JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Emerging phosphate miner Elandsfontein Exploration and Mining has tasked multidisciplinary engineering group DRA with the implementation phase of the Elandsfontein phosphate project, on the west coast of South Africa.
DRA, which had also completed the definitive feasibility study for the project, was responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction management, including the processing facility and its associated infrastructure.
The commissioning of the project, which would be managed by the group’s Cape Town-based offices, was expected to occur in August 2016.
The process plant, designed to produce about 1.35-million tonnes a year of phosphate concentrate, would comprise screening, classification, milling, reverse flotation, dewatering and product handling.
“The award follows more than 15 months of working closely with the Elandsfontein team on the study of the project, during which a wide range of testwork and trials were carried out to develop the optimum flow sheet,” DRA CEO Paul Thomson said in a statement.
DRA’s in-house mining division had carried out the design and production scheduling of the openpit mining operation, which would be contracted out by Elandsfontein.