Construction work on building an opencast fluorspar mine and concentrator at Rust de Winter in South Africa has begun. The project is being developed by Nokeng Fluorspar Mine. The finance of ZAR 1.7 billion has been raised through a mixture of debt and shareholder equity.
The Department of Trade and Industry has given nod for an infrastructure grant of ZAR 21 million under the critical infrastructure programme, primarily as a contribution towards power supply and road works.
A joint venture comprising DRA Projects and Group 5 Construction has been awarded the EPC contract for the mine, which includes the concentrator, access roads and the self-build portion of a power supply agreement concluded with Eskom. The work involves the construction of a new 14 km, 132 kV overhead power line.
Water supply to the site will be from a newly established wellfield. Construction work is expected to be completed within 21 months, with commissioning beginning in November 2018 and first production in January or February 2019.
The mine will produce a 1,80,000 tonne per year of acid grade fluorspar and 30,000 tonne per year of metallurgical grade fluorspar. Over 300 fixed-term jobs will be created in the construction phase and 200 permanent jobs will be created once the mine is in operation.