Mine operator CuDECO is to use innovative allmineral technology for processing their native copper at the Rocklands project in Queensland. As of mid-2013, Chinese state company Sinosteel is delivering the plant equipment and structural steel as well as constructing the facility, and will bring into operation 10 alljig jigging machines for treatment of various particle sizes as an integral part of the Rocklands project. allmineral’s technology, already operated worldwide by leading mining companies, will be the core equipment within this high-tech plant, which will produce high grade copper as well as marketable cobalt, gold, pyrite and magnetite concentrates over the coming decades.
Project Manager at allmineral, Andreas Horn, said he sees this order as both an acknowledgement of the capabilities of allmineral’s technology and an essential step to enlarge its existing footprint in this important market. After having performed a number of tests on allmineral’s pilot equipment (minijig and alljig P-400) in independent laboratories located in Perth, CuDECO decided in favour of the allmineral technology. Formerly a specialist in exploration only, internal restructuring saw CuDECO become a copper mine operator. As such it is currently building a large mineral processing plant, just 17 km west of Cloncurry in Queensland.
In a 16 ha area, exploration results indicate prospects of up to 30 Mt of various metallic ores with a high metal content. It is planned to mine and process the resources in one of the most technically advanced processing plants in the world. During the initial production years, the focus will mainly be on mining native copper next to the surface, with an expected maximum copper content of up to 20%. In addition, copper sulphide and oxide with traces of gold and silver will be mined, along with pyrite which has traces of cobalt, gold, and silver as well as magnetite. All of these minerals will be processed and upgraded to high quality products for the global market.
On behalf of CuDECO, Sinosteel will build a “unique processing plant utilising the most advanced technologies available.” A total of 10 alljigs designed and manufactured in Europe will play a key role in the process: four coarse jigs (8 to 40 mm feed size, capacity of 110 t/h each) as well as three medium jigs (4 to 8 mm feed size, capacity of 55 t/h each) and three fines jigs (1 to 4 mm feed size, capacity of 45 t/h each). alljig jigging machines are the most popular allmineral technology globally with close to 500 units supplied to date. Their state of the art air-/side-pulsed design allows for optimised jigging stroke generation along with high energy efficiency. The alljigs in Queensland have an operational capacity of up to 740 t/h and produce a very high grade concentrate.
