Winder Refurbishment Reduces Costs And Delivery Times For South African Gold Mine

Johannesburg-based winder consulting company, DRA Technical Services (DRATS), has secured a contract

Specialists in Iron Ore Processing

DRA’s capabilities in iron ore stem from the design and construction of the flagship Khumani Iron Ore project during 2007 and 2008.

Khumani Iron is situated near Kathu in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. DRA was appointed as the main managing and EPCM contractor for the development of this greenfields project involving a capital expenditure in excess of US$500 million. It featured a design capacity of 10 million tpa export product, making it one of the largest iron ore treatment facilities in Southern Africa.

The project included the construction of every aspect of a new large mine: primary and secondary crushing, run of mine overland conveying, blending stockpiles, tertiary closed circuit crushing, washing and screening plant, fines dewatering and water recovery circuit, jig beneficiation plants, product stockpiles, load out facilities, water recovery, tailings dewatering, paste thickening and deposition, road and rail infrastructure and the Mine Information System.

The Khumani project set a significant milestone in the mining industry with respect to the fast tracking of large engineering projects: 10 000 tons of steel was erected in 10 months. Following the successful completion of this project, we have been approached by a number of international, iron ore mineral-rights holders to participate in feasibility studies of a similar nature.

DRA, through our sister company Minopex, is supporting the clients' operation team on an ongoing basis through the first year of production build up.