Photo by: Bloomberg
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – London-listed African Minerals has appointed Ausenco the engineer for the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the Phase 2 project expansion of its Tonkolili iron-ore mine, in Sierra Leone.
Ausenco will start establishing the flowsheet and design parameters for the first Phase 2 concentrator, with an expected design output of up to ten-million tonnes a year, from the results of the current on-site pilot plant work undertaken by the mine.
The scope of the work includes the raw water and tailings dam design and the power supply requirement, African Minerals said in a statement on Monday.
The Tonkolili developer and operator expected the parameters to be established during the second quarter of 2014 to ensure that long-lead equipment items were ordered “in good time”.
The first concentrator plant was scheduled to enter production in 2016.
“Together with the incremental infrastructure growth that we plan to achieve, the freezing of the optimum flowsheet will allow us to confidently embark on this next exciting phase of the development of the Tonkolili deposit, with a higher value product,” said African Minerals CEO Bernie Pryor.
“The establishment of the flowsheet will allow the optimisation of mass yield and concentrate grade – key components in establishing capital schedules, operating costs, resource life and the expected revenue per tonne - from this portion of Tonkolili's production,” he explained.
The initial expenditure for the construction of the concentrator – the earthworks of which would start at the end of the year – and associated facilities, would be funded from an existing $300-million in restricted project level cash, with the balance sourced through new project debt facilities.