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BULYANHULU GOLD MINE MDM Eningeering is constructing a carbon-in-leach facility at the mine to process tailings and expects to complete the project in the third quarter of 2013
By: Gia Costella
7th September 2012
Minerals processing and project management company MDM Engineering sees massive development potential in Africa and has selected Ghana, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the key countries in which it intends to secure repeat business.
"We decided to focus on these countries in our strategy for 2012 for three reasons. Firstly, all three of these countries have developing mining industries; secondly, our clients are developing projects in these countries and, thirdly, we already have an operational history in these countries," says MDM Engineering CEO Martin Smith.
The company is registering a company in Ghana and has established registered companies in Tanzania and the DRC.
The DRC-based company, in the Maniema province, was registered on November 3 last year and the Tanzania-based company, in Mikochani, Dar es Salaam, was registered on March 7.
Smith notes that MDM Engineering's success in Tanzania, Ghana and the DRC, as well as on the continent, in general, has been notable this year and attributes it to well-planned business.
"We try to balance our workload by securing repeat business with clients that have multiple future projects in different commodities and geographical locations. This strategy limits our exposure to market fluctuations," he says.
Projects
MDM Engineering received a letter of intent in August for the detailed engineering and execution phase of a 2.4-million-ton-a-year gold plant for UK-based gold producer African Barrick Gold's Bulyanhulu process plant expansion project in Tanzania.
Barrick Gold is Tanzania's largest gold producer and one of the five largest gold producers in Africa. Its portfolio includes four operating mines in Tanzania and the company is the operator and manager of the Bulyanhulu gold mine, which is wholly owned by Bulyanhulu Gold Mine, a 100%-owned subsidiary of African Barrick Gold.
A concentrator plant has been in operation at Bulyanhulu since it was commissioned in 2001. African Barrick Gold completed a scoping study in 2010 to determine the technical and economic viability of reclaiming and processing the stored tailings for gold recovery and engaged MDM Engineering in August 2011 to undertake a feasibility study of the project.
"We successfully completed the bankable feasibility study in December last year, followed by value engineering in March and April this year," says Smith.
The company is constructing the new carbon-in-leach facility to concurrently process tailings reclaimed from the historical tailings facility with current flotation tailings. The project is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2013.
Further, in April, MDM Engineering was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management contract for Canada-based gold exploration and development company Banro's Namoya gold project in the DRC.
"Namoya Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of Banro, is developing the Namoya gold mine in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the DRC, about 270 km south-west of Bukavu, the capital of the South Kivu province," says Smith.
The project involves the development of a mine and gravity heap leach processing facility to treat two-million tons a year and produce about 131 000 oz/y of gold bullion.
The bulk earthworks started at the end of the rainy season in May and commissioning is planned for March 2013.
"The total capital cost of the plant and associated infrastructure is based on the control budget estimate (CBE) value of $148-million. The CBE is
within an accuracy level of about 10%," says Smith.
He adds that Banro intends building another two mines in the Twangiza–Namoya gold belt and MDM Engineering is focused on becoming Banro's engineering company of choice.
Future Plans
Smith says the company intends to expand into other African countries as opportunities present themselves.
"Africa has massive development potential and is on our doorstep. We know and understand the cultures and the logistical difficulties in reaching remote sites, which are two of the challenges associated with working in Africa.
"We have also gained intimate knowledge of the labour and tax regimes of the African countries we work in to limit our risk exposure," he says, adding that MDM Engineering intends to remain a midtier engineering and construction company focused on minerals processing.
Edited by: Tracy Hancock
