West African Resources has released the results of a feasibility study for its 90%-owned Kiaka gold project in Burkina Faso, heralding a potential open-pit mining operation that can support a processing plant throughput of 8.4 Mt/y.
Kiaka is 140 km southeast of Ouagadougou, and 45 km south of the company’s existing Sanbrado gold mine.
The Kiaka mining study is based on conventional open-pit mining methods, with run of mine ore being directly fed to the crushing circuit. Mining operations will use a combination of 140 t (Cat 6015) and 230 t (Cat 6020) hydraulic excavators matched to 95 t dump trucks (Cat 777s).
Drill and blast will be required from near surface, with the parameters selected based on the relatively hard rock mass qualities and the required selectivity for mining of the ore. Given the broad mineralised zone, a portion of the blasting will be able to be undertaken on 10-m benches with more selective zones blasted on 5-m benches, the company noted. As such a combination of top hammer (Sandvik Panterra DP1500) and downhole hammer (Sandvik Leopard DI650) capable blast hole rigs will be employed.
To achieve the targeted processing rate, a total material movement averaging 21 Mt/y is required for the first seven years of the production schedule. With the pit staging deferring waste movement, this increases to an average of 35 Mt/y for the next six years of production before reducing to an average of 15 Mt/y for the remainder of the mine life.
The production profile is suited to an initial fleet of 2 x 230 t excavators and 1 x 140 t excavator matched to 95-t class trucks. The fleet will increase to 3 x 230-t excavators with 2 x 140-t excavators for the higher production requirement. Further work to investigate bulk mining scenarios and optimise fleet selection will be conducted, with further refinement of the drill and blast parameters also being undertaken in conjunction with fleet optimisation.
Kiaka’s free-milling gold ore is intended to be processed through a conventional single stage gyratory crushing and semi-autogenous ball mill crusher (SABC) milling circuit followed by carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing. Extensive metallurgical test work indicates Kiaka will deliver life of mine gold recoveries of 90% at a nominal 100-micron grind size.
Following review of the option studies the company selected the following major equipment:
The crusher can achieve 8.4 Mt/y for the design blend at 65% availability. At a 70% loading, the throughput rate ranges from 9.2 Mt/y to 10.2 Mt/y on the design blend. The selected mills also have higher than typical design margin for the nameplate throughput rate with modelling conducted by OMC showing the selected comminution circuit is capable of a throughput of:
On a 100% basis, life of mine (18.5 years) production is scheduled to come in at 219,000 oz/y of gold.
West African Executive Chairman and CEO, Richard Hyde, said: “Kiaka will access power from the Burkina Faso grid predominantly supplied by low-carbon hydroelectric power from Ghana and the Ivory Coast with large Burkina Faso low-carbon solar projects planned to come online early in the mine life to supplement the grid.”
Hyde says WAF will investigate expanding Kiaka to plus-10 Mt/y through the addition of secondary crushing and debottlenecking the process circuit, as well as evaluating tenders for key major equipment received during the feasibility study, which had ranged widely in price and delivery lead times.
“There remains scope to reduce the capital expenditure and cost contingencies on this equipment, as well as shorten the lead times,” Hyde said. West African Resources is also looking at an owner-mining versus contractor (the current plan) study looking to lower mining costs and VAT working capital.
Metso Outotec says it has been awarded a contract to deliver sustainable grinding technology to an iron ore project producing premium pellet feed in South America.
The total value of the order exceeds €10 million ($10.2 million), the company says.
The OEM’s scope of delivery consists of the engineering, manufacturing and supply of four Vertimill® vertical grinding mills. In addition, Metso Outotec will provide installation and commissioning advisory services. The Planet Positive Vertimill grinding mills are expected to save more than 30% of the installed power compared with a conventional ball mill circuit, the company says.
“We are pleased that our customer has chosen the industry-leading Vertimill technology,” Christoph Hoetzel, Head of the Grinding business line at Metso Outotec, says. “The regrinding circuit will enable energy-efficient grinding combined with low operating and life-cycle costs.”
Kamoa Copper SA has selected Metso Outotec to supply key concentrator plant equipment to the company’s copper mining complex expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the OEM reports.
Metso Outotec’s scope of delivery consists of Planet Positive processing equipment, including energy efficient HIGmill™ regrind mills (pictured) with polyurethane wear linings. The delivery also includes Larox® PF 60 Series concentrate filters and TankCell® flotation cells for the efficient recovery of valuables.
