Iron Ore
Khumani
Background
Assmang’s current Beeshoek iron ore mine is reaching the end of its economic life and will not be able to sustain its current production level of 6 million tons per year. A new mine, the Khumani Iron Ore Mine, needs to be in full production by July 2008 and production build-up will commence in February 2008 to replace these tonnages. The Khumani resources are amongst the best iron ore resources in South Africa in terms of quality and quantity. Based on current reserves a new mine producing 8,4 million tpy would have a life in excess of 40 years and at 16,8 million tpy a life in excess of about 25 years.
Location
Khumani iron ore mine (formerly the Bruce, King and Mokaning (“BKM”) Project which refers to the farms on which the iron ore resources are located) is situated in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The iron ore deposits are located approximately 60 km north of the Beeshoek mine and adjacent to Kumba’s Sishen Iron Ore Mine.
Description
The Khumani project involves the development of a greenfields 8,4-million ton a year iron ore export mine on the Bruce, King, and Mokaning farms in the Northern Cape adjacent to Sishen. A second-phase expansion to 16,0-million tons per year is already approved in line with the Transnet capacity allocation through Saldanha Bay by 2012.
The iron ore will be mined from a series of openpits by conventional drill, blast and loading into trucks for hauling to the primary and secondary crushers. From there, it will be transferred by conveyor to stockpiles ahead of the beneficiation plant. The run-of-mine ore will be stockpiled on blending beds in two categories, 'on grade' and 'off grade'.
On-grade material will then be washed and screened to produce the final products incorporating tertiary crushing of the oversize material from the screening plant. Off-grade material will also be washed and screened and the oversized material crushed in the tertiary crushers and, thereafter, beneficiated through jigs to remove contaminants. Products will be stockpiled ahead of a rapid load-out station, which will load 342 x 100-ton wagons. The product will be exported via the 860 km Sishen-Saldanha railway line to the port of Saldanha Bay on South Africa’s West Coast from which the iron ore is currently being exported.
Product Quality
Three products will be produced (lumpy, DR lump and fines). The lumpy will grade at 66% iron, while the DR lump will grade at 65,5% iron, and fines at 65% iron.
Anticipated Typical Quality at port of delivery
| PRODUCT | % Fe | % SiO2 | % Al2O3 |
% P | % S | % K2O | Lol (900oC) |
Moisture |
| Lumpy | 65.50 | 3.95 | 1.58 | 0.041 | 0.016 | 0.21 | 0.05 - 0.09 | 0.8 |
| Fines | 64.5 | 4.8 | 1.86 | 0.04 | 0.016 | 0.25 | 0.02 - 0.08 | 1.5 |
| DR lump | 65.0 | 4.2 | 1.62 | 0.038 | 0.016 | 0.23 | 0.02 - 0.08 | 1 |
| Ore will be produced with the following sizing: | |||
| Lumpy | + 6.3 - 31.5mm | With 5% >32mm, 7% <6.3mm | |
| Fines | + 0.2 - 6.3mm | With 2.9% >8mm, 9.5% >6.3mm, 5% <0.212mm | |
| DR lump | + 6.3 - 18mm | With 5% >18mm, 10% <6.3mm | |
