Minopex is nominated as the preferred operator for the Perkoa Zinc Concentrator in Burkina Faso. AIM Resources of Australia have commenced with the development of Perkoa Zinc Mine in the West African country of Burkina Faso and have nominated Minopex as the contract operator for the concentrator facility. The mine is scheduled to come into production in the Q3 of 2007 and will initially produce 550,000 tons of Zinc ore annually from underground workings. While Minopex plans to commence operations with a contingent of highly experienced personnel from its current South African workforce, they will soon be selecting candidates from the local community of Koudougou to undergo intensive training within their South African operations. Once these Operatives and Artisan have acquired the necessary skills and core competencies they will be repatriated allowing the South African workforce to return home or move on to future Minopex overseas operations to “re-play” the localisation program. Minopex will be establishing a locally registered company in Burkina Faso and working towards localising its entire workforce within time.
21 YEARS ON ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH Dowding, Reynard & Associates (DRA) has decided to celebrate its 21st year in business with the launch of a new arm within the company, DRA Mining.
DRA started 21 years ago as an electrical engineering company whose work was confined to carrying out the electrical and instrumentation portions of clients’ projects. Since then, it has grown into a multi-disciplinary project engineering and management company with projects in operation on five continents. The latest move will extend the company’s business to include underground mine design and engineering, placing DRA in a position to offer a complete mining solution.
In tracing the development of DRA, managing director, Brian Dowding, in addition to being heartened by the growth of the company and its business, is struck by the level of engineering skill within the organisation. “We employ 270 people, of which 70 comprise the core team of project managers and process, mechanical and electrical engineers.”
Engineers are trained to seek innovation and to analyse and evaluate problems. Dowding feels that it is through applying such skills that DRA has developed its reputation in the past 21 years. “In addition, our engineers have adapted and grown in-house technology in order to improve our service and enhance the skills offered by our staff. This dedication, along with the fact that much of our senior staff has been with us since the company’s formative years, has led to opportunities across a broad spectrum of mining ‐ opportunities we have embraced positively.” The notional value of the projects undertaken by DRA during 2003 was R1.2 billion (US$0.2 billion), with over 620,000 man-hours sold.
Dowding believes that engineers tend to live for their work so it is important that they enjoy it. “The challenges engineers face and the inherent job satisfaction they reap in return are unequalled in any other profession. DRA engineers have had the privilege of being successfully involved in some of the most challenging and most exciting mining developments in the world.” These challenges range from the management, installation and commissioning of six platinum concentrators in one year (in southern Africa) to the sheer body-numbing cold faced during the installation of a DMS unit designed to operate in a remote Russian diamond mine at temperatures of -15oC, or the equally fearsome 50oC heat facing teams in the Western Australian Kimberley’s.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF DRA'S DEVELOPMENT One of DRA’s first turnkey (fixed price) projects was in 1986 for the coal mining company Alfred McAlpine (later part of the Trans Natal group). Innovative process design and layout led to a 20% profit on the project as well as a bonus and a letter congratulating DRA on completing the job in 22 weeks. So began DRA’s reputation for completing projects on time and within budget. And, since then, the company has become an internationally recognised leader in coal processing.
DRA has been at the cutting-edge of diamond recovery technology for the past 18 years. The company has handled a number of diamond related projects, many involving South African firsts. These include, but are not limited to, the largest DMS plant ever to be installed on a ship and the first production scale mobile, fully integrated diamond recovery plant for Namdeb. In addition, DRA designed and manufactured a micro DMS plant capable of recovering diamonds and diamond indicator grains down to 300 microns.
The company’s first platinum project came in 1987 in the form of a tailings retreatment plant for Western Platinum Mine. DRA completed the engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) project to the client’s satisfaction and in return was awarded all the mine’s expansion projects over the ensuing four years. This established DRA’s reputation as a company able to undertake multi-million rand EPCM projects and was the beginning of its outstanding success in platinum. DRA’s client base now includes almost every primary platinum producer in South Africa, with plants designed and built by the company producing 1.5 million oz of platinum a year.