“One of the key missions for Kamoa Copper SA is to implement low-carbon technology to advance sustainable production of copper,” Charles Ntsele, Vice President, Minerals Sales for Metso Outotec in Africa, says. “Metso Outotec’s Planet Positive offering supports our customer’s ambition, allowing us to be a true partner for positive change.”
Early in July, Ivanhoe Mines, which owns 39.6% of Kamoa-Kakula, reported record producion in the June quarter of 87,314 t of copper in concentrate produced.
Metso Outotec also announced this week that it had signed an agreement with Larsen & Toubro Limited to supply four Symons™ cone crushers for an iron ore crushing and screening plant to National Mineral Development Corporation’s (NMDC) Kirandul complex in Chhattisgarh, Central India.
The new Symons cone crushers have advanced features that will make the customer’s operations more efficient and reduce maintenance efforts compared with earlier versions and to other equivalent crushers on the market, Metso Outotec says.
Horizonte Minerals says it has awarded all major and long-lead-time process plant equipment contracts for its flagship Araguaia nickel project in Brazil, with FLSmidth, Metso Outotec, Uvån Hagfors Teknologi AB (UHT) and Inteco Melting and Casting Technologies GMBH named as recipients.
Following completion of the competitive tender processes and detailed negotiations, the company has now secured equipment supply and technical support services for the balance of the Araguaia process flowsheet from these leading suppliers, it said. This is in line with the strategy employed for the award of the furnace contract to Hatch Ltd earlier this year.
“The successful completion of these contract awards is a significant de-risking event for the project,” it said. “Importantly it provides more certainty on costs for a material portion of the overall capital expenditure and builds confidence in the project schedule by gaining commitments for the delivery of key equipment on site in the timeframe required.”
To date, the company has awarded contracts totalling $293 million (including the $135 million of process equipment noted above) on budget and on time, according to CEO Jeremy Martin.
The rotary kiln, rotary dryer and associated dust handling equipment supply contract has been awarded to FLSmidth. FLSmidth, Horizonte says, is a market-leading supplier of engineering, equipment, and service solutions, particularly to the ferronickel industry, notably to Anglo American’s Barro Alto and Vale’s Onca Puma nickel operations in Brazil. FLSmidth has a strong track record of providing equipment and technical support services, with extensive experience in processing ore with characteristics similar to Araguaia, it said.
The ore preparation equipment contract involves the provision of primary, secondary and tertiary crushing, as well as the apron feeder that feeds the dryer. A primary dust control system for the reduction and refinery furnace, in addition to the secondary dust removal system, will also be supplied. This contract has been awarded to Metso Outotec, a leader in end-to-end solutions and services for the minerals processing and metals refining industries. Metso Outotec, Horizonte says, has extensive experience in providing equipment for the mining industry, including for operations worldwide with similar processing plants. It has a substantial presence in Brazil to provide ongoing technical support.
Horizonte has also awarded a contract for the supply of metal granulation equipment to UHT and a contract for the supply of the refinery equipment package to Inteco, which will transform the crude ferronickel produced by the electric arc furnace to high grade ferronickel for sale to customers.
The Araguaia project comprises an open-pit nickel laterite mining operation that delivers ore from a number of pits to a central rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) metallurgical processing facility. The metallurgical process comprises a single line RKEF to extract FeNi from the ore. After an initial ramp-up period, the plant will reach a full capacity of approximately 900,000 t/y of dry ore feed to produce 52,000 t of ferronickel, in turn containing 14,500 t/y of nickel. The FeNi product will be transported by road to the port of Vila do Conde in the north of the state for sale to overseas customers.
Metso Outotec says it has been awarded a major contract for the delivery of sustainable crushing, screening and grinding technologies to a greenfield iron ore project in South America.
The concentrator plant has a targeted production of premium pellet feed, with the total value of the order approximately €45 million ($47 million).
The comminution circuit flowsheet developed for the new concentrator plant in cooperation with Metso Outotec represents the most sustainable technology currently available, according to the OEM. Conventional horizontal mills have been replaced with the combination of HRC™e high pressure grinding rolls (pictured above) and Vertimill® grinding mills to achieve the best energy-efficiency with the lowest operating and life cycle costs, it says.
