dra

The BFS set to be released this month will basically be a quote for DRA to build and Minopex to operate and maintain the plant. Initial figures from DRA point to a capex of $625 million with a payback period of 30 months indicating an annual profit of over $250 million per year. I believe the absolute worst case scenario for Nkwe would be a 50/50 joint venture with the partner suppling the capital and profits split after the capex has be repaid. This would only put Nkwe 2 years behind the eight ball verses the partner paying the whole of the capex bill which is the best case scenario, good for us still if you multiply the market cap by a very conservative P/E ratio of 4.

DRA have proposed off setting the BFS costs with shares showing their desire to have equity in this project. DRA also have a program called "BOOT" build, own, operate, transfer where DRA will assist with finance. I wouldnt discount DRA wishing to JV Nkwe with this project considering DRA and its subsidiary company are 26% owned by Cyril Ramaphosa's Shanduka Resources which in turn also control Incwala both of which have platinum assets in partnership with Lonmin. Cyril has shown his appetite for PGM's and also sits on the Lonmin board. Nkwe says ore can be toll milled thru near by plants until its own concentrator is built. Shanduka is in control of the Boabab concentrator 120 km to the north west which has the capacity to produce 120 000 ounces of PGM's 90 000 t/m which is currently sitting idle, maybe to far to be trucked but I wonder if a meeting with Cyril is the foundation of this idea. Modikwa is only 20 000 t/m below capacity, Smokey Hills about the same and Implats Marula plant is close to 60 000 tons below full capacity all of which couldn't toll treat the majority of Garatau's ore.

Minopex operate concentrators for the top tier platinum companys produce an annual 1.2 million ounces for their clients. And BFS study produced by DRA and Minopex will be highly regarded by the industry and as I said will basically be a fixed price contract to build Garatau. Below is an article on minopex with some links.


Contract plant operation and mainte- nance specialist Minopex is exceeding its target of winning contracts to run two additional mineral processing plants a year.

Minopex last year secured contracts to operate three additional plants and this year the company is being contracted to run another four plants, taking the total number of mineral processing plants the company operates and maintains to 19.

Demand for Minopex’s services – which includes assisting companies to commission mineral processing plants – is increasing, from both brownfield and greenfield projects.

“We have been averaging an enquiry a week for the last two years,” Minopex marketing manager Rafael Abela tells Mining Weekly.

Of last year’s additional plants, two were platinum plants – Boynton Investment’s Pilanesberg platinum plant, on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex; and Aquarius’s Blue Ridge platinum plant, on the Bushveld’s eastern limb – and one a coal plant – the Phola coal beneficiation plant, in Mpumalanga province, a joint venture between Anglo American and BHP Billiton. Towards the third quarter of 2009, a third platinum plant – Smokey Hills – was awarded by Platinum Australia.

Minopex is currently in the final stages of negotiation to take over the running of the additional four plants, all of which are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2010.

Of the four new plants, three are coal plants and one is a chrome plant, and they will be operated for:

• Umthombo Resources;
• Keaton Energy;
• Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL); and
• Volclay.

While the DRA-designed Umthombo coal plant at Brummersheim, near Middelburg, in Mpumalanga, has a specially tailored funding arrangement that gives Umthombo ownership of the plant after four years of Minopex operating it, the plants for Keaton, CoAL and Volclay are fully funded by the owning companies.

The number of people that Minopex employs has risen from under 900 in 2007 to 1 500 currently.

“That figure will grow by around 350 before the last quarter of 2010,” Abela tells Mining Weekly.

The Umthombo coal plant, which will process coal for export, will have an initial employee complement of 36 people.

The Keaton coal plant, which DRA is to build near Delmas, in Mpumalanga, will be operated on a rand-per-ton basis by a similar number of personnel.

As the bulk of the personnel that CoAL’s Vele coal plant, near Messina, in Limpopo province, must be members of the local community in terms of the mine’s social and labour plan, Minopex has devised a training programme for the operators of the plant, which will also be run on a rand-per-ton basis.

Minopex commissioning personnel are already on site at Volclay, near Pilanesberg, in the North West province, where the US company will be producing foundry-sand chrome for export from an unconventional DRA-designed wet/dry-circuit plant. Volclay is expected to employ half of the staff ini- tially while it operates at half tonnage, with the staff complement ultimately rising to full complement at full tonnage.

Minopex already currently runs mineral- processing plants for Total Coal South Africa, Aquarius Platinum South Africa, Impala Platinum, Xstrata Alloys, Letšeng Diamonds and Leeuw Mining, besides the Anglo American/BHP Billiton Phola coal joint venture.

Minopex’s first-ever client – Total Coal South Africa – remains the 14-year-old company’s client today, and many of its other contracts have entered their second term. Contracts are generally signed for three years to five years.

While Minopex generally aims to minimise client exposure to noncore activity, it also goes all out to adapt to client needs, which is why it is currently considering entry into the build, own and operate market.

In fixed-and-variable contracts, the ‘fixed’ component covers fixed operating costs like salaries, overheads and reimbursement of costs for site establishment, which includes the establishing and equipping of workshops and the procurement of vehicles.

The ‘variable’ component covers what has been procured on a month-to-month basis. For this service, Minopex is reimbursed on a cost-plus basis.

“We operate an open book with clients, who approve the orders we place, the spares we procure and the consumables we buy,” Abela adds.

Minopex owns Quality Laboratory Services, which operates as an independent entity to Minopex


http://www.miningweekly.com/print-version/projects-house-is-preserving-cash-to-bridge-hard-times-ahead-2009-06-26

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/lonmin-gives-cyril-a-fair-crack-at-the-platinum-mining-whip-2011-10-03

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/beating-growth-target-of-two-new-plants-a-year-2010-05-21

http://www.bus-ex.com/article/minopex

http://www.steelguru.com/sfTCPDF/getPDF/MTQ1OTAz/DRA_starts_work_on_Hakhano_coal_washing_facility.html