The cornerstone casting ceremony was attended by (l to r) Mr Nicky Oppenheimer, Board Chairman of the De Beers Group and the Namibian Mines and Energy Minister, Dr Nickey Iyambo, who are seen here with Mr Ian Holl, Namdeb Project Manager.

Aerial view of the primary liberation area. The sub station for the motor control centre can be seen under construction to the left, the primary-crusher building is towards the back and the pit towards the front will hold the dewatering plant.

Part of the primary-screening facility being erected. The photograph focuses on the primary-liberation area’s motor-control-centre building.

The first concrete pour for the new mining plant at Namdeb’s Elizabeth Bay diamond mine was recently officially celebrated and the project is on track for commissioning in the first half of 2004.

BATEMAN was awarded the EPCM (engineering, procurement, construction and management) contract in April 2003 to upgrade the treatment plant at Namdeb’s Elizabeth Bay mine, near the Atlantic port of Luderitz in Namibia, as part of the Elizabeth Bay Liberation Project. The contract was awarded under a unique partnering arrangement with a shared risk / shared reward incentive scheme. The extension project will extend the life of the mine by 10 years and will more than double the mine’s annual production in the first three years of operation, and will remain 56 % above current levels for the remainder of the mine’s lifespan.

Construction of the new plant commenced in May this year and includes the installation of primary-, secondary- and tertiary-crushing plants, two stages of primary screening and a ball-milling process. An important feature is the installation of a wet-crushing system, the first of its kind in the De Beers Group, as the current treatment plant cannot process all ore types, making it impossible to treat all potentially viable deposits. With the new system, the plant will be able to handle clay-rich material and very hard, almost cemented layers that were previously not treatable, as well as including ore from wet areas.

Sections of the mine are expected to be commissioned between February and June 2004, while the ramp-up period will last from July 2004 to April 2005.

Presently 650 workers are involved in the construction, approximately 90 % of whom are Namibian, with a small percentage of technical staff being drawn from South Africa.

The Elizabeth Bay mine contributes about 8 % of Namdeb’s annual production (currently 1,3 million carats for 2003) and the extension project should see the mine increase its contribution by 25 % in the first three years and then by 12 % for the remainder of the mine’s lifespan. By extending the life of the mine, 170 permanent jobs have been secured and this, with a three-shift operation, will extend to 240 by mid 2004. With continuous operation scheduled for 2005, employment will increase by an additional 47 employees.

For further information, please contact Francois Roos, BATEMAN Project Manager, on +27-11-899-2644 or email francois.roos@batemanengineering.com.

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