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COVER STORY
September 2015
MODERN MINING
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aggressive strategy, driven mainly by acqui-
sition. “This is an area perfectly matched to
our skills. Not only do we have the capabil-
ity to develop and build water and wastewater
plants, and related facilities, but we can also
run them. As you know, Minopex, which
operates minerals plants on behalf of mining
clients, is part of the DRA group and its exper-
tise is readily transferable to the water space,”
he observes. He adds that the growing prob-
lem of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) also offers
opportunities in the water field.
On energy, De Bruin says DRA is already
talking to a number of potential clients. “The
thrust is around renewables such as wind and
The 7,2 Mt/a processing
plant at the Kibali gold mine
in the north-eastern DRC.
The plant, which has circuits
for treating both oxide and
sulphide ore, was commis-
sioned in 2014.
as global mining activity wanes
hydro but we also see huge scope for hybrid
systems combining diesel generation and solar
power, such as have already been installed
on some mines,” he says. “Again, as with
infrastructure, we already have considerable
experience of energy projects as a result of our
mining business. For example, we’ve recently
designed and built two hydropower plants
for the Kibali gold project in the north-eastern
DRC. These will supply electricity to the new
mine, which is being developed by Randgold
Resources in conjunction with its partners,
AngloGold Ashanti and Sokimo.”
The current diversification initiatives by
DRA are nothing new. The company has a long
The newly commissioned New Liberty gold mine in Liberia. DRA assisted its client, Aureus Mining, through all the study phases of the project and was the EPCM
contractor for delivery of the plant. New Liberty is Liberia’s first commercial-scale gold mine (photo: Aureus Mining).