PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The board of mineral sands developer Base Resources has approved the $32.6-million capital spend to implement the Kwale Phase 2 (KP2) project, in Kenya.

The objective of the KP2 project is to maximise the overall Kwale operation’s economic returns by implementing a solution to maintain maximum concentrate feed to the mineral separation plant, and as such, production volumes, in the face of declining ore grades expected from mid-2018 onwards.

The KP2 project will increase the mining rate at Kwale from 1 800 t/h to 2 400 t/h, increasing average full-year rutile production from 68 000 t/y to 93 000 t/y starting in July 2018. Ilmenite production will increase from 307 000 t/y to 414 000 t/y and zircon production from 25 000 t/y to 34 000 t/y.

The KP2 project will also shorten the project’s expected mine life by two years, from November 2024 to November 2022.

Base said on Tuesday that existing infrastructure was sufficient to support operations under the KP2 mine plan, with the exception of the water supply infrastructure, with the existing borefield to be expanded and a further borefield to be constructed near the tailings storage facility.

At the lower ore feed grades and higher mining rates, the wet concentrator plant will also be upgraded to maintain optimal heavy mineral recoveries, with modifications and equipment upgrades required to the primary screens, feed de-sliming circuit, tailings cyclones, various pumps and piping.

Base told shareholders that front-end engineering design is currently under way and scheduled for completion by the end of June, with construction scheduled for completion in the June quarter of next year, after a one-month shut of the wet concentrator plant to tie in the plant modifications and equipment upgrades.

Furthermore, the transition for mining from the Central Dune to the South Dune is scheduled for the second half of 2019.