JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Tsodilo Resources has finalised the final recovery circuit of the dense medium separation (DMS) plant at its BK16 kimberlite project, in Botswana, with the purchase of a Polus-M sorter from Russian X-ray sorter manufacturer Bourevestnik.
The new sorter for the final recovery plant ensures up to a 99% recovery rate of diamonds, including low-luminescent and Type II diamonds.
“The Polus-M sorter will treat the plus 1 mm to minus 8 mm fraction at the company's facilities, while the plus 8 mm material will be hand sorted at the Diamond Technology Park, in Gaborone,” the company said in an update on Monday.
Installation, training and servicing will be undertaken by Bourevestnik South Africa.
Meanwhile, Tsodilo has completed the refurbishment of the DMS treatment plant, with the overhaul of the secondary cone crusher and pressure relating issues to the DMS cyclone as the last main obstacles.
These issues were picked up during the extended wet commissioning period and have now been rectified.
“The treatment of the historic tailings from previous evaluation activities that have been stockpiled at the plant commenced on December 8. Some 250 t will be processed initially to ensure that the plant is configured correctly and operates efficiently,” Tsodilo pointed out.
The processing of the 250 t is expected to take about seven to ten days.