Weir Minerals Africa has been awarded the supply of an extensive combination of products to suit a specific plant layout at Resolute Mining’s Syama gold project in southern Mali. These products are being drawn from four of the company’s premium brands — Warman® pumps, Cavex® cyclones, Isogate® valves and Linatex® rubber products — and will be delivered during the second quarter of 2013. Owing to the refractory nature of the ore from the Syama open pit, it is being treated using conventional four-stage crushing, ball milling, sulphide flotation and dewatering, roasting, calcine leaching and elution, at a design rate of 2.4 Mt/y.
“Our bid met all the customer’s technical specifications and was underpinned by the fact that the project engineer is familiar with our proven technology through an existing product footprint at the Syama plant that includes Warman slurry pumps, Linatex rubber products and Cavex classification cyclones,” says Nathi Ntuli, Product Manager for cyclones and engineered systems at Weir Minerals Africa. “The performance and reputation of our brands has been established at the project and this, together with our existing relationship with the customer and the continuous technical support and backup provided by our branch in Ghana, helped to secure the order for Weir Minerals Africa.”
The scope of the order includes an 18-way cyclone cluster fitted with 16 Cavex 250CVX10 cyclones, Linatex rubber linings, and Isogate pneumatic knifegate valves, which were chosen for their large bore opening. Isogate valves also provide a cost effective solution for on/off throttling and reverse flow control of flowing media in industrial processes that involve abrasive or corrosive materials. Cavex hydrocyclones feature a unique laminar spiral inlet geometry that is designed to deliver sharper separation, larger capacity and longer wear life than conventional involute or tangential feel inlet cyclone designs.
Linatex rubber lining has been selected for both the overflow and the underflow launders, with a 20 mm thick lining on the floors and a 12 mm thick lining on the walls. These requirements were specified by the customer to allow for longer life and increased resistance to wear. Ntuli says this demonstrates the company’s ability to custom engineer a solution to a specific application requirement.
The Syama cluster is fully customised for the specific site conditions and includes a control panel for the Isogate pneumatic knifegate valves, a sampling point, an underflow launder and a custom designed dart-valve box. The cluster, fed by Warman MCR® slurry pumps, is part of a primary ball mill circuit that feeds the next stage of the carbon-in-leach process. The new equipment will be installed and commissioned later this year by the EPCM contractor, supported on site by Weir Minerals Africa process engineers and pump specialists. This team will continue to support the equipment with technical backup and spares to the end of the life of mine.
“The order includes additional Warman MCR pumps, a range which is gaining substantial sales momentum in West Africa based on excellent performance,” Rui Gomes, a Product Manager for slurry pumps at Weir Minerals Africa, says. “These pumps work well in the most aggressive wear applications, easily managing large size particles in dense abrasive slurries and offering the right combination of ruggedness, durability, hydraulics and materials.
“The variety of equipment in this order reflects a growing trend for EPCMs to source a broad range of solutions from one provider. Weir’s extensive product portfolio can support this trend and we’re increasingly incorporating a broad range of our products in tenders. We’re able to back this up through our extensive branch network throughout Africa, often supporting customers in remote areas, providing aftersales service and a stockholding of spares both at our premises and at client sites.”