With a background of being the largest South African contractor in chromium and coal DMS plants, and a major player in diamond plants, DRA was uniquely placed to propose the use of DMS in pre-sorting feed to a platinum concentrator. This is not universally applicable, but is indicated when country rock dilution makes selective mining difficult. The proposal was first implemented at a greenfields UG2 plant at Kroondal and although considered radical at the time has since become an industry norm.
In conjunction with all of the above, DRA is a major player in gold mining, both in South and West Africa.
Construction of a 300 tph coal washing plant for Xinwen in Shangdong Province, China.
OTHER COMPANIES WITHIN THE GROUP Minopex was established in 1996 in response to a trend towards outsourcing the operational aspects of minerals processing. Anglo Vaal had put out an enquiry for a coal plant for the Forzando Coal Mine in Mpumalanga, and DRA tendered using the largest DMS cyclones, one metre in diameter, thus far employed in the South African mining industry. DRA won the contract and was asked to assist with the operation of the plant. Minopex was formed and currently operates eight minerals processing facilities in South Africa and one in Indonesia. The company has experience in operations in the coal, diamond, platinum and chromium sectors.
Minopex has given DRA the opportunity to extend its skills base out of pure design engineering to embrace a wider cross-section of mining experience. With this move has come the challenge of dealing with many day to day issues of modern South African mining, not least of which is that of HIV/AIDS. Minopex has broken new ground in this area. As well giving top priority to AIDS prevention education, the company runs a comprehensive programme to assist those employees and their families who have to deal with the disease.
Fully aware that the true value of Africa lies in its people, DRA supports empowerment through growing human resources in-house by way of development and training, employment equity and affirmative procurement policies. To alleviate skills shortages, Minopex offers training for apprentices and junior officials. A similar programme is available throughout all divisions of DRA and learners are offered technical training in many fields, particularly electrical engineering, mechanical design and winder technology. DRA’s training opportunities extend beyond its internal requirements, and courses designed to suit the needs of the mining industry are regularly presented on winder design, winder safety systems, electrical switchgear operation, and LV and HV power system design.
DRA Technical Services (DRATS) was established seven years ago to specialise in all areas of winder engineering and is the only specialist winder company in South Africa (probably the world) that has no links to any electrical or mechanical winder supply companies. In response to pressure from clients, the company has, since 2004, added engineering design services associated with shafts and underground mining infrastructure.
DRATS offers expertise in the design of headgears, shaft steelwork, shaft loading arrangements, conveyances for transporting men and materials, skips for ore transport and civil design services associated with winder installations, and surface and underground infrastructures.
POLICY ON SAFETY The mining and construction industries are inherently high-risk environments and it is imperative that constant vigilance is exercised to identify areas of potential risk and manage them accordingly. DRA employs a full-time safety officer to direct the home office and assume responsibility for the safety on all construction sites. All DRA’s sites are operated to a high standard of quality within the integrated NOSA Safety System and legal appointments, as per the statutory requirement, are fully documented and implemented.
Ongoing training and goal setting initiatives reinforce the concept of safety throughout the company. Examples here include legal liability training, risk assessment training, behavioural base safety training, safety awareness training, HAZOP training, etc.
THE NEXT 21 YEARS While DRA has completed projects in a number of countries, it is about to commission its first plant in China ‐ a 300 tph plant for XinWen in the Shandong Province. The plant will be used to treat a blend coking coal for local consumption. This is a particularly exciting development and DRA is very pleased to have become part of China’s vibrant growth. As China continues to establish its industry, DRA is perfectly placed to offer technical and financial expertise in all areas of mining.
DRA directors foresee steady growth in 2005 although much depends on the strength of the rand and on metal prices. Fortunately the industrial demand for platinum is largely driven by the Chinese market, which accounts for just more than half of the global net platinum demand. In the years to come DRA will focus on securing more projects outside of southern Africa and is currently in the process of negotiating for business in West and East Africa as well as in North America.
Finally, DRA hopes to announce the conclusion of a BEE deal within the next six months. The deal will confirm the company’s commitment to the growth of black economic empowerment and the future of the mining industry in South Africa.
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