Modern Mining April 2018

PRODUCT News

Veolia provides treatment plants to New Luika where it is pumped to a clarified water tank. It is then pumped to the three mul- timedia filters which operate in parallel for iron removal before passing through the two carbon filters. These filters also oper- ate in parallel, from which New Luika Gold Mine can access clarified water for process water purposes.

VeoliaWater Technologies South Africa has completed and handed over a three-part project for Shanta Gold at its New Luika Gold Mine (NLGM) located in the Lupa goldfield of south-west Tanzania. Veolia’s scope of work incorporated fab- rication, installation and commissioning of a river water treatment package plant (RWTP) and a skid-mounted borehole water treatment plant (BWTP), as well as the supply of equipment for refurbishing the existing sewage treatment plant (STP). The plants were commissioned and signed off at the beginning of April 2017. Equipment fabrication was col- lected from Veolia’s premises in Sebenza, Johannesburg by Shanta Gold. The plants arrived at New Luika in late November, with installation starting in December 2016 and continuing into the first part of 2017. The RWTP is a 30 m³/h package plant which treats water extracted from the nearby Luika River, ultimately for use as process water. The plant uses clarifica- tion with appropriate chemical dosing to ensure the clarifier operates efficiently, as well as multimedia filtration, acti- vated carbon filtration and pre- and post-chlorination. The water is pumped from the raw water tank to the lamella clarifier from

products have been developed to suit many specific applications. A range of other offerings in packaged products and electronic detonation were also evolved by BME, many of which now hold market-leading status. BME’s cold emulsion product, HEF (Innovex) remains the backbone of the company’s technol- ogy that supports the non-electric and electronic systems. “We have retained a steady focus on innovation and customer service across the company, which has allowed us to grow throughout Africa and also into Australasia, south-east Asia and South America,”said Dr Pathak. “We are now gearing up to enter North American markets, and the time has come where we need our global brand to be streamlined and easily identified.” From its dominance in South African opencast mining – where specialist emul- sions were developed for conditions such All filters and dosing equipment are housed in a 12 m-long container with the external clarifier positioned nearby. The 5 m³/h skid-mounted BWTP is used as post-treatment for an existing water treatment plant to treat water to potable standards. Veolia’s engineered skid uses a chlorine dosing unit, carbon filter and soft- ener to treat the water for the mine camp’s potable water needs. The STP portion of the contract required Veolia to refurbish the existing sewage treatment plant, including pro- viding and installing new submersible trickling filter feed pumps, supplying and installing a new chlorine dosing system, replacing the old trickling filter header and distribution nozzles, as well as the associ- ated piping and valves. The recent work conducted on this plant, which was origi- nally installed in 2011, greatly increases the plant’s efficiency and functionality. “As most of the plants are automated,

as reactive ground – BME took its emulsions further into underground applications. All these now fall under the Innovex brand. The popular HEF 100 becomes Innovex 100 while emulsions such as HEF RG and HEF ARC become Innovex™ RG and Innovex™ ARC respectively. The same applies for BME’s under- ground offerings, Megapump Lateral and Megapump Uphole, which are now labelled Innovex™ Lateral and Innovex™ Uphole. In the packaged product range, for instance, Megamite Super and Megamite Plus become Innopak™Super and Innopak™Plus, while Panex becomes Innofex™. “These names have been trademarked in our primary markets,” she said. “The new brand also encompasses our environmen- tal focus, based on our innovative use of used oil in our emulsions, giving customers the opportunity to cost-effectively dispose of contaminated oil without threatening Filter and softener skid for the potable water treatment plant. operator training was minimal and took place simultaneously with commission- ing,”says Sean Momberg, Project Engineer, Engineered Systems, Veolia Water Technologies South Africa. “All equipment was manufactured on time and to spec, and even with the short lead time we completed the manufacture of the plants within the specified timelines. “It took a bit longer on site to install the plants than initially expected due to the rugged and isolated area that the New Luika Gold Mine is situated in but the Shanta Gold and Veolia site teams worked together admirably to get the plants up and running in the shortest possible time.” Sean Momberg, Veolia Water Technologies South Africa, tel (+27 11) 281-3600, e-mail: sean.momberg@veolia.com

Innovex is BME’s new emulsion brand After more than three decades of product evolution and advancement in its emulsion offerings, South Africa-based explosives company BME is subsuming its well-known brands such as HEF and Megapump under the name of Innovex.

According to BME Ammonium Nitrate based Products, Equipment and Services Product Manager Dr Rakhi Pathak, the motivation for the name change is mainly to accommodate the steady expansion of the company’s markets globally – as well as to reflect the technological developments and diverse solutions within the product range. Having grown steadily from its origins in 1984 on the strength of a new cold emulsion technology, BME earned its early reputation in the opencast mining sector – where it remains the South African leader. Since then, through continuous investment in technology and research, its emulsion

the environment.” BME, tel (+27 11) 709-8765

April 2018  MODERN MINING  47