26th Jun 2014 11:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - African Minerals Ltd Thursday said it is improving its year round capabilitiesy by establishing new screening and de-sliming circuits at the Tonkolili mine in Sierra Leone, which should be fully commissioned in the third quarter.
The iron ore miner said the new processes will create clean, free draining products with low moisture content and better product quality, which are expected to be shippable all year round.
At present, the company produces an iron ore mix which has causes handling problems in the port. High clay levels have lowered throughput capacity, and has produced fines with high moisture content.
The new processes will screen fines to create a new intermediate product that should be less moist and can be shipped all year round, and the de-sliming system should remove fine sticky clays and ultrafine material from these fines to create a clean free draining higher quality product, with low moisture content.
The company said that, as a result, its product mix at Tonkolili will in future include only de-slimed fines, intermediate product, and lump, improving its product quality and its price realisation significantly.
"The establishment of these screening and de-sliming circuits will be a game changer for our wet season strategy, in that most if not all of our product will now be able to be shipped year round," Chief Executive Bernie Pryor said in a statement.
African Minerals shares were up 1.5% to 68.50 pence on Thursday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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