Tungsten West plc has signed two major supplies agreements for the improvement plan to re-start the Hemerdon mineral processing facility at the tungsten-tin mine site in Devon.
ADDITIONS
Duo Group plc, with headquarters in Coventry, will provide the engineering procurement and construction works for the new build crushing, screening and ore sorter facility.
Gekko Systems Pty Ltd, based in Victoria, Australia, will supply an InLine Pressure Jig (IPJ) system and associated infrastructure.
Duo managing director Martin McWilliams said that work would start immediately at the site.
“This appointment reflects our technical capability and experience in delivering complex mineral processing infrastructure projects to the highest standards of safety, quality and environmental compliance.
“We are committed to executing the programme in a disciplined and timely manner to support the company’s operational and environmental objectives.”
Gekko chief executive officer Andrew Edmondston added: “The In Line Pressure Jig has been successfully employed in pre-concentration applications in many tin and tungsten projects around the world.
“Its many benefits include high recoveries, low operating costs and low water usage.”
Tungsten West said that both agreements encompassed all major new additions needed to complete the improvement programme to the process flow sheet.
These include a new primary jaw crusher and secondary cone crusher, which offer “greater reliability, efficiency, improved crushing performance and better compliance with environmental regulations”.
Additionally, a crushed ore stockpile will provide “buffer capacity and greatly improve reliability of supply”.
An ore sorting facility, utilising “advanced particle scanning”, to separate recoverable, higher quality material from waste rock, will reduce the amount of material to be processed in the MPF by “around 70%”.
The IPJ system will “further upgrade the coarse particles feed material, further reducing the amount of coarse material needed to be processed inside the pre-existing MPF by a further 75%”.
The company added that all fines material, of less that 0.8mm, and “significantly” upgraded coarse material, of 0.8mm to 7mm, will be processed in the pre-existing MPF, which is undergoing refurbishment to produce saleable tungsten and tin concentrate.
“These supply agreements will ensure that we have all the major processing additions in place to implement the improvement plan at the MPF, ” said Tungsten West CEO Jeff Court.