US$27 million contract for marine diamond treatment
plant
De Beers Marine (Pty) Limited has awarded Bateman Engineering
N.V. a contract for the design, engineering, supply, erection and
commissioning of a 250 t/h diamond treatment plant to be built onto
the vessel, the MV Peace in Africa.
The US$27 million contract was awarded under an organisation-to-organisation
partnership agreement between Bateman Engineering and De Beers, introduced
towards the end of 2003.
The award follows a 10-month study period during which various feed
scenarios were evaluated and value engineering exercises carried out.
The resulting treatment plant consists of a primary screening and
dewatering plant, a comminution mill section followed by a DMS (dense
media separation) plant, and finally a diamond recovery plant.
The contract was awarded as part of an overall project of De Beers
to convert a dry dock vessel, the MV Peace in Africa, into a vessel
capable of carrying both an undersea mining vehicle and the treatment
plant. The vessel infrastructure to support the mining and treatment
plants has had to be totally re-engineered and therefore this overall
project draws together a number of sub-contractors. These include
Vic Sandvik of Norway, the naval architects; A & P Tyne, the vessel
conversion contractor based on the River Tyne, United Kingdom; Marine
and Mineral Projects Cape Town, the submersible mining vehicle and
winch contractor; and finally Bateman Africa (part of the Bateman
Engineering group) for the treatment plant.
Due for completion in the first quarter of 2007, the vessel will
be operated by De Beers Marine to establish a viable, sustainable
marine mine in the South African Sea Areas (SASA) off the west coast
of South Africa. De Beers expects to commence offshore mining towards
the second quarter of 2007, and the mining vessel is expected to yield
up to 240,000 carats a year once fully commissioned.
This will be the first marine diamond mining project in South Africa
for De Beers and will use the same crawler technology as that deployed
off the Namibian coast. De Beers Marine Namibia, a world leader in
marine mining, has been successfully operating for a number of years
off the south west coast of Namibia.
Technology did not previously exist to mine diamonds profitably off
the South African west coast, but the development of new technology
by the De Beers Marine sub-sea mining research group in Cape Town
and improved definition of the resource has now enabled this project.
Commenting on the award, Dr Sivi Gounden, CEO of Bateman Engineering,
said: "While this is not the first treatment plant to be supplied
by Bateman Engineering for marine diamond mining, it is an exciting
project for us in terms of the technical challenges of having to fit
the plant into the space constraints dictated by utilising a vessel
originally built for a completely different function. We are very
pleased to be working with De Beers once again and furthering our
long-standing partnership with that company which encompasses the
design and supply of diamond plants for both their land and off shore
mining ventures."
For further information, please contact James Nieuwenhuys, Bateman
Engineering Senior General Manager, Diamonds, or Dave Young, Bateman
Engineering Project Manager, on +27-1-899-9111 or email diamonds@BatemanEngineering.com.
