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were involved in one of the early 'sea diamonds' projects involving
the fitting of a diamond DMS plant into a small vessel, 'The MV
Calypso' (not the boat that sank!). This was another early project
which qualified for a bonus, having being completed from order to
delivery in only fifteen weeks. A further diamond project concerned
the erection of Swaziland's first major extraction plant, being
executed for the Trans-Hex group of companies. The multi-million
Rand plant was, for a time, the largest reimbursable contract that
we had managed.
A modular diamond plant was commissioned
at Port Nolloth in the Western Cape to treat ocean gravels. Subsequently,
we built an HM cone separation plant to upgrade cyclone plant concentrates
at Koffiefontein for De Beers. This project was completed in eighteen
weeks. A further project for De Beers included construction of a
new high technology section for the Recovery plant at Venetia Mine.
Two new modular 120TPH plants were exported
in 1995 to River Ranch diamond mine in Zimbabwe, to augment second
hand equipment previously purchased by DRA on their behalf.
Following the completion of the Venetia Plant, DRA was awarded two
significant tenders for Modular DMS Plants for De Beers, one at
Williamson Mine, Tanzania, and the second for Auchas Section of
Namdeb in Namibia.
Both plants, on tight deliveries, were pre-assembled
in Johannesburg before shipment. Repeat orders for both sites, Namdeb
and Williamson were received within twelve months.
An export success has been the construction
and dispatch of a modular DMS plant for the Canadian diamond fields.
This plant was completed and shipped in three containers, from Johannesburg,
in under ten weeks from date of order. A second plant has subsequently
been dispatched to the same area, in this case including a front
end feed preparation circuit and X-ray recovery section.
Further modular plants have recently been
supplied to Perth Based Clients (Ashton, Resources Equities) for
sub-Saharan exploration projects. Two units have been air lifted
into remote areas of Angola on similar duties.
The 100tph Klipspringer Project for Canadian
based Southern Era Resources was a DRA milestone in terms of being
a fully integrated plant, with sort-house. This project has developed
further and with it DRA has supplied additional plant including
a high rate thickening and slimes disposal system and a further
50tph DMS module.
A fully mobile 100tph production plant supplied
to Namdeb Diamond Corporation represents cutting-edge technology,
allowing high rate bulk sampling and production runs from isolated
and dispersed smaller ore bodies within the Namdeb concession area.
The award of the Merlin project in Australia
for Ashton Mining confirmed our world class design and cost competitiveness.
This project was a combined effort to pool the best technical and
commercial benefits of DRA in Johannesburg with our local DRA Pacific
office in West Perth. The Merlin project has led to further work
on diamonds and DMS in Australia, both for Ashton (now RTZ) and
others. Our C.V there has extended to include both Chrome and Manganese
beneficiation.
A milestone project for DRA was the award
of the construction of the world’s largest sea-borne DMS for
S.W. Africa diamond recovery. This project, aboard a converted Royal
Navy submarine recovery vessel is able to handle a feed volume up
to 9 000 cu m/hour of seabed gravel and seawater slurry. Originally
built for Namco, this vessel is now owned and operated by De Beers
Marine. De Beers have subsequently commissioned DRA to investigate
an even larger vessel.
Modular diamond processing plants were supplied
in 2000 for Brazil and for Trans Hex. Both plants were in the 100
TPH category.
A range of “micro” exploration
plants, geological fully self-contained with feed tonnages from
1 to 5TPH are a popular line for African and export purposes.
2003 saw DRA back in action with De Beers.
This time with the supply of a new DMS plant built inside an existing
structure for the re-working of Premier Mine Tails Dump. This plant
was completed ahead of schedule and design work is now in progress
on another module at this site.
A comprehensive study was conducted in 2003 for the construction
of a dredge mining plant for Namdeb. This study was conducted to
bankable feasibility standards and is currently under review in
conjunction with a detailed geological ore-body assessment. DRA
has been recently awarded modification work at the Kimberley CTP
plant.
Small scale projects for export have continued
with units supplied for South America, Angola and more recently
for Alrosa, far North of the Arctic Circle in Russia. Other projects
involving Cold Climate engineering include the large De Beers Snap
Lake and Victor projects in Canada, in which DRA was involved, both
as technical consultants and also as suppliers of certain dedicated
modular sections.
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