Tag Archives: titanium

TNG signs up Genesee & Wyoming Australia for Mount Peake freight job

28th June 2019Energy minerals, Mineral project development, Mining services, Steel and iron oreAustralia, Darwin, freight, Genesee & Wyoming, haulage, iron, Mount Peake, Northern Territory, Paul Burton, titanium, TIVAN, vanadiumDaniel Gleeson

TNG Ltd says it has entered into a binding heads of agreement (HoA) with Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA), the third-largest rail operator in Australia, for the provision of rail haulage services for its flagship, 100%-owned Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project, in the Northern Territory.

Genesee & Wyoming is a global railroad owner and operator with extensive experience in the transport of bulk commodities for the resources industry, and is the majority owner of the rail line to Darwin that runs approximately 1,100 km from the Mount Peake mine site, according to TNG.

Rail haulage will underpin the logistics chain transporting the magnetite concentrate to be produced by the proposed beneficiation plant at the Mount Peake mine site to the proposed TIVAN® processing facility in Darwin, where TNG intends to produce high-purity vanadium pentoxide, titanium pigment and iron ore fines.

The scope of services includes the loading of magnetite concentrate onto rail at the Adnera rail siding (proposed to be located 85 km from the mine site), rail haulage from Adnera to the TIVAN facility, in Darwin, on the Tarcoola-to-Darwin rail line, and the unloading of magnetite concentrate at the TIVAN facility.

GWA will also load and transport TNG’s final products from the TIVAN facility to the Darwin Port, providing all necessary rail transport plant and equipment, including locomotives, wagons, crew vans and fuelling equipment.

“Following execution of the HoA, TNG and GWA will work together on an exclusive basis, and commit the necessary resources, to develop an optimised rail haulage strategy for Mount Peake, and negotiate and finalise a rail haulage agreement,” TNG said.

TNG’s Managing Director and CEO, Paul Burton, said: “GWA’s presence and expertise in logistics and transportation further strengthens TNG’s global network of high-quality partners assigned for the development and operation of Mount Peake.” This includes the likes of McMahon Services and SMS Group.

An updated definitive feasibility study on Mount Peake from 2017 envisaged pre-production capex of A$853 million ($617 million) for a 3 Mt/y project ramping up to 6 Mt/y in year five. This would see 24.3 Mt of magnetic concentrate turned into 10.6 Mt iron oxide and 243,000 t of vanadium oxide.

Kenmare pushes ahead with Wet Concentrator Plant relocation at Moma

4th June 2019Industrial minerals, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water managementKenmare Resources, Mammoet, mineral sands, Moma, Mozambique, plant, titaniumDaniel Gleeson

Kenmare Resources’s board is backing a plan to relocate its Wet Concentrator Plant (WCP) B to the Pilivili ore zone at its Moma titanium minerals mine, in northern Mozambique, after a definitive feasibility study (DFS) indicated the move could deliver an additional 130,000 t/y of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) from 2021.

The DFS, completed by Hatch Africa, confirmed the technical and economic feasibility of relocating WCP B to Pilivili, following the completion of the existing mining path at Namalope in the September quarter of 2020, Kenmare said.

The WCP B relocation is the last of three internal growth projects required to increase production to 1.2 Mt/y of ilmenite (plus co-products of zircon and rutile), according to the company.

WCP B and its dredge will be relocated by specialist heavy lifting and transport contractors on a purpose-built road from Namalope to Pilivili, according to Kenmare. The company’s updated investor presentation displayed a graphic of self-propelled modular transporters provided by Mammoet.

The key additional infrastructure required to commence production from Pilivili includes a HMC pumping system and power infrastructure, in addition to a 23 km purpose-built road.

The contractor will use self-propelled modular transporters to transport WCP B out of its mining pond at Namalope, along a road, including a causeway estuary crossing into the new mining pond at Pilivili. This is the same type of equipment that was used to transport the recently completed WCP C dredge in the Netherlands, Kenmare said.

The company posted a video of a simulated move here, which featured equipment from Mammoet.

The relocation and re-establishment of WCP B is expected to commence in the September quarter of 2020 for a period of up to 12 weeks, with the commissioning of WCP B at Pilivili anticipated in the December quarter of that year. During this 12-week period, production from WCP B is expected to be suspended.

“Additional mining areas have been identified for WCP B at Namalope to ensure that production is maintained, in the event of delays to the project execution schedule,” Kenmare said.

The Pilivili ore zone has the highest grades within Moma’s portfolio, with mineral reserves of 220 Mt averaging 4.4% total heavy mineral (THM). The life of mine average grade mined by WCP B at Pilivili is expected to be 4.6% THM and in the first four years of production the average grade mined is expected to be 5.3% THM. Due to these higher grades, production from Pilivili is expected to increase overall HMC production by an average of 130,000 t/y, contributing to a total of 1.2 Mt/y of ilmenite production (plus co-products) from 2021.

