Engineering and project management services company, K'Enyuka completed 90% of the detailed engineering work on Eastern Platinum’s Kennedy's Vale Concentrator Plant at its greenfields Mareesburg open pit mine in Limpopo Province, before both developments were suspended at the end of May this year owing to negative changes in the global economic environment.

K'Enyuka project manager, Herkie Sandenbergh, says the successful completion of the design of the platinum concentrator including infrastructure, plant equipment, services and roads, together with the good start achieved on construction, will allow for a rapid re-start once the project re-commences in more favourable economic conditions.

K’Enyuka was originally awarded the contract for detailed design of a concentrator to process ore from Eastplats’ underground Spitzkop mine in 2008, which was halted by the global economic crisis. The contract was subsequently re-awarded in 2010, calling for a conventional MF2 concentrator to process opencast material from the Mareesburg operation. The process includes ore reception, milling, flotation, concentrate thickening and filtering, handling of tailings, site drainage and storm water control.

The concentrator has been designed to a capacity of 180 ktpm to accommodate future demand, but will initially be constructed to 90 ktpm. The plant will deliver platinum concentrate, with provision for the addition of chrome concentrate. The project included the refurbishment of two second-hand mills that were part of the original Spitzkop project. Sandenbergh says about 3 500 engineering drawings went into the design of the concentrator. Design features include metallurgical process, civil, structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation.

“This project has proved an excellent showcase of our expertise and capability and we look forward to the re-start,” he comments. K'Enyuka recently completed an internal restructure channelling its focus into the three key areas of engineering, project management and project services. This development dovetails with the recent formal consolidation of skills among the linked enterprises associated with Read, Swatman & Voigt (RSV) (Pty) Ltd, to create the “RSV Group”. All enterprises linked to RSV — including K’Enyuka — are now able to draw from one another’s capabilities, building on a common high value brand.

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