Tag Archives: Maelgwyn Mineral Services

Anglo Asian bolsters Azerbaijan mining fleet with Epiroc, Cat, Paus and Tunelmak equipment

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Anglo Asian Mining says it has placed orders for the major items of equipment required for production from its new Zafar and Gilar mines in Azerbaijan, with a fleet made up of Epiroc drills, Caterpillar loaders and auxiliary machines from the likes of Paus and Tunelmak.

The company has also made progress with the upgrades to its Gedabek flotation plant, it noted.

The equipment for Zafar and Gilar includes an underground fleet from Caterpillar and drilling machinery from Epiroc. The total equipment cost is approximately $10 million, approximately 40% of which will be met from the company’s existing cash reserves with the remaining being funded through vendor financing. The equipment is a significant investment for the company, underpinning its confidence to achieve its stated ambition to transition to mid-tier copper production status, it said.

A day before this announcement, Anglo Asian said it had completed a scoping study for the Zafar underground mine, based on ore production of 700,000 t/y and a 0.5% copper equivalent cutoff grade. Development work and the construction of two portals has also started.

Included in the drilling fleet is an Epiroc Boomer S1 D, three Epiroc T1D jumbos, one Epiroc Simba S7 D and one Epiroc H1354. The Caterpillar machinery includes three 15-t payload R1700 LHDs and two UMA 980 wheel loaders.

Auxiliary units that will complement this fleet include a Paus TSL853 Central articulated steering telescopic swivel loader, two Tunelmak ADROIT 520-2 AH 4×4 hydrostatic basket platforms and one Tunelmak ADROIT 420AH 4×4 articulated hydrostatic shotcrete pump.

Anglo Asian produced 57,618 oz of gold equivalent for the year ended December 31, 2022, but, with the addition of Zafar and Gilar, it has an ambition to become a mid-tier miner producing over 100,000 oz/y of gold equivalent.

An expansion of the flotation plant at Gedabek, the company’s flagship opeation, is underway together with adding a further line to produce zinc concentrate, it said. The total cost of the expansion, which will see it add three new rougher/scavenger cells and four cleaner cells from Maelgwyn Mineral Services, is currently estimated at $3 million which will be paid from the company’s existing cash resources. Contractors have been appointed to supply materials for the new flotation line. Additional contractors will be commissioned to modify the existing building and provide electrical services and control equipment, it added.

The modifications to the flotation plant to increase its capacity have now been broadly completed. The installation of the new flotation line using hydraulic flotation cells will be completed by the end of the year.

Stephen Westhead, Vice President of Anglo Asian, said: “The new equipment will be used to expand the company’s mining and processing operations with the development of two new underground mines this year. The expansion of our flotation plant has been broadly completed, doubling capacity and creating additional processing flexibility. This represents an important step in our medium-term growth ambition to become a mid-tier production miner, and significantly increases our capabilities within copper.”

Anglo Asian banks on Maelgwyn’s Imhoflot flotation tech for Gedabek plant expansion

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Anglo Asian Mining has started the expansion of its flotation plant at the Gedabek site in Azerbaijan, with the company set to add an additional three rougher/scavenger cells and four cleaner cells from Maelgwyn Mineral Services.

The expansion will see the plant capacity doubled, while providing additional operational flexibility, it said. It also forms part of Anglo Asian’s increase in throughput capacity to process ore from new mines in the short and medium term. This will begin with Zafar, which is due to commence production in the second half of 2023, and will go some way to supporting the company’s ambition to become a mid-tier miner producing over 100,000 oz/y of gold equivalent.

The total cost of the expansion has been estimated at $2.5 million, which will be paid from the company’s existing cash resources.

Reza Vaziri, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo Asian, said: “This expansion is an important step in the company’s preparation for our new mines entering production…This increase in production capacity is a critical part in enabling Anglo Asian to achieve mid-tier production status in due course.”

Anglo Asian’s flotation plant opened in 2015 to produce copper concentrate as the company was mining ore with increasing amounts of copper. The flotation plant is located at its Gedabek site, next to its agitation leaching plant. The plant currently contains six 50 cu.m rougher/scavenger cells and twelve 5 cu.m cleaner cells, a thickener and a filter press. The plant is fed ore crushed by a dedicated SAG mill and ball mill combination.

Maelgwyn Mineral Services will supply an additional three rougher/scavenger cells and four cleaner cells for the expansion. They use Imhoflot pneumatic flotation technology, which requires less energy and offers better recoveries than traditional tank cells and flotation columns, Anglo Asian states. The cost of the new cells including instrumentation and spares is approximately $1 million.

One Imhoflot cell has been under test at Gedabek since April 2022 and has produced excellent results, the company said.

The additional flotation line will increase the flexibility of the plant and enable the production of an intermediate copper concentrate, followed by a final zinc concentrate as a by-product. The crushing circuit of the current agitation leaching plant will be used to provide the additional crushing capacity required for the expanded flotation plant.