Additionally, Pilivili’s mineral reserves have higher zircon and rutile co-product credits than Namalope (with 0.25% zircon and 0.08% rutile in ore), which are expected to contribute to lower cash operating costs per tonne of ilmenite.

The total capital cost estimate for the relocation is $106 million, including $15 million contingency, which Kenmare expects to fund from its balance sheet and internally generated cash flow.

The most significant infrastructure requirement for the relocation of WCP B is the construction of the purpose-built road for the transportation of WCP B and its dredge. The road will be 23 km in length and 66 m wide, and construction is expected to take approximately eight months from the September quarter. HMC produced at Pilivili will be transported to the MSP using a 16 km overland pipeline and positive displacement pumping system. Electrical power at Pilivili will be provided by a new 16 km 110 kV power line adjacent to the purpose-built road, supported by a static synchronous compensator to improve reliability.

Kenmare received approval of the Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) ESHIA for Pilivili from the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development in Mozambique in May 2019, in line with the project delivery timeline. The company expects the ESHIA for the purpose-built road to be approved in the September quarter.

The contractor will use self-propelled modular transporters (“SPMTs”) to transport WCP B out of its mining pond at Namalope, along a purpose-built road, including a causeway estuary crossing into the new mining pond at Pilivili. This is the same method that was used to transport the recently completed WCP C dredge in the Netherlands.

McMahon welcomed to TNG Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron team

10th May 2019Energy minerals, Industrial minerals, Mineral project development, Mining project news, Mining servicesAustralia, iron, Mount Peake, Northern Territory, Paul Burton, titanium, TIVAN, TNG, vanadiumDaniel Gleeson

TNG has engaged construction group McMahon Services to progress the program of work for the non-process infrastructure (NPI) requirements for its flagship 100%-owned Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project, in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The contract encompasses the NPI at both the Mount Peake mine site, located 235 km north of Alice Springs, and the Darwin TIVAN® processing facility, and will be undertaken in parallel with the front-end engineering and design study for the project being progressed by SMS group.

The NPI requirements for the project include but are not limited to haul roads, airfield upgrades, concentrate handling infrastructure, water and power infrastructure, accommodation facilities and concentrate storage facilities, TNG said.

As part of its engagement, McMahon will advance the existing NPI planning developed by TNG and finalise detailed scopes of work and scheduling for the NPI across both sites. MCM will then work collaboratively with TNG to develop the tendering documents and implement the strategy and delivery framework for the NPI works packages.

“This will extend to any approvals, capital budgeting and detailed project scheduling, enabling progression into the detailed design and ultimately construction phases with selected contractors, in a manner consistent with TNG’s project execution strategy,” TNG said.

TNG’s Managing Director and CEO, Paul Burton, said: “We have been able to establish a global network of high-quality partners in the fields of engineering, project financing and product off-take to help us advance this world-class project towards financing and construction. We are delighted to add McMahon Services – a high calibre Australian contractor with an existing strong footprint in the Northern Territory – to our project development team.”

TNG “de-risks” Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project with SMS contract

2nd November 2018Energy minerals, Industrial minerals, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining project news, Mining services, Steel and iron oreEPC, FEED contract, iron, Mount Peake, Northern Territory, SMS Group, titanium, TIVAN, TNG Ltd, vanadiumDaniel Gleeson

TNG has signed up SMS Group to carry out the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase of its Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The mandate for the contract encompasses the Mount Peake concentrator, the TIVAN® processing plant and all associated plant and equipment.

The two companies have been working together on the TIVAN process for some time. The process, developed by the two companies and Perth, Australia-based metallurgical consultants METS and the CSIRO, has been primarily designed for hydro-metallurgical extraction of vanadium, preferably as vanadium pentoxide, from a titano-magnetite orebody and also for separating the titanium and iron, preferably as ferric oxide and titanium dioxide.

The process has undergone more than six years of development including several successful pilot plant test stages, and is designed to use conventional and existing equipment currently used in extractive resources, TNG says.

In addition to the FEED contract for the process, plant and equipment, SMS’ scope will include providing a proposal for full procurement and construction, including the balance of plant and equipment to be provided on a turnkey, single-source, fixed price EPC basis.

Under the contract, SMS will now design and engineer the entire processing flowsheet for Mount Peake, which includes the concentrator, where magnetite concentrate is to be produced, and the downstream processing plant, where three high-purity products – vanadium pentoxide, titanium dioxide and iron oxide – will be produced.

Interestingly, SMS has agreed to provide to TNG production quantity, production rate and production quality guarantees, elements TNG Managing Director Paul Burton (pictured, left) said would significantly “de-risk” the project.

SMS’s responsible Managing Director Herbert Weissenbaeck (pictured, right) said the agreement was the logical next step in the development of TIVAN and Mount Peake – “which together have the potential to essentially disrupt the TiO2 pigment and vanadium space”.

The downstream processing plant will use TNG’s 100%-owned TIVAN process. The scope of work for the plant will include a titanium pigment plant – to be developed in collaboration with its nominated sub-contractor Ti-Cons.