The US$220M Moma mineral-sands project in Mozambique is on schedule,
with the first sub contracts having been awarded by the BATEMAN /
MULTIPLEX joint venture.
One of these provides for the turnkey supply of power to the site
through a new 170km overhead power line from Nampula, and the electrical
reticulation for the process plant, permanent accommodation camp and
other site infrastructure. In addition, the installation of the aggregate
crushing and screening facilities is underway with earthworks having
started, while the civils contract is being finalised and work is
expected to get underway soon.
The 27-month lump-sum turnkey contract for the provision of a mineral-sands
processing plant and associated infrastructure at Moma is Kenmare
Resources' second Mozambique project and the second-largest project
to date, after the Mozal aluminium project, in this country. It commenced
in August 2004.
The location of the Moma project, on the coast in Nampula Province,
450km north of Beira and with limited road access, poses a number
of challenges including the heat, high rainfall and threat of malaria,
in addition to the logistics of transporting large loads of materials
and equipment. Many of the larger components will be beach landed
and access roads are being established both from the nearest provincial
road and from the beach to the site.
The process being installed at Moma comprises dredging, concentrating
and separating the mineral sands. The wet- and dry-processing plants,
which have been acquired by Kenmare from BHP-Billiton's Beenup project
in Western Australia, have been disassembled and await shipment to
Mozambique.
The deposit will be mined using two 2500t/h floating dredges in a
pond. The ilmenite-, rutile- and zircon-rich heavy concentrate will
be separated from the lighter sand in the floating wet-minerals concentrator
plant situated in the pond and constructed on top of floating pontoons.
The wet concentrate will be pumped to a dry-minerals separation plant
approximately 2km from the wet-minerals concentrator plant. Four ilmenite
products will then be produced with different titanium dioxide contents.
Two will be separated from the concentrate without further beneficiation,
while the remaining two will require roasting to reduce the chromite
content of the ilmenite and increase the titanium-dioxide content.
The dry, saleable products will be fed by front-end loaders onto
a 2,5 km-long overland conveyor for transporting to a specially constructed,
500 m-long export jetty. From this jetty, a 4000t capacity, self-unloading
barge will transport the saleable product to offshore, seagoing bulk
vessels.
For further information, please contact Nick Haywood, Project Director,
on +27-11-899-3269 or email industrial.minerals@batemanengineering.com.