By using this flowsheet, the plant is expected to save 25% of installed power compared with a conventional high pressure grinding roll (HPGR)/ball mill circuit and over 40% compared with a conventional SABC (SAG mill followed by pebble crusher and ball mill) circuit, the company claims.
Metso Outotec’s scope of delivery consists of the engineering, manufacturing, and supply of SuperiorTM MKIII Primary Crusher, HP SeriesTM cone crushers, HRC e HPGR high pressure grinding rolls, vibrating feeders, as well as banana, horizontal and dewatering screens and Vertimill grinding mills. In addition, Metso Outotec will provide installation and commissioning advisory services and wear and spare parts.
Christoph Hoetzel, Head of Grinding business line at Metso Outotec, said: “Metso Outotec is honoured to be chosen to deliver these state-of-the-art comminution technologies. The plant’s Planet Positive comminution flowsheet combines the best solutions available, allowing to achieve superior energy-efficiency and lower wear rates.”
Fernando Samanez, Vice President, Minerals Sales, South America market area at Metso Outotec, added: “This is a remarkable project and Metso Outotec will play a significant role also in the project start-up with its strong local operations and highly skilled service team.”
Metso Outotec says it has optimised its existing induration technology offering and is launching its Compact-sized Pellet Plant.
The plant design is based on a 3-m-wide indurating machine, building on the design of Metso Outotec’s larger product range. It is billed as offering the same high plant performance and premium product quality as the larger size plants.
Metso Outotec Compact-sized Pellet Plant will be offered in sizes of 189 sq.m (1.2-1.5 Mt/y capacity), 288 sq.m (1.7-2.3 Mt/y) and 315 sq.m (2-2.6 Mt/y).
The new plant design is cost efficient with optimised delivery time, thanks to high standardisation in design and project execution, according to Metso Outotec. At the same time, the design provides the required flexibility to cater to typical customer demands, and customers can also customise the basic offering with add-on packages.
Matthias Gabriel, Director, Ferrous Product Group at Metso Outotec, said: “We are very excited to launch the Compact-sized Pellet Plant. We aim to cater to the flourishing mid-size concentrate producer segment needs with this new offering.
“Conventionally, 4 m is the commonly available and most-used technology. However, today there is an increasing demand for plants with smaller capacities. We have already won an order for this technology and will be installing our first 3-m-wide travelling grate pellet plant in Nagarnagar, Chhattisgarh, in central India. The plant, which will produce 2 Mt/y of high-quality iron ore pellets, is expected to go into production in 2024.”
Metso Outotec is a leading supplier of travelling grate pelletising technology with an installed worldwide base of over 100 plants. Its technology provides dependable process performance with an emphasis on optimising fuel efficiency and minimal emissions.
Metso Outotec says it has strengthened its MD series of mill discharge pumps with compact-size Low Rider pumps for easy replacements and upgrades.
This new cost-efficient pump range is targeted especially for installations with limited space, with the pumps designed to fit the footprint of an existing installation, it says.
Timo Torvinen, Vice President of Pumps Business & Product Management at Metso Outotec, said: “I am happy to see this new addition to our offering of Planet Positive MD series pumps. With its reduced mechanical footprint, the MD Low Rider is a perfect replacement for any pump type or make. It can be installed at a fraction of the usual site modification cost and complexity.”
The Metso Outotec MD Low Rider series covers sizes from MD400 (400 mm inlet) to MD700 (700 mm inlet), in high chrome and rubber options.
All MD Low Rider pumps are designed to use the existing hydraulic components with a newer and shorter drive end, Metso Outotec said. This reduces the overall weight of the pump, while allowing for for complete pump change-outs. They also use the proven MD hydraulics and wet-end components, the OEM added.
Auxilium Technology Group (ATG), a start-up connected to the University of Arizona, in collaboration with Metso Outotec, has been announced as one of two finalists in the BHP Tailings Challenge, an international competition to promote the development of new technologies to reuse mine tailings.
Last year, ATG was one of 10 companies and academic research groups chosen to move on to the laboratory stage of the BHP Tailings Challenge, from an initial field of 154 applicants from 19 countries. Metso Outotec and ATG signed an agreement to collaborate on this initiative and, in April 2022, BHP chose two finalists, ATG and Americas Tailings Inc, a company that has developed a process to turn mine tailings into fertiliser products.
For the next phase, ATG plans to build a pilot tailings processing plant at the San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory, owned by University of Arizona. Metso Outotec will contribute with advice on engineering and scale up using Metso Outotec products.
