Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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HIGHFIELD RESOURCES JUNE 2016 • E&MJ; 49 www.e-mj.com Martin ® CleanScrape ™ Cleaner • Lasts at least twice as long as traditional cleaners. • Easy to install with little ongoing maintenance, requiring only one tensioner adjustment EVER! • Offers the lowest blade-to-belt pressure of any cleaner on the market. • You can put it anywhere! Installed at an angle, it requires very little space for installation. • Suitable for both mechanical and vulcanized splices because of its durable tungsten carbide tips, which are available in multiple grades of carbide to match your application. The Bottom Line: The CleanScrape ™ Cleaner is an innovative, durable metal-tipped belt cleaner that provides maximum cleaning effi ciency without compromising your belt. Ask about trying it Risk-Free ASAP! Try this cleaner risk-free and you will insist we replace the rest of your cleaners as well. If you don't think it's the best cleaner you've ever used, we will give you your money back. Period. A GLOBAL FAMILY ® Registered trademark of Martin Engineering Company in the US and other select locations. © 2016 Martin Engineering Company. Additional information can be obtained at www.martin-eng.com/trademarks and www.martin-eng.com/patents. call 888.743.1959 or 309.761.4985 email cleanscrape@martin-eng.com visit martin-eng.com NEW! MARTIN ® CLEANSCRAPE ™ CLEANER A REVOLUTIONARY INNOVATION IN BELT CLEANING TECHNOLOGY. have saturated brine, preferably KCl sat- urated brine, so we lose less recovery off the operations." The plant produces two streams of tailings: slimes containing clay, sodium chloride (NaCl) or salt and KCl (8% to 10% by content); and salt tailings con- taining NaCl, minimal KCl (2% to 3% by content) and water. A backflling strategy has been designed to place all salt tail- ings back into the mine. Small quantities of cement will be added to the salt tail- ings in a paste backfll plant on surface before the tailings are piped underground to fll the old works. Backflling has two benefts: the tailings are placed under- ground rather than storing them on the surface and it minimizes subsidence. Around 20% of the slimes will also be added to the salt tailings and piped un- derground. The balance of the slimes will be stored on surface. Highfeld is consid- ering a crystallization option to process the slimes to produce high-grade potash (K62) and vacuum salt. Highfeld is currently evaluating two options, hydraulic and thickened tailings, for its TSF. The company is also working with several frms as far as geometal- lurgical testing. "We are currently work- ing with Barr Engineering and Patterson & Cooke to determine the best options for the TSF and the backflling process," Schlumpbegrer said. "Currently, we have core in South Dakota with Respec. That core will eventually be sent to Saskatche- wan for more metallurgical testing. Re- spec has a lot of expertise with salt and potash and they use hydraulically loaded cells for creep tests, which are continu- ously monitored in a temperature-con- trolled environment." Financial Viability The capital costs for Phase 1 are estimat- ed to be €267 million including 5% con- tingency for construction costs and an ad- ditional 10% contingency for equipment related costs. This will allow the devel- opment of a mine capable of producing 540,000 mt/y of K60 GMoP. The Phase 1 capital cost estimate in- cludes the construction of two declines into the mining horizon, fotation and compacting capacity, and the RoM pro- cessing. In addition, it includes drying capacity for up to 1.1 million mt of GMoP. It also includes all surface and mine in- frastructure including product storage, access roads, electricity connection, gas supply, water and communication. Phase 2 capital costs are estimated at €146 million and correspond with the expansion of the underground mine and sections of the aboveground facilities to increase mining production to deliver enough ore to the process facilities to produce an average of 1.08 million mt of K60 GMoP. The estimates also include the requisite expansions of capacity at the process plant including new buildings, fotation circuit and compaction capacity. Relative to the original DFS, the pri- mary change in the operating expense has been an increase in the mining cost from €35/mt to €55/mt of GMoP. This is primarily due to an increase in the move- ment of waste material and dilution due to the use of continuous miners.