The almost four-year expansion project at platinum producer Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats’) base- metals refinery (BMR), in Rusten- burg, is complete and operational.
Work at the BMR, which is used to separate precious metals from base metals, such as iron, nickel, lead, zinc and copper, began in the second half of 2007, following the Amplats board’s approval. In Decemclassification of plants that can be a coalber 2008, the board took the decision to defer the project for one year. It restarted in January 2010.
Amplats executive head of engineering and projects Ben Magara says the most recent development on this project was the handover of the 33 000 t/y nickel cathode BMR to operations.
“The nickel cathode BMR expansion comprised the building of a new nickel tank house, which has been delivered safely, on time and on budget.”
He adds that the copper tank house, which is also part of the BMR expansion, will be handed over to operations this month, as planned.
Further, the chemical change- over was completed in the second quarter of this year, with leaching efficiencies obtained in line with and, in some places, exceeding bench-scale testwork results.
In the first quarter of next year, the BMR will produce 11 000 t/y of nickel.
Significant Equipment Received
A R7.81-million boiler for steam generation was bought from boiler and environmental solutions company John Thompson.
Technology solutions provider Outotec supplied a R30.9-million stripping machine to automate the nickel cathode stripping. Automated cranes for nickel cathode harvesting were provided by heavy engineering firm Femont for R3.83-million.
Further, Amplats bought auto- claves and tanks, which are used in the leaching of iron, from stainless steel fabricator Styria Stainless Steel Fabrication for R30-million.
To extract nickel aerosols from the new nickel tank house, the miner bought mist ventilation for $7.5-million.
Polymer cells that house the cathodes, anodes and the solution were also acquired from corrosion-resistant solutions provider CSI for R25-million.
Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure for the BMR project was R681-million, of which R68-million was for stay-in-business expenditure and R613-million for projects.
Project capital is attributable to the R23-million expansion of a milling plant at the metallic concentration plant (MCP), while R590-million was allocated to the 33 000 t/y nickel cathode BMR expansion.
Metallic Concentration Plant Expansion Project
In the second quarter of 2008, Amplats’ board approved R698-million for the expansion of the MCP, in Rustenburg.
This expansion increased milling and magnetic separation capacity from 64 000 t/y to 95 000 t/y.
The MCP’s capacity will, however, be limited to 75 000 t/y as the leaching section no longer constitutes a bottleneck.
The project was handed over to operations in April last year. As a result of scope growth and scope variances, an additional R80-million was approved to complete the project.