JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Multidisciplinary engineering group DRA has been awarded the contract to undertake a feasibility study (FS) on TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines subsidiary Ivanplats’ Platreef platinum-group metals, gold, nickel and copper project, in the Bushveld Complex.
The award of the feasibility study followed DRA’s completion of the project’s prefeasibility study in January, which it believed successfully demonstrated a sound business case for further investigation of the project.
DRA’s most recent role would see it manage and coordinate the all-encompassing FS of the greenfield project, including the highly mechanised underground mine design, processing facilities and associated project infrastructure, in addition to providing a wide range of engineering services.
DRA would also be responsible for managing external specialists in the mine’s geology, life-of-mine planning, geotechnical studies, groundwater management, tailings storage and environmental aspects.
The Platreef reserve would be mined by a large, mechanised underground operation located between 700 m and 1 100 m below surface and which used a vertical production shaft 10 m in diameter.
The process plant was initially planned to comprise two parallel streams, each of which boasted capacity of two-million tons a year, with comminution, flotation, concentrate dewatering and tailings disposal.
A full suite of infrastructure would be covered in the FS, including bulk power supply, bulk water supply, internal and external roads, and on-site buildings and systems.