Tharisa launches the commissioning of the Vulcan ultra-fine chromium recovery and enrichment plant
Posted by Daniel Gleeson on October 13, 2021
Tharisa, the co-producer of platinum group metals (MPG) and chromium, has announced the start of cold commissioning of its Vulcan ultra-fine chromium recovery and enrichment plant.
The schedule for completion of the new $ 55 million plant remains firmly on track with initial salable production due before the end of the year, he says.
When fully commissioned, the plant is expected to enable the Tharisa mine in South Africa to significantly increase its chromium recoveries from about 62% to about 82%, which will lead to an increase in production of approximately 20% chromium at low unit operating costs.
The plant, which will process the living tailings produced by the independent Voyager and Genesis plants, will provide further upgrading of the company’s chromium production at the Tharisa mine, while reducing the unit production of carbon emissions, in accordance with the Tharisa’s recently announced decarbonization plan, the company said. .
The Vulcan plant has a nominal capacity of 340,000 t / month of tailings and involves “the exclusive and revolutionary use of existing fine chromium recovery technologies,” the company says. The board of directors initially approved its construction in 2019, appointing Wood as the engineering, procurement and construction management contractor in the process, with a hot start scheduled for the December 2020 quarter. This schedule has been affected. by COVID-19.
Some final elements of the construction process remain to be completed, but Tharisa’s engineering team has started cold commissioning, with full testing of the entire circuit, to be completed before the chrome residue is left. enter the factory. Of the total capital expenditure, over 90% was purchased locally in South Africa, with up to 1,000 local entrepreneurs and over 100 new permanent jobs created.
Vulcan is, according to Tharisa, the first large-scale plant to produce chromium concentrates from ultra-fine chromium. The Vulcan concept was developed by Arxo Metals Proprietary Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company and housing Tharisa’s in-house R&D team, to extract ultra-fine chrome from the tailings.
With the Tharisa mine near Rustenburg having an open pit life of 14 years remaining and an additional 40 years underground, Vulcan will ensure maximum extraction and upgrading of chromium ore, Tharisa said. The Tharisa mine has 860 Mt of mineral resources containing 172 Mt of Cr2O3 and 42.8 Moz of platinum group metals.
Internally funded by Tharisa, Vulcan resumed construction in October 2020 after the South African government lifted restrictions at the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phoevos Pouroulis, CEO of Tharisa, said: âThe commissioning of the Vulcan plant is a perfect illustration of two Tharisa philosophies: challenging conventions through innovation and keeping our promise to maximize value by adding value to every cube extracted.
âVulcan offers the company the opportunity to further enrich our product while staying on track to meet our decarbonization goals, thanks to the dedicated work of Arxo Metals, who not only provided the Vulcan process, but also provided other enrichment opportunities, including metal alloys and PGM products using unconventional methodologies.
âVulcan is an important part of our sustainable growth strategy and ensures that Tharisa continues to generate sustainable returns for all of our stakeholders, while pushing us even further down the cost curve. “