US$50m contract for IFM's pelletising and sintering
plant
BATEMAN has been awarded the lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) contract to
design and build a 400,000 t/yr pelletising and sintering plant using
Outokumpu's chromite-ore pelletising and sintering technology for
part of the new US$250-million International Ferro Metals (IFM) ferrochrome
plant.
The plant is planned for the
western limb of the Bushveld Complex near Brits in the North West
Province, RSA. The contract, worth US$50 million to Bateman, is for
the up-rated requirement of 400,000 t/yr sintered chromite pellets.
IFM was founded by Australian entrepreneurs and has now been listed
on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange,
in alliance with Jiuquan Iron & Steel Group (Jisco) based in the
Gansu province of China's north-west.
The goal is to have the plant built within 17 months. BATEMAN and
Outokumpu will be jointly responsible for the basic engineering and
supply of equipment, with Outokumpu supplying the core pelletising
and sintering technology. This technology is well proven and improves
chromium recoveries by at least 10 % and consumes up to 15 % less
energy than conventional open or semi-closed furnaces when using a
mixture of lumpy ore and sintered pellets as feed.
BATEMAN has already commenced the preliminary design phase for its
portion of the project and will be providing the balancing technology.
The components for this portion of the plant will be sourced both
in South Africa and Europe, as will a large portion of the technology
equipment to be supplied by Outokumpu.
The Bateman-Outokumpu team has a strong track record in this industry,
having supplied a similar plant for SA Chrome and Alloys' ferrochrome
facilities at Boshoek in the same area. This plant produces about
230,000 t/yr of saleable charge ferrochrome and comprises two 54 MVA
closed submerged-arc furnaces and a pelletising and sintering plant,
processing 520,000 t/yr of material. The lower energy consumption
also reduces the ecological impact associated with fossil-fuel electrical
energy generation.
BATEMAN has a global capacity
for this type of metallurgical project and one of the largest reference
lists in Southern Africa, with large installations supplied in the
past few years to Assmang at Machadodorp and Poschrome, Crometals
at Samancor's Ferrometals site, Witbank, all located in Mpumalanga,
Hernic Ferrochrome near Brits and Samancor Metalloys in Meyerton,
Gauteng.
For more details, please contact George Farmer on +27-11-899-2531
or email ferroalloys@BatemanEngineering.com.
