Modern Mining November 2017

CONSULTANTS/ PROJECT HOUSES

Fluor completes modular tailings plant at Letlhakane

duced more than 31 million carats since then. More than 800 workers were employed on the LMTRTP project, which entered construction in the first quarter of 2015. “Fluor designed a modular diamond tail- ings treatment plant, from the initial concept in the pre-feasibility study through to detailed engineering in execution for Debswana,” said Russell Ayres, General Manager of Fluor’s Mining & Metals business in Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa. “Over and above the full design, Fluor was also responsible for the procurement effort (as part of the Engineering Procurement contract), as well as implementing early works on site, and later providing con- struction and engineering support to the client construction team.” According to Debswana Senior Con­ struction Manager Douglas Hambidge, it is imperative – in an owner construction managed model – that the model be sup- ported by resources involved in the design of the project. “This concept was applied to the LMTRTP and the results have proved that the model with combined resources works effectively.” The design of this standalone plant centred on a modular approach. The main process areas, such as the dense media separation (DMS), scrubbing and crush- ing buildings, were designed to be fully constructed from fit-for-purpose modules, thereby accelerating site construction. Fluor applied its modularisation capa- bilities to design 60 process plant modules, as well as 106 conveyor and services gan- try modules. The project also included the

Fluor has successfully completed the construction of Debswana’s Letlhakane Mine Tailings Resource Treatment Plant (LMTRTP), situated in central Botswana. The modular plant, which was designed by Fluor, is currently being commissioned.

T he new 3,6 Mt/a modular plant will recover existing coarse dia- mond tailings and extend Letl- hakane’s life of mine by approxi- mately 25 years. Located 190 km west of Francistown, Letlhakane – an open-pit operation – was opened in 1976 and has pro-

Seen here are (from left) Fluor’s site team: Wessel Strydom, Roland Brooks, Menzi Kunene, Riaan Strauss, Willie Grundling and Joop Willemse.

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40  MODERN MINING  November 2017