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Tete steel project BFS near completion

9th June 2017

By: Nadine James

Features Deputy Editor

     

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SRK Consulting South Africa, a firm of consulting engineers and scientists, has completed its share of work on the bankable feasibility study (BFS) for the Tete iron-ore mining and steelmaking project, in Mozambique.

The BFS for the project, which is expected to start production in the first half of 2019, is yet to be finalised.

SRK principal mining engineer Jaco van Graan tells Mining Weekly that the company’s scope of work, completed in January, included the mineral resource estimate, openpit geotechnics, openpit mining study, hydrogeology and hydrology aspects, as well as civil geotechnics.

SRK also advised on the design of the bulk sample for metallurgical testwork, adds SRK corporate consultant (geology) Hennie Theart.

The Tete project is owned by World Bank financial institution the International Finance Corporation, with 13%, and iron-ore miner Baobab Resources, with 87%. Baobab noted during an investor presentation in May 2016 that its captive iron-ore, low-cost coal and abundant water resources were the basis for compiling a BFS to demonstrate the commercial viability of a 500 000 t/y integrated mining and steelmaking operation.

SRK, which was appointed as the resources and mining consultant for the project in 2014, was responsible for declaring the mineral resources and the mineral reserve following its review of the BFS compiled by Baobab and other project consultants, explains Van Graan.

The Tete project comprises the Tenge‐Ruoni resource block, which has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant measured resource of 156-million tonnes, an indicated resource of 167-million tonnes and an inferred resource of 436-million tonnes, grading 36% iron-ore, 0.4% vanadium and 13.3% titanium dioxide.

Theart notes there are plans to exploit the “vanadiferous titano-magnetite layers within the Tete suite, which is a layered gabbro-anorthosite intrusion”, highlighting that, as the mineralisation is in the form of magnetite, it is well-suited for resource upgrading. The deposit is similar to the magnetite deposits within the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, he adds.

SRK applied the same methodology as it did at previous iron-ore projects, in line with its stringent standards and professional approach, explains Van Graan. Theart says the project had unique aspects, as the team was dealing with a magnetite orebody, rather than a hematite orebody, with vanadium and titanium as significant potential by-products.

Further, Theart notes the economic significance of the project’s proximity to various coal deposits (including coking coal) and new rail infrastructure, with Baobab stating on its website that the project is located in the “emerging mining, logistics and industrial hub of Tete”, ensuring that it is strategically positioned to support national and regional development.

The company’s investor presentation conveys that the project is centrally located in a region with rapidly growing gross domestic product and steel demand, adding that the “excellent” transport links into Zambia, Zimbabwe and northern Mozambique will enable Baobab to target key markets that currently rely on expensive imported steel.

Movement in Mozambique
SRK is also involved in water management in the coal industry in Mozambique, says SRK partner and principal hydrologist Peter Shepherd.

He notes that these water management projects include upgrading the stormwater controls to separate clean and dirty water as well as the design of pipelines and reticulation, at a large mine site.

SRK is also developing systems to manage the water more efficiently, with it having designed silt traps at coal mines.

SRK partner and principal engineering geologist Angus Bracken says the consultancy is also carrying out regular mine inspections for a mineral sands mine, in Mozambique, while SRK senior environmental scientist and air-quality specialist Dhiren Naidoo notes that the company’s air-quality team has undertaken a dust-control study for one of the country’s larger mines.

Naidoo comments that this was a “rather unique” study aimed at determining effective dust-control measures to lower the mine’s dust emissions. SRK has completed several air-quality specialist studies in the past two years in Mozambique, including a stack emissions test for testing and analysis services provider Bureau Veritas South Africa.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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