Modern Mining February 2018

MINING News

ChromTech Holdings, the South African mine-to-market chrome producer estab- lished in 2006, has announced the completion of its R230 million chrome tailings retreatment plant at platinum producer Lonmin. ChromTech brings on line tailings retreatment plant This is the sixth chrome recovery plant that ChromTech has successfully designed, constructed, commissioned and operated in the last 12 years. The tailings retreatment plant was completed on time and under budget

day. Edenville is therefore in a position to process 8 000 to 10 000 tonnes of mined material per month. Edenville intends installing both a Lamella water treatment system and pre- screen technology to improve the overall efficiency of the plant. The Lamella water treatment system will remove mudstone and coal fines from the water, provid- ing the plant with cleaner water, and the pre-screen technology will pre-screen the mined material, removing coal fines before they reach the wash plant. Once implemented, hourly produc- tion rates should increase to 80 to 100 t/h, thereby bringing operational costs per tonne back in line with management expectations, in parallel with the plant reaching its full production capacity. Edenville repor ts that it contin- ues to work with its partner, Sinohydro Corporation of China, to progress its coal-to- power project. Sinohydro’s representatives have completed their pre-feasibility and economic assessment work and remain very supportive of the project.  following a 12-month construction period. The project is part of Lonmin’s larger US$50 million bulk tailings project designed to re-mine and process UG2 tail- ings material. Steady state at the ChromTech plant is expected to be reached by March 2018 with production of around 35 000 tonnes of saleable chrome concentrate per month. Some 60 permanent jobs will be created by this venture, the bulk of which will be recruited from the local community. ChromTech will market the prod- uct through its own logistics and sales infrastructure, which is consistent with company strategy to maximise value throughout the chrome value chain. Says ChromTech CEO Craig Bennett: “Our focus on safety and disciplined strategy execu- tion is yielding excellent results. We are pleased to be creating value throughout the commodity cycle for all stakeholders involved in the project.” On a further positive note, the com- pany says it is growing an exciting project pipeline, with the synergies from the development of its Bleskop railway sid- ing expected to unlock further value for itself and chrome companies in the surrounding area. 

The new R230 million chrome tailings retreatment plant.

Edenville to mine Namwele deposit in Tanzania Edenville Energy, the AIM-listed company developing a coal project in south-west Tanzania, says that since the start of com- mercial coal production in October 2017 it has been refining all aspects of the operation and selling coal to commercial customers.

that the first Namwele coal will be mined before the end of Q1 2018. Coal quality, in terms of both calo- rific value and ash content, is exceeding management’s initial expectations when mining commenced. Both the raw mined and processed coal has been extensively tested and has returned values that meet customers’ requirements. “Recent results from our on-site labora- tory have given encouraging calorific values for Mkomolo, including 6 734 GCV (Gross Calorific Value in kcal/kg) on an air-dried basis, correlating with previous results from December 2017. Additionally, and of par- ticular note, is the energy value contained in our raw coal fines material (material gen- erally less than one sixteenth of an inch in size), recently testing at 4 753 GCV on an as-received basis,” says Edenville. The company’s wash plant and associ- ated equipment is currently running at a throughput of 30 to 40 t/h, operating six days a week for eight to 10 hours a

According to the company, its mining operations are proceeding as anticipated, with high quality near-surface coal being extracted from the Mkomolo deposit. Mining operations have been able to keep pace with demand and plant capacity despite the seasonal heavy rains. Edenville says that to help fulfil the demand for coal it is experiencing and to potentially increase the amount of unpro- cessed coal it can sell, it has taken the decision to also start mining the Namwele deposit. Namwele, which sits to the south of the Mkomolo deposit, will be mined by Edenville’s Tanzanian partner, Upendo Group Ltd. Upendo has already started clearing the overburden and it is expected

16  MODERN MINING  February 2018