A recently completed dia-
 mond exploration pro-
 ject in one of the most remote locations in the world, Greenland, required that project house DRA’s entire plant be stripped down to 
parts weighing no more than 800 kg.

The plant had to be stripped down to parts suitable for lifting to the site by helicopter. 
Further, subsequent construction and commissioning of the plant were achieved by a small DRA and client team because of the remoteness of the site.

This location, less than 
100 km from Greenland’s ice cap, presented unusual chal-lenges for the engineers. 
High winds, summer snowfall and rugged terrain combined to make the four-month period of construction, commissioning and plant operation an interesting challenge.

“These challenges were overcome without a single injury, testament to DRA Americas’ project team’s diligence and commitment,” says DRA Americas MD Andy Holloway.

The DRA Americas office, located just outside Toronto, in Ontario, Canada, serves clients based in Canada, the US, South America, central America and Greenland. 
The regional office was established in 2005, and currently employs a team of ten disciplined engineers and project administration staff, many of whom have relocated from the South African office.

With a higher-than-average percentage of junior mining and exploration companies in Canada, the Americas office maintains a strong focus on metallurgical consulting and engineering study work.
 The office’s process special-ists manage metallurgical flow sheet development programmes and have provided mineral processing expertise in these and other engineering studies for clients such as gold producer Barrick Gold, junior exploration company Canadian Zinc Corporation, silver exploration company Excellon Resources, emerging uranium exploration company Uranium Star Corporation and Canada-based platinum group metals exploration company Wallbridge Mining Company.

DRA Americas has also completed studies ranging from desktop to feasibility level of detail, 2 000 kg/m pilot process plants to 12-million-ton-a-year concentrators, and for a range of commodities including diamonds, palladium, gold, indium, gallium and zinc.

The company’s experience of diamond process plant design has resulted in DRA’s dense medium separation (DMS) plants being known in the mining industry for its separation efficiency and medium consumption rates.

Although presently in a fairly subdued state, Canada’s relatively young diamond industry has boomed since the first diamond discovery in 1991, with diamond company DeBeers, global resource company BHP Billiton and diversified miner Rio Tinto now operating mines in the north.

“Several junior miners are exploring the market too, and with DRA’s smallest DMS plant, the Micro DMS, installed in five diamond laboratories across Canada, our equipment handles many of the bulk samples tested here today,” concludes Holloway.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.