Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands miner Mineral Deposits Limited (MDL) has suspended operations at its Grande Côte mine, in Senegal, following the failure of successive impellors within the main dredge pump.
The miner said on Wednesday that the operation would remain suspended until a site investigation early next week. It was anticipated that mining would resume on a reduced basis.
During its first full quarter of production, Grande Côte produced 11 436 t of ilmenite, following the completion of construction in the March quarter. Mining at the project started late in March, and processing through the mineral separation plant started in June.
“Given the significant progress that has been made with the ramp-up at Grande Côte, the impellor failures are obviously a disappointing setback. We are confident, however, that the underlying problem will be identified and resolved,” said MDL MD Rick Sharp.
He pointed out that the last of the current available spare impellors were also showing signs of failure, adding that extensive work was being undertaken in conjunction with the supplier to determine the cause of the failures and to manage the lifespan of the present impellor in order to sustain mining operations.
However, it was unlikely that the current impellor would last until early October, when the first of a number of pre-ordered replacement impellers were expected on site.
Grande Côte was anticipated to produce, on average, about 85 000 t/y of zircon and 575 000 t/y of ilmenite when in full production, making it the largest new mineral sands project currently under construction. The project would have an initial mine life of 20 years.