17th Feb 2014 12:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - African Minerals Ltd Monday said it has appointed Ausenco Ltd as the engineer for the Front End Engineering Design for phase II of its Tonkolili project.
The iron ore miner in Sierra Leone said Ausenco will be responsible for assembling the results of the current on site pilot plant work African Minerals is carrying out to establish flowsheet and design parameters for a concentrator on site.
The phase II part of the Tonkolili project intends to exploit 1.1 billion tonnes worth of iron ore in a saprolite portion of its resource. The concentrator is expected to have a design output of 10 million tonnes per year.
The company said the scope of the works will also include its raw water and tailings dam design and its power supply requirement.
African minerals said the establishment of the flowsheet will allow the optimisation of mass yield and concentrate grade - key components in establishing capital schedules, operating costs, resource life - and also the expected revenue per tonne from this portion of Tonkolili's production.
The company said that the parameters will be established in the second quarter of 2014 so that elements of equipment can be ordered in good time.
African Minerals said that it is expected that earthworks for the construction of the concentrator will begin at the end of this year, once the 2014 wet season has ended, such that the concentrator will be in production in 2016.
The company added that initial expenditure for the construction of the concentrator and associated facilities will be funded from existing restricted funds of approximately USD300 million, with the balance sourced through project level debt finance.
African Minerals shares were up 3.3% to 164.50 pence Monday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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