Cosira wins contract for Ngezi Concentrator, Zimplats
29 February, 2008
Cosira, one of South Africa's largest fabricators of structural steel, has recently been awarded the contract for the construction of the new concentrator at Zimplats' Ngezi facility in Zimbabwe.
This is according to John da Silva, managing director of the Cosira Group.
“Cosira will supplying in the region of 2500 tonnes of structural steel, and 1500 tonnes of platework for the new concentrator. We have been tasked with the detailing, supply, fabrication and painting. Thereafter, we will be delivering the steel to the site, and will also be responsible for the site installation,” says Da Silva.
Ngezi is located some 150km southwest of the capital city Harare, and Zimplats is Zimbabwe's principal platinum-group metals producer. Previously, Ngezi ore has been processed at the Selous Metallurgical Complex (SMC) concentrator 70km away, but the new concentrator at Ngezi will pick up approximately fifty percent of the ore processing once it comes online.
“We are working closely with our client DRA Mineral Projects, the company that will be overseeing the project management and plant design, and are working towards a completion date of December 2008,” Da Silva adds.
Jan Vermaak, Project Engineer from DRA comments: “DRA and Cosira have a successful history of working together on projects of this nature. We are looking forward to providing Zimplats with a service that brings them their concentrator on time and within budget.”
Cosira has recently concluded a similar project with DRA for the provision of a new concentrator for Anglo Platinum’s PPRust Platinum mine near Mokopane.
Cosira's John da Silva concludes: “2008 is going to be a significant year for Cosira, with the opening of our groundbreaking Cosira Vulcan facility here in South Africa, and the expansion of our operations.
This new facility, in development at Vulcania, Johannesburg, will initially have a capacity of 4500 tonnes, with an eventual capacity of 6500 tonnes of structural steel per month. It is precisely because of the demands of projects such as the Ngezi concentrator that we have decided to increase Cosira's capacity for production in this manner.”