BATEMAN plant for Sierra Leone
diamond industry
BATEMAN recently welcomed a high-level governmental delegation from
Sierra Leone to its Boksburg campus where they viewed the company’s
engineering capabilities and facilities. The delegation comprised the
Minister of Mineral Resources, Minister MS Deen, the Deputy Director
of Mines, Mr UB Kamara, and Mr Sadig Silla of Branch Energy, a Sierra
Leone diamond mining concern. They were being hosted in Johannesburg
by Magma Resources, shareholders in a project BATEMAN is carrying out
for Koidu Diamond Mine in Sierra Leone.
The visit to BATEMAN reflects
the keen interest the government of Sierra Leone has in revitalising
its diamond mining industry since it was destroyed in the civil war,
and, we believe, the sound working relationship BATEMAN is establishing
with mining ventures in that country,” says Louis Nell, BATEMAN
Engineering Manager, Modular Plants.
BATEMAN is currently shipping a modular process plant,
under contract to Diamond Works, RSA, for commissioning in mid 2003
at Koidu mine in central east Sierra Leone. The plant handles 50 t/h
run-of-mine ore which will be fed to the process plant for crushing,
scrubbing, screening, dense-media separation (DMS) and X-ray recovery
of diamonds.
The plant offers several advantages for Koidu mine.
As a typical BATEMAN modular plant designed to survive harsh African
conditions, sections of the plant
are built, erected and tested in the factory in South
Africa to minimise remedial work on site. It also requires minimal civil
construction. This is of particular benefit to remote sites, such as
Koidu, where skilled labour and a sophisticated infrastructure are not
readily available.
The two kimberlite pipes mined by Koidu mine are reported
to be a source of very large, high quality diamonds. A unique feature
of the BATEMAN modular process plants is that an X-ray separation facility
is built into the process which enables the large diamonds to be captured
before the ore enters the secondary crushing and DMS phases where they
could be damaged.
The new plant was constructed using as much as possible
of a previous plant that was built by BATEMAN for the same mining operation,
but never commissioned as it had been severely damaged during the civil
war.
More information may be obtained from
Louis Nell on
+27-11-899-2841 or
email modular@batemanengineering.com
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