Cradle to grave
Partnerships key at
Gamsberg
[36] MINING MIRROR APRIL 2018
Early stages and overview of Vedanta's Gamsberg zinc project in the
Northern Cape.
at night in winter and up to between
45°C and 50°C in summer during
the day — have affected the design
and the construction methodology.
“This has meant making optimal
use of the cooler hours in summer,
even pre-manufacturing as much
as possible at night before placing
during daylight hours.”
Meijers is a strong believer in
partnerships, with much of the project
technology being applied through
exclusive partnerships with preferred
suppliers.
“We’ve worked with Zest WEG
Group for many years,” he says. Zest
WEG Group’s scope of supply covers two
main spheres: the water-related package
that focuses on the upgrading of the
municipal supply station providing water
to the Gamsberg site, and the package for
the mine’s zinc concentration plant and
related processes.
In this process, Zest WEG Group
supplied a number of non-standard
products, providing the mechanical
and design engineering necessary
to ensure that the non-standard
specifications could be met, including
the redundancy requirements to
ensure optimal plant uptime.
“The Gamsberg plant features
four different WEG MV motor
ranges that were fit-for-purpose in
their different applications,” says
Kirk Moss, manager of Medium
Voltage Business at Zest WEG
Group company Shaw Controls.
“These included our new W50 line,
the HGF line, large slip-ring motors
from our M line, and our W22 line of
low-voltage IE3 motors. Meeting the
range of requirements demonstrated
Zest WEG Group’s versatility in
terms of the multiple MV and LV
motor offering.”
V
edanta Resources’ Gamsberg
zinc project in the Northern
Cape is South Africa’s largest
current greenfields mining project.
Gamsberg will exploit one of the
world’s largest zinc deposits. It is being
developed at a capital cost of USD400-
million and is expected to produce up
to 250 000 tonnes per annum of zinc
metal in concentrate.
“This is a very exciting project for
South Africa, especially as we haven’t
seen a new mine being developed in the
country for many years,” says Stephen
Meijers, CEO at ELB Engineering
Services. ELB is the lead contractor in
the project and is working very closely
with the Zest WEG Group, which is
the preferred supplier to standardise on
its range of transformers and motors
across a number of on-site applications.
“Vedanta Resources has shown real
intent in terms of investment in South
Africa, not only in this project but in
others, and we are proud to be building
Gamsberg,” says Meijers. ELB’s first
package of work was the provision of
water from the Orange River to the
process plant, through an upgraded pump
station and a pipeline of about 40km. The
second package is the supply of power
from the existing Eskom switching yard
via overhead lines to the mine, and the
third is the process plant itself, covering
all aspects from run-of-mine tip through
to final product, including process dams
and balance of plant.
“First product is expected through the
plant by the middle of 2018, with the
civil works being largely completed by
the end of the second quarter of 2017,”
says Meijers. “Structural and mechanical
construction on the plant is now starting
to become the focus of work, and the
pace will continue to be intense until the
middle of 2018,” he adds.
According to Meijers, extreme
temperatures on site — down to -10°C