The Civil Engineering Contractor April 2019 | Page 18

ON SITE
was completed by October, when
the installation of the electrical work
began. The structural steelwork
totals some 1 350 tonnes with
concrete at 10 000m 3 and piping of
20km (14km in plant and 6km for
the tailings dam).
Nokeng Fluorspar Mine received
two infrastructure grants from
the Department of Trade and
Industry (dti), amounting up to
±R18-million, for the improvements
it brings to the public infrastructure.
“Any work that one does, which has
a public effect beyond your actual
project, is eligible for a grant of up
to 30%,” explained Wagner.
Nokeng has also built a new
intersection on the public road to
grant access to its premises with
turnoff lanes, resurfacing existing
road, and constructing a new
tarred road to its processing plant,
with an improved water drainage
system to drain water away from
polluted zones.
Construction challenges
Roads through the plant
Wagner, as “not everything is in the
EPC package.” The mine and tailings
storage facility were constructed
by SepFluor, whilst the power line,
roads, and plant were in the EPC as a
single package.
The life of mine is 19-years, which
requires the construction of a main
tailings dam that can cater for an
approximate 20-year lifespan. The
tailings dam wall will be lifted in
different phases, with the height
16 | CEC April 2019
being increased in three stages as the
level of tailings increases. The first
lift is expected to be two years after
commissioning. “The reason for this
approach is to limit initial capital
cost and also there’s a possibility that
we may strip fine iron out of our
tailings in future, which will reduce
the volume of material in the tailings
storage by 60–70%.”
The steelwork phase commenced
in May/June 2018 and most of it
The target completion date was for
February 2019, but construction has
been delayed slightly for a number
of reasons.
Originally, the project was
tendered to an Indian company
back in 2014, which escalated the
price to such an extent that close
to the time of execution, SepFluor
was no longer comfortable with
the pricing. “We went back to the
market and at that stage, all the
construction houses in South Africa
had insufficient work, resulting in
them tendering low margins on
the project.”
Delays in the power line
construction required Nokeng to
bring in Jozi Power and to employ
diesel generators to provide 3MW of
power up until the Eskom power line
was finally commissioned.
Employment of local people is a
challenge faced by every construction
project. Wagner explained that
initially only 300 workers were
anticipated on site but, “We peaked
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