Jersey-based mining company Bellzone Mining plc is currently developing two iron ore assets in Guinea, West Africa: Forecariah and Kalia. A 15-year mining license was recently granted to the company for the Forecariah site, with output expected to reach 4 million metric tons per year by 2014. The Forecariah license will be held in a joint venture between Bellzone and Chinese group CIF. The partners have an offtake agreement with Glencore for Forecariah’s output.
The equipment currently on site there comprises a crushing and screening plant. However, the fines produced from this plant have less iron content, which adversely affects the quality of the material and its suitability for resale. Bellzone has selected CDE Global to develop a tailored iron ore wet processing system that will effectively remove the ultra-fine fraction to ensure that the remainder of the crushing and screening plant fines have a high enough iron content to be sold directly.
CDE said it quickly identified the need for low-grade fines to be efficiently separated at 1 mm to produce a +1 mm product, which can go direct to port, with the finer fraction passing to the CDE Evowash to remove the gangue, therefore upgrading the entire fraction to a saleable product.
The effective removal of contaminants, according to CDE, will consistently maintain a +58% Fe level from the low-grade fines stock, and an efficient process producing minimal waste ensures that a high product yield is maintained. An Aquacycle Thickener water recirculation system will also be incorporated to effectively recover process water, further enhancing efficiency and maintaining a compact footprint.
With a 250 mt/h feed rate of low-grade fines, the washed product from the CDE plant will be directly exported. Bellzone Process Manager Rod Davies said, “CDE were the chosen providers on this project because of their high level of expertise in wet processing technology and their ability to develop and produce high quality, integrated modular solutions. One of the most imperative factors for us was to source a provider that could develop a modular system which is suitable to transport easily, erect quickly on site and operate in a remote location.”
CDE notes that over the last five years, the range of equipment iron ore processors it offers has expanded, with the introduction of the M2500 mobile processing system being one of the most significant developments.
“Our mining equipment range provides excellent solutions and delivers significant advantages to our many customers in the iron ore processing sector,” said CDE Strategic Projects Manager Dermot Murphy. “In the case of Bellzone Mining, a fast track installation with a high quality product was required. We are able to provide a tailored solution for Bellzone bearing in mind that plant availability coupled with a reduction in maintenance requirements is vitally important, particularly due to the sites remote location.”
Another advantage, said CDE, is its ProMan project management system with on-going support available from initial design stage, through to manufacturing, logistics, installation, commissioning and continuing plant management.
“Through the ProMan system the customer is given a dedicated single point of contact for the duration of the project that takes them through every stage from plant design and production in the first instance to training and long term performance support,” said Murphy.