Metso Outotec supported the ATG process design concept by estimating engineering costs and providing Metso Outotec Plant Solutions technology competence. The concept considers pre-designed plant units known as “Process Islands” for almost all the process areas of the future plant, the company said.
Metso Outotec’s approach supported the project from optimal equipment sizing to optimising engineering costs and modularising the plant to meet future capacity requirements.
Mining companies like BHP are eager to find alternatives for the use of tailings, which are costly to store and regulated under environmental laws because they contain pollutants.
After initial cleaning of the tailings, the proposed process includes use of the material as construction aggregate or an insulating “geofoam” that can be sprayed or 3D printed to produce insulating blocks.
Metso Outotec says it is launching a comprehensive Filtration Plant Units offering to maximise operational reliability in different types of dewatering applications where superior process performance combined with energy and water efficiency is required.
The offering consists of three major plant units around Metso Outotec’s Larox® PF and Larox® FFP, and Metso Outotec CC filter technologies, all designed for the dewatering of concentrates and tailings.
The latest addition to the offering is the Larox FFP3716 Filter Plant Unit, which represents the most advanced technology for the safe high volume processing of tailings, according to the company.
All Metso Outotec Filtration Plant Units are scalable and come as complete customisable solutions to meet even the most stringent customer requirements, the company explained.
Toni Kuisma, Product Manager, Filtration Plant Units at Metso Outotec, said: “We have been supporting our customers with filtration solutions for almost 100 years. Today, our selection of filtration technologies is the largest in the field, and their energy, emission and water efficiency is in a league of its own. The Filtration Plant Units combine all this knowledge to provide our customers with unrivalled dewatering performance.”
He continued: “We have also optimised the engineering and delivery process. The new plant unit concept provides the fastest time-to-volume for our customers. Special attention has also been paid to the units’ maintainability through, for example, advanced digitalisation. Their high level of automation enables easy optimisation and remote support.”
These units, which consist of advanced filters, screens, filter feed tanks, slurry pumps and conveyors, are pre-engineered for faster project execution. They are also coupled with process control system and various ancillary products and expert services, supported by the Metso Outotec Dewatering Technology Center (DTC) in Lappeenranta, Finland.
The integrated service offering provided by the company’s global network ranges from filter inspection and dewatering optimisation to spares and wears and remote support and Life Cycle Services.
Jervois Global is progressing the build of the Idaho Cobalt Operations (ICO) in the US, with the mill set to be commissioned in September and full production slated for February 2023.
Once in production, ICO is billed as being the only primary cobalt mine in the US, able to supply a critical metal necessary for electric vehicles, energy generation and distribution, defence and other industries.
In its latest project update, Jervois said that it had come up with a revised construction budget of $107.5 million that had board approval. This was up from the previous $99.1 million outlined, reflecting a heighted inflationary environment in the US.
This adjusted final forecast capital expenditure and schedule will form the basis of a “Cost to Complete” test by independent engineer RPMGlobal, who has been engaged by the trustee acting for bondholders under the terms of Jervois’ $100 million Senior Secured Bonds. RPM engineers are scheduled to visit site in early July to undertake the final Cost to Complete test ahead of the planned second tranche bond drawdown of $50 million later that month.
Mine development, meanwhile, continues at circa-25 ft/d (7.6 m/d), the company noted. Planned increases to underground working faces, improved water management and road conditions, as well as additional personnel and mining equipment on site, are expected to increase mine development productivity, it said.
“Jervois and its mining contractor, Small Mine Development, remain confident in the revised mining production targets that underpin the capital cost update,” the company stated.
Jervois says it is achieving infill drilling rates over 200 ft/d as part of a 19,000 ft underground campaign to decrease hole space aiming to enhance orebody knowledge. The drilling is improving the robustness of the resource model to generate a production block model for mining, it added.
The SAG mill, ball mill and crusher are each in place, and work continues with facilities construction and equipment placement, Jervois noted, saying that an official opening ceremony was scheduled at site for October 7, 2022. The SAG mill, a 4.7-m diameter and 2.5-m-long 750 kW installation, is provided by Metso Outotec.
A 2020 bankable feasibility study, managed by a joint team of DRA Global and M3 Engineering, was based on extracting 2.5 Mt of ore at an average grade of 0.55% Co, 0.8% Cu and 0.64 g/t Au. The initial mine life within the study was seven years.
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