The Moma mineral sands expansion project, in Mozambique, has been delayed “well into the second half of this year”, says owner Kenmare Resources.

The Irish mining company explains that engineering, procurement and construction management contractor Aveng Engineering & Projects Company (E+PC) experienced delays in the issuing of drawings that impacted on the start of fabrication in some areas. However, the project cost has not changed significantly.

“Every effort is being made to decrease this delay, including the employment of extra resources by E+PC and the appointment of a new project manager to Kenmare’s owner’s team,” the company states.

Upon completion, the expansion will increase Moma’s production by 50% to about 1.2-million tons a year of ilmenite and associated products.

Kenmare reports that the new dredge has arrived at Moma. Manufactured and tested in the US, it forms part of the Phase 2 expansion and will be reassembled in the coming months.

All the pontoons that form the floating base of the new wet concentrator plant (WCP) have also arrived at Moma and are being placed in position in the starter-mining pond.

Further, expansion works at the mineral sepa- ration plant are continuing, with substantial progress on civil engineering and steelwork on both the new wet high-intensity magnetic sepa- ration plant and the auxiliary ilmenite plant.

In December, Kenmare concluded the docu- mentation and execution of an agreement with lenders which provided that, in addition to cash already available in the group, up to $65-million of operating cash flow might be applied to expansion costs.

Meanwhile, a supplementary dry mining system has also been installed and commissioned at the mine. This system can currently feed 500 t/h of ore to the WCP and is being ramped up to 1 000 t/h of ore.

The upgraded jetty facility is also fully commissioned and operating successfully, allowing ships to be loaded during a much broader range of weather conditions.
Kenmare further notes that the prefeasibility study for a Phase 3 expansion of Moma and the design of facilities for the production and export of monazite is progressing and is due for completion later this year.

Moma produced 225 600 t of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) during the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 195 700 t during the third quarter, a 15% increase. Total production of HMC for 2011 was 842 900 t.

The company also states that final product volumes totalled 636 800 t of ilmenite, 43 500 t of zircon and 6 500 t of rutile.

A total of 730 400 t of finished products was shipped during 2011, compared with 712 900 t during 2010. These shipments generated reve- nues of $167.5-million in 2011, an increase of 83% from $91.6-million during 2010.

Procurement is being undertaken on an inter- national basis, with vendors in South Africa, Australia, Croatia, India and the US.

Aveng E+PC’s construction management team is managing the civil and earthworks, structural, mechanical, platework and piping, electrical and instrumentation and system integration contractors. The company’s team is based on site, with suitable commercial and engineering support in Centurion, South Africa.

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