ELB announces the award of Debmarine-M.V. Grand Banks and completes Assmang’s Black Rock Projects, the Sack Tipping Unit for Unilever Nigeria and Colleen Bawn Clinker Loading in Zimbabwe

ELB Engineering Services (ELB) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the drying system for the M.V. Grand Banks Life Extension Project for De Beers Marine (Pty) Ltd and has completed Assmang’s Black Rock Mine Operations Train Loading Station and Stackers Projects, the Sack Tipping Unit project for Unilever Nigeria, as well as the Clinker Loading Upgrade project at PPC’s Colleen Bawn Clinker factory in Zimbabwe.

M.V. Grand Banks Life Extension Project - De Beers Marine (Pty) Ltd
The M.V Grand Banks alluvial diamond concentrate exploration vessel is coming into Cape Town Harbour for a major upgrade. Part of the upgrade is the removal of the obsolete drum drying system and replacing it with a pneumatic Drycon drying system.
ELB’s scope of work will include the design, manufacture, factory testing, delivery and commissioning of a pneumatic Drycon drying system rated at 1.5 t/h.

ELB is to supply the mechanical, structural, piping, electrical and instrumentation. Erection is to be done by PBA Projects with installation guidance supplied by ELB. ELB will also be responsible for C 1, 2, and 3 commissioning dock-side and C4 commissioning done at sea.

Assmang’s Black Rock Rapid Train Loading Station (RTLS) & Stackers
ELB has completed the Rapid Train Loading Station (RTLS) and Stackers for the Nchwaning Manganese Mine (located about 80km north-west of Kuruman in the Northern Cape), which is part of the Black Rock Mine Operations (BRMO), operated by Assmang Proprietary Limited, which is jointly owned by Assore Limited and African Rainbow Minerals Limited. The Train Loading Station has now been operating at its nominal capacity since its handover to the client in October 2017 without any major incidents or issues.

At the end of January 2018 the first Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) 104 wagon test train was successfully loaded through the system.

The two stackers complete with their associated yard conveyors delivered to BRMO have also been operating since October 2017. The machines have been stacking material at the designed nominal stacking rate. Both projects are in the close-out phase.

Black Rock Stacker and Rapid Train Loading Station
Sack tipping unit – Unilever Nigeria

ELB have supplied Unilever Nigeria with a new sack tipping system complete with an integrated filter system to keep the sack tip unit dust free while the loading process is in operation. The sack tip unit will be mounted above an existing mixer with a flexible connection between sack tip unit and mixer, the system will aid in providing a dust free environment for the workers.

Clinker Loading Upgrade project at PPC’s Colleen Bawn Clinker factory in Zimbabwe
ELB Engineering Services Africa recently completed the Clinker Loading Upgrade project at PPC’s Colleen Bawn Clinker factory in Zimbabwe. Together with an increasing demand for cement in Zimbabwe and neighbouring territories PPC identified the need to upgrade the loading facility located 160 km’s south of Bulawayo.

As part of their continuing environmental improvement commitments the project simultaneously needed to provide a significant dust reduction solution when loading clinker produced at their factory into rail wagons and road haul trucks. The new loading facility consisted of demolishing the existing elevated overland conveyor and open-ended loading system with an automated system including new elevated conveyor, new loading tower, MCC and control room. The acceptance criteria included being able to load a 30 rack train within 6 hours, which was achieved, even though site restrictions increased the shunting time by only allowing 8 wagons to be loaded in a single run.

ELB was awarded the project after a competitive bidding process and commenced the design phase in late 2016. The solution proposed by ELB was to address dust generated under the storage silo, at a throw out loading facility and at the loading station.
Construction started on site in June 2017 and over 58 000 hours were worked with no time loss injuries recorded, thanks to the excellent co-operation and diligence of all parties on site.

The project was successfully commissioned by the end of October 2017 achieving both the loading and dust reduction performance criteria.

ELB Engineering Services is an internationally recognised, know-how solutions provider to the mining, power, port, construction and industrial sectors. This is achieved through ELB generated innovation, supply of equipment and technology from our world class partners, in-house developed expertise and integration of the services and products from the ELB Group of companies.
Contact: Cornel Charlton - +27 (0) 772-1509 / cornelc@elb.co.za