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Steel Metal & Mining

Case Study

Mining & beneficiation solutions for zinc mine in South Africa

The world’s largest and developed zinc deposit
site was discovered over 30 years ago but
remained unexcavated due to its viability. TCE’s
SMM business unit provided detailed feasibility
studies and provided solutions to turn around
the mine with a three-pronged solution.

1) The prime challenge was the complexity
of the terrain. The ore itself was positioned
at a depth of 200 metres the two-year capex
expenditure for excavation to get to the ore
made the project unviable.

Solution: SMM applied mine planning
software and geomodelling systems to
determine the mining techniques relevant
to the terrain. This helped to get to the ore
in a cost-effective manner. operation strategies to extract high zinc
concentrate and separate the manganese
2) The rich deposit of zinc, concentrated concentrate. This made the zinc ore a
as it were, was low grade zinc and high in profitable product.
manganese content.
3) regulatory standards imposed a penalty
Solution: TCE provided solutions to apply for manganese dump which affected the
mineral beneficiation techniques and margins severely.

TCE_Bro2017_Steel Metal & Mining Final (2nd Feb).indd 6 2/7/18 4:35 PM