Africa-Press – Eswatini. Mwelase Mining Eswatini Pty Ltd has proposed a sealed down production of 1.2 million tonnes per annum for the first three years of road transportation instead of full-scale operations of two million tonnes per annum.
It has been disclosed that full scale operations are anticipated to be implemented after construction of rail line. The company proposes to carry on with the logistics operations from mine to Sidvokodvo Rail by trucks and from then by rail to the ports.
According to an environmental audit report for the project, in the first year the production will be restricted to maximum of 600 000 tons. It was stated that these proposed operations could achieve only low to medium grade product of 60-62 per cent Fe.
“The on-going activity of processing the dumps is producing new waste dumps of rejection material also consisting Fe content of 49 per cent to 35 per cent, which under mineral conservation cannot be rejected and stockpiled for future beneficiation.
The reclamation of iron ore dumps at Ngwenya Iron ore mines’ prime objective is to extract iron ore from the waste dumps created during the operations of Anglo-American company between early 1960’s to 1978,” the report stated.
It was explained that during Anglo’s operations the fine form (0-5 mm) of iron ore and the low-grade ores i.e.,
The report stated that the material was dumped along with other waste rock and non-ferruginous material, which needed careful segregation and beneficiation techniques to extract the iron rich content to make it saleable.
“In view of this, Mwelase Mining Eswatini Pty Ltd has envisaged the whole process of beneficiating iron ore involves a complete physical separation method viz. crushing, screening and jigging only. In the entire process no boilers or chemicals are used which may emit greenhouse gases. The operations are completely driven by electric motors,” reads part of the report.
It was further explained that iron ore production, which commenced in the last quarter of 2011, recorded a 22 per cent increased to 1.26 million metric tonnes in 2013 from 1.03 million metric tonnes in 2012. The iron ore mining company according to the report, invested a sum of E300 million in 2012 and 2013 commissioning a treatment plant and grinding plant that was aimed at improving its product quality.
The report stated that completion of the two plants resulted in more iron (and less waste) extracted and transported compared to the previous year when the project was initiated.
“The improvement in quality significantly enhanced the value of sales of iron ore. Extracts worth E558.6 million were exported to Mainland China in 2013 compared to E393.7 million exported in 2012,” the report read.
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