JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Furnace and smelting plant manufacturer Tenova Pyromet has completed 50% of the new 20 MW platinum group metals (PGM) furnace at Northam Platinum’s Zondereinde smelter in Thabazimbi, with the handover on track for August 2017.
Project milestones achieved to date include the first steel being raised on site in mid-July 2015. This is the first of over 1 000 t of structural steelwork to be used on the project.
More than 20% of the civil structures are also complete, while the placing of the 12-m-diameter furnace shell marks another significant milestone, with the site establishment of the mechanical installation contractor.
The contract, which was awarded to Tenova in 2015, will support Northam’s planned expansion of PGM production, which requires the flexibility to process high chromite, low base metal and high-sulphur containing concentrates.
The miner will be able to operate the furnace either as a submerged arc or a brush arc operation and will, therefore, have a sufficiently broad operating range to accommodate feedstock with a widely varying mineralogy.
Tenova Pyromet’s scope on the project covers the PGM smelting furnace, feed system and offgas handling plant, as well as the furnace building and all associated civil works, infrastructure and services, electrodes, copper cooling elements and offgas handling and furnace controller.