Mine excursion
Vametco sells the Nitrovan to steel mills
worldwide, with the US dominating with
60% of the customers based in the country.
Over the years, Vametco has managed to
establish a relationship with many of the steel
mills in the US. The rest of the customers
are spread between Europe, Asia, Oceania,
Africa, and America.
Overcoming the challenges
One of the biggest challenges the mine
experienced was related to labour and the
community, when there were three periods
of strikes in 2018. According to Steinberg,
the longest one lasted for two weeks. Lots of
instability was created and as a consequence,
the mine lost between 150t and 170t for the
year — which is quite a significant loss.
The current load-shedding initiated by
Eskom due to constrained power generation
capacity has not directly affected Bushveld
Vametco adversely for the 2019 calendar year.
During previous load-shedding occurrences,
the operation has been requested by the
generating authority to reduce power offtake
for set periods during the day (typically
early morning and late afternoon) to
assist in freeing capacity. These events are
accomplished without significant deleterious
impact by switching out the crushing/
milling circuits and keeping the kiln feed
rate constant by drawing down on milled ore
stockpiles.
Additionally, operational personnel have
regular interaction with the power utility
management to remain up to date with
expected capacity constraints to allow for
possible mitigation through planning in
advance — for example bringing forward or
delaying scheduled maintenance.
Looking ahead
Despite the challenges, Bushveld is
heading in the right direction,
with exciting plans in the
pipeline. Through its Bushveld
Energy subsidiary, which
is an energy storage project
developer and component
manufacturer and exclusively
focused on VRFB technology,
the company is currently
testing the technology at
Eskom’s research testing
and development facility in
Johannesburg.
The technology could possibly assist in the
current crisis state-owned power producer
Eskom is facing, as it creates a chargeable
battery that is able to store energy until it is
needed at a later stage.
Together with the Industrial
Development Corporation, the company
is planning to build an electrolyte facility
in East London. This will allow Bushveld
to become a supplier of electrolytes to
downstream stakeholders in the
vanadium chain.
Vanadium is used to
manufacture the batteries,
putting Vametco in a
strategic position to
become a significant
energy storage provider
in Africa by 2020. As
a result, the demand
for utility-scale energy
storage on the continent
will be met by leveraging
South African mined and
beneficiated vanadium.
A pre-feasibility study was completed in
January 2016 and Bushveld Minerals is working
to secure a new order mining right.
Production and packaging of the Nitrovan is done on site at Vametco’s premises in Brits.
www.miningmirror.co.za
APRIL 2019 MINING MIRROR [19]