Capital Equipment News February 2019

Easing coal mines’ financial, production risk

This allows the business to flexibly fit in to customers’ value chains, maximising production performance and machine uptime while taking on the risk of meeting the agreed output targets. With research and development as a key driver, new technologies are continuously in the pipeline to meet the changing needs of the industry. “Our R&D focus has allowed us to develop our own primary coal crushing plant; a high capacity, track mounted unit that is currently under construc- tion and will soon be launched,” says Basson. “The design is aimed at further reducing unit costs that we can achieve when conducting a contract for a cus- tomer. Its high volume capacity means better efficiencies while being able to serve multiple small deposits on the same mine site.” Water conservation in the coal ben- eficiation process is another element of the company’s R&D. It is exploring practical options for ‘dry separation’ technology for coal plants, in collabora-

tion with a local university. Traditional water-based coal washing technology is a major consumer of water in mine plants. Process optimisation is also a service that B&E International provides for customers, based on its years of expe- rience in designing, constructing and operating plants, he says. “Whether a project is greenfield or brownfield, we can assist in providing solutions and addressing challenges,” he says. “For existing plants, our engi- neering team can identify and address constraints in the process – whether the equipment is ours or a competitor’s. We conduct detailed studies on how customers can remove bottle-necks from their plants.” Equipment is designed, built and maintained by B&E International’s ex- perts at their well-equipped facilities in Kempton Park, Gauteng. As a member of JSE-listed Raubex Group, B&E Inter- national is B-BBEE-compliant and works closely with mines, project houses and contractors. b

B&E International is developing a track-mounted mobile coal crushing solution.

As the size of South African coal deposits shrink and op- erations expect shorter mine lives, miners look to reduce capital expenditure on infrastructure. B&E Internation- al’s build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) plants offer the solution. “Our expertise and equipment in crushing and screen- ing takes the capex pressure off the customer and relieves them of considerable production risk,” says Ken Basson, director plant and engineering at B&E Interna- tional. “We can even assume other responsibilities in the value chain, from drilling and blasting to coal conveying and processing.”

Development update for Bisie tin mining project Alphamin Resources Corp has announced an update to the development status of its flagship tin project in the DRC. The processing plant front- end crushing circuit was successfully commissioned on 8 January 2019, on schedule. This includes the primary crusher, two tertiary crushers and the screening buildings. Ore is now being fed through the circuit to create a stockpile with which the gravity circuit can be commissioned. The process plant in its entirety is planned to be commissioned, on track with the original schedule by the end of March 2019. The under- ground mine capital footprint was completed at the end of December 2018, two months ahead of schedule. The run-of-mine ore production rate is being ramped up to approximately 1 000 t per day to achieve the targeted steady-state feed rate to the processing. It is envisaged that the processing plant should ramp up to its nameplate production capacity of tin concentrates from April 2019 to the end of June 2019. As was previously announced, Alphamin’s subsidiary ABM (Alphamin Bisie Mining SA) has drawn on the total available debt package of US$80-million and this together with the previous capital raisings are expected to fund the project to production, bar any unfore- seen events. “To have achieved such significant progress to date on time and within budget for a project of this scale, in a challenging environment, is a testament to the skill and dedication of our staff and contractors on the ground. We look forward to the commencement of tin concentrate production in the near future and will keep the market appraised of developments in this regard,” says Alphamin CEO, Boris Kamstra. b

Sandvik and Vedanta Zinc to transform Black Mountain into a data-driven mine Sandvik is providing the complete OptiMine ® suite – a comprehensive digital offering for underground mining – to Vedanta Zinc International’s Black Mountain Mining (BMM) operations in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. The OEM-independent OptiMine ® digital platform includes: equipment/asset location tracking; planning and task management; scheduling; monitoring equipment and operations; and OptiMine Analytics with IBM Watson IoT. The scope includes trucks, loaders and drills. The system will be commissioned in 2019. “OptiMine gives us end-to-end visibility and control over our underground mining opera- tions,” says Andre Trytsman, GM, Black Mountain Mining. “It was important to us to have the full scope, from scheduling to analytics, to ensure we are optimised for the safest and most productive operation possible. The OptiMine platform is the next step in Black Mountain’s digital journey, delivering efficiency and increasing operational performance, allowing us to unlock more value. We are excited to partner with Sandvik and incorporate the OptiMine technology into Vedanta Zinc International’s exciting digital strategy,” adds Trytsman. OptiMine is an OEM-independent suite of digital tools for analysing and optimising mining production and processes. It integrates all relevant data into one source, delivering both real-time and predictive insights to improve operations. OptiMine is open and scalable, providing flexibility to grow as needed, and incorporate other equipment, systems and networks. Black Mountain Mining’s current operation comprises two

• US$80-million – The available debt package expected to fund the project to production

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