All contractors that will be involved with the De Beers combined
treatment plant will have to fulfil a contract participation goal,
which requires that a certain percentage of the contract benefit
the Kimberley community.
Kentz – which will be involved in the management,
supervision, procurement of materials, erection, testing and
provision of commissioning assistance for the electrical and
instrumentation scope of work – is taking this positive
obligation seriously, reports senior project manager Adrian
Meaney.
Already, the company has approached the local media in the area
around Kimberley and begun advertising for skilled workers that can
perform project-related tasks.
The employment of local labour, especially site labour, is expected
to make up a significant portion of the 10% local-participation
requirement.
While companies that act as local labour brokers are expected to
benefit from the diamond project’s requirements, so are those
that can supply products and services to contractors.
The electrical and instrumentation contractor is currently involved
in negotiations with one firm that may be able to supply materials
necessary on site, discloses Meaney, who is unable to give
specifics about these early-stage negotiations.
However, he envisions that the company will be able to use
Kimberley’s small, medium and micro enterprises for the
fabrication of components and trenching for cabling, among other
things.
It is expected that the R610-million diamond project, of which the
electrical and instrumentation contractor has a R27-million share,
will benefit the Kimberley community tremendously during the eight
months before final commissioning.
The electrical and instrumentation contractor’s part of that
contract is due to be completed on November 16 after having been
awarded two months ago.
Fluor, which is the manager of the total contract, will ensure that
the diamond producer is able to treat 1 000 t of material an hour
and 7,1-million tons a year.
It will build a materials-receiving area, where trucks and
conveyors will deliver; a scrubbing, screening and oversized
crushing area; dense-media separation plant; recrushing section,
recovery-sorthouse facility; and slimes-treatment area.
Meaney reports that the electrical and instrumentation contractor
will have its highest concentration of work in the dense media
separation plant.
In total, the company’s employees will expend 250 000 person
hours during the eight-month contract and have a peak workforce of
250 people.
Meaney notes that the company is excited to be working on a De
Beers project again, and hopes that it will work on some of the
other expansion projects that the company is planning.