted operation.
High-Efficiency Economizer: Dual-stage heat recovery reduces flue gas temperature to below 100°C, cutting fuel consumption by about 15% compared to conventional systems.
Eco-Friendly Design: Optimized combustion and waste heat recovery reduce emissions, meeting increasingly strict environmental standards in overseas mining projects.
Safety & Maintenance
From the start, EPCB prioritized operational safety and ease of maintenance:
Explosion-Proof LED Lighting: Ensures safe operation in high-risk areas such as mines and oil storage zones.
Standardized Piping Labels: Color-coded per international standards with bilingual Chinese-English markings, allowing even non-technical staff to quickly identify pipelines and avoid misoperation.
Spare Parts & Remote Support: Each unit ships with a spare parts kit and includes EPCB’s remote technical support services, guaranteeing long-term stability and worry-free maintenance for overseas projects.
Project Execution & Service Support
Throughout project execution, EPCB maintained a customer-first approach, ensuring that the boiler could operate reliably under harsh mining conditions:
Fast Delivery: A dedicated project team coordinated design, production, and supply chain, completing manufacturing, testing, and acceptance in under three months.
Rigorous Testing: Multi-scenario simulations—including heavy oil/diesel switching, low-water alarms, and overpressure protection—were performed to guarantee safety under heavy-duty conditions.
Tailored Adaptations: Considering Sierra Leone’s fuel impurity levels and unstable power grid, EPCB upgraded filter precision, reinforced pipelines, and provided illustrated operation manuals for local staff.
Efficient Installation: Upon arrival, local teams—guided remotely by EPCB engineers—completed crane positioning, wiring, and ignition within just two days, achieving true “plug-and-play” deployment.
Customer Feedback
Project Manager:
“EPCB delivered more than just a boiler—it was a complete and reliable heating solution that kept our project on schedule.”
Boiler Operator:
“The dual backup design and clear pipe labeling made maintenance easy. Operation was stable, fuel-efficient, and exceeded expectations.”
Results & Impact
The boiler was successfully commissioned before the rainy season, ensuring stable steam supply for ore processing and chemical preparation. This not only kept the project on schedule but also avoided costly delays caused by seasonal disruptions.
In operation, actual fuel consumption was 15% lower than initial estimates, proving the effectiveness of EPCB’s dual-stage economizer and combustion optimization. More importantly, the boiler ran safely and stably under continuous high-load conditions, with zero unplanned downtime, underscoring EPCB’s superior reliability.
Overall, this project highlights EPCB’s proven expertise in containerized boiler design, manufacturing, and delivery. It also reaffirms EPCB’s ability to provide overseas clients with efficient, energy-saving, and reliable one-stop boiler solutions—from customized design and rapid delivery to smooth installation and long-term operation support. EPCB helps international projects move forward on schedule while creating lasting value.
