The chute with solidified slag after the tap.

SA Chrome’s first
batch of charge
ferrochrome
pouring out of the
furnace.

The taphole drill being positioned to drill the first taphole on the furnace.

SA Chrome’s first furnace at the Boshoek site near Rustenburg, RSA, was fired up on 9 June 2002, with the first tap of charge ferrochrome being tapped on 13 June.
By mid July, less than one month later, when
100 taps of metal had produced 2 800 t of saleable product, the furnace had already been ramped up to a power consumption of 48 MW.

This greenfield plant has been installed in the remarkably short time of 15 months, the contract for the SA Chrome smelter having been awarded to BATEMAN at the end of March 2001 and the first steelwork having been erected on site a mere four months later.

When completed, the smelter will consist of two 54 MW closed submerged arc furnaces and a pelletising and sintering plant to process 520 000 t/y of a blended feed of chromite and chrome concentrate.

The next major components on the project schedule are the second furnace and the sinter plant producing a feed of sintered pellets for the furnaces. Construction is progressing well and commissioning should be completed by the end of August.

For more information, please contact George Farmer,
General Manager, Bateman Ferrous, on +27-11-899-2531 or email ferroalloys@batemanengineering.com

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