Last week, Fluor announced that it had successfully completed the construction of Debswana’s Letlhakane Mine Tailings Resource Treatment Plant (LMTRTP) situated near Francistown in central Botswana. The modular plant, which was designed by Fluor, is currently being commissioned.

The new 3.6 Mt/y modular plant will recover existing coarse diamond tailings and extend the life of mine for the Letlhakane mine by approximately 25 years. “Fluor designed a modular diamond tailings treatment plant from the initial concept in the pre-feasibility study through to detailed engineering in execution for Debswana,” said Russell Ayres, General Manager of Fluor’s Mining & Metals business in Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa. “Over and above the full design, Fluor was also responsible for the procurement effort as part of the engineering and procurement contract, as well as implementing early works onsite and later providing construction and engineering support to the client construction team.”

According to Debswana Senior Construction Manager, Douglas Hambidge, in an owner construction managed model, it is imperative that the model is supported by resources who were involved in the design of the project. “This concept was applied to the LMTRTP and the results have proved that the model with combined resources works effectively.”