Rare manufactures and installs 17km pipeline for DRD Gold

24th June 2014

The Rare Group was awarded a contract for a 17 km pipeline for DRD Gold. The contract involves installing free issue steel, and lining the steel pipe with Rare Plastic Lining technology. The HDPE pipe for the lining is manufactured by Rare Plastics, a division of the Rare Group, at its factory in Meyerton. The pipe line runs from The Rooikraal pumping station 6km south west from DRD Gold’s Ergo plant up to the Knights pumping station south west of Benoni. This will be a brand new line which will carry additional slurry from Rooikraal to Knights.

The HDPE pipe specification is PE 100 pipe with a 12 mm wall thickness. The fittings, also being supplied by Rare, will be lined with HDPE. The complete pipeline route will be lined in 400m pull lengths. Starting at the beginning of June this year, Rare has five months to complete the project. According to Rare’s pipeline services manager, Carl Von Graszouw, the lining is done with an interference-fit procedure, the HDPE pipe used for the lining scope being larger in outside diameter than the inside diameter of the steel host pipe. Once a section is completed, DRD Gold will connect the involved section immediately to its existing pumping system to alleviate pressure on the current line.

Says Von Graszouw: “Rare is ideally suited for this project as we can manufacture the pipe and do the installation, ensuring we have control over the complete process. The fact that we manufacture HDPE pipe also makes us extremely competitive in contracts of this nature.” Rare recently changed the name of its Swagelining division to Rare Plastic Linings to fit in with the rest of the company’s corporate identity. Last year the The Rare Group started to manufacture HDPE pipes in a range of 110mm up to 1000mm in diameter under the Rare Plastics banner.