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Project awarded for opencast op

9th May 2014

  

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Processing specialist B&E International’s appointment as the build-own-operate (BOO) contractor for the crushing, agglomeration and stacking plant based at the 17 000 t/y Tschudi copper project, in northern Namibia, represents a milestone in the company’s strategic plan to build on its reputation as a contract crushing and mineral processing specialist to position itself as a leading engineering project services provider.

The Tschudi contract, which is B&E International’s first in the copper sector as well as its first installation on a greenfield mine, is set to become the company’s biggest engineering project.

Tschudi will be an openpit, heap-leach, solvent extraction electrowinning project producing 99.99% pure copper cathodes on site. Awarded in the fourth quarter of 2013, the contract involves primary, secondary and tertiary crushing, agglomeration and plant maintenance, as well as the operation of the heap-leach stacking process. The crushing, agglomeration and stacking plant will process 2.1-million tons of copper ore a year on a BOO basis at the mine.

B&E International’s portion of the contract is currently in the design phase. The company is also planning to initiate the manufacture of ancillary plant equipment. All major capital expenditure items have been specified and the procurement has been finalised, with site establishment likely to begin by May. The plant must be fully operational by the end of December.

“About three years ago, we took a strategic decision to diversify our offering to the Southern African mining industry to include the engineering, procurement, construction and management of mineral processing plants,” says B&E International plant and engineering division director Ken Basson.

“We have amassed a vast pool of intellectual and mechanical resources that enable us to manage entire process solutions for our customers, from conception to commissioning and day-to-day operations, at favourable rates, compared with traditional project houses,” he adds.

He says the company’s competitive advantage lies in the fact that it has designed and operated plants for its own use for many years, and that this experience is incorporated into the company’s design philosophy.

B&E International’s first turnkey project was successfully completed in 2012 and involved the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of a 600t/h dry coal processing plant for State-owned mining house African Exploration Mining & Finance Corporation’s Vlakfontein colliery, in Mpumalanga. Basson says the successful delivery of this project is an indication of the company’s ability to provide a single-source service.

A subsequent major project saw the design, build, commissioning and handover of a complete turnkey aggregate processing plant for crushed aggregate supplier Raumix Aggregates. Similar smaller contracts have been executed in Namibia and South Africa for customers in the diamond industry over the last two decades.

“We are differentiated in the market by virtue of the fact that we can run the plants that we design, taking all the responsibility and risk for their performance,” comments B&E International MD Dewald Janse van Rensburg. He adds that the company’s revenue stream is based on a pegged level of production per month, so it designs with reliability as a central criterion.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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