Name and Location
Grande Côte mineral sands project, Senegal.

Client
Mineral Deposits.

Project Description
The main heavy mineral deposits identified at Grande Côte to date include Diogo, Mboro, Fass Boye and Lompoul. The project covers 445.7 km², located on a coastal mobile dune system.

The system has an average width of 2 km, from about 80 km north-east of Dakar, extending northward for more than 100 km.

The orebody size and characteristics, such as no overburden, free-flowing sands, minor vegetation, minimal slimes and no hard lenses, will allow for a large-scale, low-cost dredging operation using conventional technologies.

Grande Côte is expected to produce an average of 85 000 t/y of zircon and 575 000 t/y of ilmenite, as well as small amounts of rutile and leucoxene when in full production over an expected mine life of at least 20 years.

Value
Grande Côte is expected to cost $406-million, which incorporates a 28 MW heavy fuel oil power station, a rail spur and rolling stock for bulk material movement, as well as owner costs.

Duration
Mining started at the project in early 2013.

Latest Developments
Mineral Deposits has reported that the ramp-up of its Grande Côte project, in Senegal, is advancing ahead of design.

Mining at the project started in late March this year, with sand being processed through the wet concentrator plant. However, in mid-April, the mechanical failure of seals on two major pumps caused downtime of almost a month.

However, Mineral Deposits has noted that since mining has restarted, the newly installed mechanical seals have operated trouble-free.

The wet concentrator plant has been operating at full capacity and has consistently improved output. In recent weeks, feed rates above 4 000 t/h have been recorded for several days, with heavy mineral concentrate production reaching between 1 200 t to 1 400 t.

Full nameplate capacity for the plant is estimated at 7 000 t/h.

Mineral Deposits has said that it could effectively take about 12 months to reach full production rates at steady-state, with feed rates through the wet concentrator plant to be restricted over the next few months, as tails are pumped through land-based lines off the mine path to enable the size of the dredge pond to be increased.

Meanwhile, the wet plant at the mineral separation plant has also had its first production run, operating close to design for throughput and yield. Mineral Deposits is hoping to run its nonmagnetic and magnetic concentrates through the dry plant over the next few weeks.

Grande Côte was expected to produce, on average, about 85 000 t/y of zircon and 575 000 t/y of ilmenite when in full production, making it the largest new mineral sands project currently under construction. The project will have an initial mine-life of 20 years.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Mineral Deposits, tel +221 338 693 181 or fax +221 338 603 683.