:: Kroondal’s UG2 Concentrator Successfully Commissioned

South African firm Dowding, Reynard & Associates (DRA) has successfully commissioned the new 300 000tpm UG2 concentrator at Aquarius Platinum’s Kroondal Mine. The concentrator, which forms part of Aquarius Platinum’s ‘pooling and sharing’ agreement with Anglo Platinum, was completed a full five weeks ahead of schedule, concluding the throughput performance test on Good Friday, the 25th of March 2005.

During its first month of operation, the plant treated 200 000 tons, a remarkable three quarters of its design capacity. In addition, DRA and Aquarius were able to realise significant savings against the approved project budget by a ‘fit for purpose’ approach to the engineering.

Construction of the concentrator included two stage crushing, waste removal by DMS, primary and secondary milling and flotation (MF2 configuration), a spiral plant to remove chromite after primary milling, cleaner flotation, a tailings disposal system and dispatch of concentrate to the smelter as a high density slurry. Civil construction began in April 2004.