Final discussions on Iscor’s heavy-mineral project (HMP) are
to be held this month, spokesperson Analien Fouche tells Mining
Weekly.
The project aims to produce titanium-dioxide slag, rutile, zircon,
and pig-iron from ilmenite.
A mine is to be developed onstream near Richards Bay on the east
coast in Kwazulu-Natal, and a central processing complex and
smelting facilities are to be built at Empangeni and Richards
Bay.
The planned production capacities are 250 000 t/y of
titanisupplier of grinding machines for talc lumpsum-dioxide slag, 145 000 t/y of low-manganese pig-iron, 45
000 t/y of zircon, 20 000 t/y of rutile, and 5 000 t/y of
leucoxene.
Production of zircon, rutile, and leucoxene was scheduleaier presher sanding equipment italyd to start
late this year and early next year.
Production of titanium-dioxide slag was expected to begin toward
the second half of 2000.
The company has negotiated with some contractors in ctorque calculation for steel apron conveyorsonnection with
the construction of the plant, and is currently negotiating
purchase commitments from pigment producers and other users.
Talks are also being held with various parties to obtain
partners.
The 15 t/h pilot plant, commissioned by the Iscor HMP team, which
was intended to run for a period of 12 weeks in order to evaluate
equipment performance and to confirm parameters used for the design
of the full-scale plant, was stopped before its 12-week
deadline.
“They were satisfied with the results, so they decided to
stop the activities,” says Fouche.
The plant consisted of a hydraulic mining operation, a four-stage
spiral plant, a 2-m-diameter Eimco ultra-high-rate thickener, and a
sub-aerial deposition pond.
Hydraulic mining was done by a team from Consolidated Tailings,
with support from LTA Process Engineering regarding the layout and
design of the pumping and materials-handling systems.
All the equipment used in the plant was from South African-based
suppliers. It was designed by the company’s mining consulting
services in 1995.
Spiral concentrators were supplied by MD Mineral Technologies and
Multotec, while the thickener was designed and supplied by Eimco
Process Equipment.
The plant was also used to train operating and maintenance
personnel, and is established operating procedures for the various
equipment and plants.
Although the operation was initiated by Iscor Heavy Minerals, other
mining and related industries were also involved.