Yon İç Ve Dış Ticaret Pazarlama Limited Şirketih (a Turkish contractor) will supply a new thickener and filter press for the new flotation line at a cost of approximately $500,000. The only additional equipment required to complete the installation will be pumps, electrical panels and some minor ancillary items. The building housing the existing flotation line will also require some modification, but no increase in size.

Maelgwyn opens new 4,000 sq.m premises in Johannesburg

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Maelgwyn Mineral Services says it has officially opened its new combined Maelgwyn Africa and Maelgwyn South Africa premises in Boundary Park in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The new facility offers over 4,000 sq.m of floor space housing state-of-the-art offices, workshops, metallurgical and analytical laboratories, together with a world-class metallurgical pilot facility, the company says.

The metallurgical lab and pilot plant mostly undertake commercial mineral processing evaluations for process design and development purposes to bankable feasibility study level with bespoke solutions and fast reporting times undertaken by experts in the field of minerals processing, Maelgwyn explained.

The laboratory facilities also support the company’s proprietary technologies, including Imhoflot Flotation and the Aachen Reactor. These technologies have found favour across the globe in associated processes such as Leachox for precious metal recovery, Aachen Assist Leach and MMS-CND cyanide destruction.

Telson Mining ready to experiment with metallurgical innovations at Campo Morado

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Telson Mining, following a strong quarter of production from the Campo Morado mine, in Guerrero State, Mexico, is making plans to boost throughput and recoveries through the potential use of grinding, leaching and flotation technologies from the likes of Maelgwyn Mineral Services, Core Group and Glencore Technology.

The mine’s throughput averaged out at 58,100 t/mth in the March quarter, with total throughput for the quarter of 174,400 t being 4% higher than the December quarter. Some 11,013 t of zinc concentrate and 1,907 t of lead concentrate was produced over the period, compared with 9,974 t and 1,916 t, respectively, in the previous quarter.

Gold, silver, lead and zinc recoveries all improved, quarter-on-quarter, in the first three months of the year, the company added.

Ralph Shearing, Telson CEO and President, said: “These strong first quarter results continue to reflect our steady progression of improving the throughput and recoveries at Campo Morado. To this end, management intends to initiate a rigorous metallurgical testing program to advance through second phase testing the Leachox™ Process of Maelgwyn Mineral Services and the Albion Process™ of Core Group, both of which returned positive test results in first phase testing.”

He said this metallurgical testing program will also study the ability to increase base metal recoveries at microfine grinding with flotation recovery using Imhoflot Flotation (also Maelgwyn) and Jameson Cell (Glencore Technology) flotation technologies, both designed for such purposes.

“We are confident that additional recovery improvements are available utilising these exciting modern technologies which, if successful, can provide increased revenue streams,” Shearing added.

Maelgwyn’s Leachox Process consists of several Maelgwyn proprietary processes linked together including Imhoflot G-Cell flotation technology, ultra-fine grinding using the Ro-Star mill, Aachen Reactors and Aachen assisted cyanide destruction.

The Albion Process, meanwhile, is a combination of ultrafine grinding and oxidative leaching at atmospheric pressure. The feed to the Albion Process is refractory base or precious metal concentrates, where the sulphides in the feed are oxidised and liberated, allowing the target metals to be recovered by conventional means.

Maelgwyn Mineral Services’ Mike Battersby to lead CEEC Board of Directors

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Mike Battersby, a global processing leader, has been appointed Chair of the CEEC Board of Directors.

UK-based Battersby has been a CEEC (Coalition for Energy Efficient Comminution) Director since 2012, bringing board expertise and more than 40 years’ experience in the minerals industry in operations, general mine management, technical consulting and corporate development to the role.

He replaces Joe Pease as the Chair of CEEC Board of Directors, who has served in the position for the past five years.

Battersby’s current board positions include Chairman and Managing Director of the Maelgwyn Mineral Services (MMS) group of companies in the UK, South Africa and Australia, and Director of Greenhills Technology International Ltd.

A chartered engineer, Battersby has operational experience with AngloGold, De Beers and Billiton in Africa, Europe, South America and Australia, plus more than 20 years working in the commercialisation of innovative technology, CEEC said.

In 1997, he co-founded the award-winning MMS, one of the leading technology development companies in froth flotation and gold processing.

He said: “CEEC’s mission is to share the latest energy-efficient comminution and minerals processing solutions to help miners achieve lower costs, reduced footprint, greater productivity, and enhanced business value. I am proud to have been appointed to lead an organisation with such an important mission and an impressive track record.”

“Positive actions on energy and productivity by industry are more important than ever, and CEEC’s work helps industry to collaborate, and identify and implement solutions to these challenges. Comminution, a major cost and energy consumer (3% global electrical energy), is key to tackling these issues.

“As the new CEEC Chair, my aim is to empower industry to apply practical tools to drive these improvements. CEEC’s free energy curves help mines to benchmark and explore best practice options. I look forward to working with the new energy curves team to develop further enhancements, and with industry to create complementary new tools that address the energy/water nexus.”