Industry intelligence
A feasibility study to develop a zinc smelter-
The first blast at Vedanta’s Gamsberg mine in the
refinery complex in the Northern Cape is
Northern Cape. The company is developing a zinc
smelter-refinery complex in the province.
underway.
Vedanta Zinc International (VZI),
a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta
Resources, intends constructing the complex
at its Gamsberg project at Black Mountain
Mining, close to the town of Aggeneys.
The establishment of the proposed
beneficiation plant will make Gamsberg a
fully integrated zinc production site, with
the mine, concentrator, and smelter-refinery
complex at a single location, making it the
first integrated zinc manufacturing facility
in South Africa. According to the company,
the first phase of the complex will have a
capacity of 250 000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of
supply. Both of these mean significant large-scale
finished zinc metal.
investments.
The feasibility study will evaluate the
Gamsberg is one of the largest unexploited zinc
infrastructural requirements of the complex — the
resources in the world. It has a reserve and resource
beneficiation facility will require around 200MW
of more than 200 million tonnes and an estimated
of additional power, as well as additional water
potential life-of-mine of 30 years.
Gamsberg smelter could be viable
Teething problems with water licences
Applying for and obtaining amendments to
water-use licences are an ongoing and often time-
consuming process for most mines, even when the
adjustments are relatively low risk. This is according
to Jacky Burke, principal environmental scientist
and leader of SRK’s Water-Use Licence Application
(WULA) Group.
Burke spoke at a recent WULA workshop, hosted
by SRK in Johannesburg. Burke said that due to
the dynamic nature of mining — which constantly
adapts to changing conditions — amendments to
existing water-use licences and applications for
additional new water uses are a regular requirement
for mines. She highlighted that SRK’s experience
in this field — including its constructive working
relationships with the Department of Water and
Sanitation (DWS) — positions it well to conduct
the necessary specialist studies for mines, assist
with applications, and also follow-up actively where
necessary with the DWS to facilitate an outcome in
good time.
The workshop focused on the new Electronic
Water-Use Licence Application and Authorisation
System (EWULAAS), highlighting the value of
making both the financial and time investment early
in a WUL application so that costs can be saved later.
Experts also outlined how applications could benefit
from the DWS’s more streamlined and manageable
process, while also considering where challenges that
delay the application process were being experienced.
SRK senior environmental scientist Avril Owens
emphasised that the web-based EWULAAS system
was user-friendly and followed a logical-flow process
in three key steps: a first, pre-application phase;
a second phase in which supporting documents
and water-use forms are submitted online; and a
third phase where a technical report and additional
specialist information are uploaded for DWS
decision-making.
“EWULAAS certainly promises to be a great
improvement on the original paper-based system,”
said Owens. “Among the advantages is the ability
to generate a summary of water uses per farm prior
to phase one submission, to verify that all water
uses have been correctly captured on the system and
highlighting any gaps in the application; also, the
submission can be tracked online, providing more
transparency on its progress.”
As with any new system, she said, there were
going to be teething issues, so SRK maintained
close working links with DWS to help ensure
that the system worked optimally. “There is no
doubt that this is a better way to go — with
applicants knowing that all the information
is there, that nothing can get lost, and that
the process can be tracked,” she said. “There is
obviously also a human element to the system,
and as users we also have to play a constructive
role in keeping everyone to the deadlines.”
Owens emphasised the importance of the pre-
application phase, in which applicants meet with
DWS to clarify their way forward; in fact, most of
the preparation work is required to be completed
before the online submission process can begin.
BATTERIES BOOST
AMANDELBULT’S
ENERGY
Anglo American Platinum
has installed eight long-
duration batteries at its
Amandelbult mine in
Limpopo province, South
Africa.
The battery system
will provide Amandelbult
with 200kW of power and
1 000kWh of energy. The
batteries are charged when
demand for and cost of grid
electricity is low. During
times of peak, high-cost
electricity, the charged
batteries release stored
energy and reduce the
mine’s draw from the grid.
Energy storage provider
Primus Power installed
the EnergyPod batteries.
Having first invested in
Primus Power through
the Platinum Group
Metals Development Fund
(PGMDF) in 2014, Anglo
American Platinum is
both a strategic investor
in Primus and a supplier
of the platinum group
metals (PGMs) used as a
catalyst on the titanium
electrodes inside the
EnergyPod.
The project
at Amandelbult
complements recent
support received from
the US Trade and
Development Agency to
demonstrate EnergyPod’s
performance, reliability,
and durability at
Eskom, the national
utility of South Africa.
Anglo American
Platinum, Primus,
and Johannesburg’s
SolAfrica are closely
cooperating on testing
four EnergyPods at
Eskom’s large-scale
energy storage test
facility in Rosherville,
Johannesburg.
JULY 2018 MINING MIRROR
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