Sedgman SA recently purchased a Pilot Modular plant on behalf of its client, Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique (RTCM) (originally Riversdale Mining, which has been taken over by Rio Tinto and is now known as RTCM). The modular plant was used to provide data for coal processing to enable maximising the extraction of coking coal from the coal mined. The test plant was used as part of the test pit project for the large Zambeze coal project in the Tete province of Mozambique in July and August 2011. The Pilot Modular plant was used to provide data for coal processing to enable maximising the extraction of coking coal from the coal mine.
Sedgman is a specialist in the design, construction and operation of coal handling plants, and is known internationally for its mineral processing and handling technologies. According to Wayne Warren, Pilot Crushtec sales manager – Africa, Sedgman SA needed to build a test unit with reliable, proven technology to provide data to aid coal processing design in the construction of a several hundred million dollar coal processing
plant on behalf of the client RTCM.
“Pilot Crushtec was selected for two reasons. Firstly, Pilot Crushtec could supply a complete plant to Sedgman’s design parameters within a very tight time-frame. Secondly, the mobility offered by the Pilot Modular plant’s skid frame provides RTCM the opportunity to relocate and use the unit for similar test work or other uses in other operations,” says Warren.
In addition to meeting the test programme’s delivery deadlines, a team of six specialists from Pilot Crushtec’s installation arm, InstalLink, assembled the plant on site.
The equipment supplied includes a Pilot Modular GFH560 grizzly feed hopper, a Pilot Modular DD3615 double deck screen, two Pilot Modular MC800 20 metre conveyors and three Pilot Modular MC800 12 m conveyors.
Jaco Badenhorst, Operations Manager for Sedgman, explains that the plant was transported by six road trucks to Tete, Mozambique and assembled and commissioned in 12 working days. The test plant was used over a six-week test period processing coal and played an important role in the development of RTCM’s Zambeze coal project processing strategy.
“There are substantial coal deposits in the region and the Zambeze coal project has the potential to mine and process over 40 million tonnes of coal per year through the coal preparation plant. The final plant design will be developed with the benefit of the results of the test work using Pilot Modular equipment.”
At the end of the six-week period, the plant will be disassembled and transported to a new site in Tete, to be re-erected for use as a training facility for artisans as part of a newly- established Training centre.
“There is a lot of opportunity to upgrade the skill levels in Mozambique and the availability of a plant of this type with electrical components, a mechanical crusher, conveyors, screens and a feed hopper is ideal for building up the necessary skills needed in the mining industry,” says Badenhorst.
“The modular plant’s mobility and ease of assembly shows that it is an ideal vehicle for ventures of this nature,” says Warren, who foresees the increasing use of this concept in helping to evaluate the coal resources within Africa.