Feasibility Study for a Gold Mine Expansion Project – Minera Santa Cruz, Hochschield Mining, Argentina.
Minera Santa Cruz (MSC) was born in 2001, through a joint venture between Hochschild Mining and Minera Andes, today, McEwen Mining, to carry out the exploration and commissioning of the San José Mine in Argentina.
San José is a deposit of epithermal origin of low sulfidation of quartz veins enriched in gold and silver. The site is located in the northwest of the Deseado Massif, 50 kilometers from the town of Perito Moreno in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina.
Currently, MSC is developing a project to expand the plant's capacity from 1,700 tpd to 2,000 tpd. To this end, MSC seeks to implement a regrinding circuit that includes the implementation of a Vertical Mill, among other equipment.
For this purpose, MSC awarded SAXUM the development of a Feasibility Study for the Production Capacity Expansion project, with the objective of achieving a production of 2,000 tpd.
At the same time, SAXUM carried out the full multidisciplinary engineering including Process, Mechanical, Piping, Electrical, Instrumentation, Civil and Structural. In addition, SAXUM complemented the Feasibility Study, with procurement assistance and CapEx evaluation.
For the expansion project, the implementation of a regrinding circuit was required, which processed the overflow (O/F) of the two existing hydrocyclone nests, after classifying the pulp in a new hydrocyclone nest.
In addition to the evaluation of the need to expand the Grinding circuit, MSC required the review of the circuits downstream of the grinding, specifically those corresponding to the Flotation, Thickening and Filtering of concentrates.
Furthermore, MSC required a bottleneck evaluation of the pumps, pipping and discharge boxes in the downstream circuits, to guarantee the adequate flow of 2,000 tpd.
On April 2024 SAXUM started with the Detailed Engineering and the preconstruction assistance within the framework of the EPCM Services.
Structural Engineering for Warrior Met Coal overland conveyor by Beumer in Alabama, USA
SAXUM, through its teams of experienced structural engineers and designers, is developing the structural designs for an overland conveyor of over 15 km length which will be located in a winding terrain and crossed by geographical features such as rivers and streams.
For this project SAXUM was awarded by the Beumer Group, an international leader in the manufacture of intralogistics systems for conveying, loading, palletizing, packaging, sortation, and distribution. Beumer has been contracted by the Owner, Warrior Met Coal located in Brookwood, Alabama, to provide a new overland conveyor at their facility.
SAXUM’s scope of work in this project for the new overland conveyor of Warrior Met Coal includes:
- Estimation and early provision of BoQs (Bill of Quantities) with high accuracy.
- Basic Engineering. As part of this service SAXUM had to develop a full 3D model (level 1) of the structural system of the overland conveyor, utilizing the preliminary models provided by Beumer.
- Detailed Structural Engineering: Once the Basic engineering was completed and approved by Beumer and Warrior Met Coal, SAXUM developed the detailed engineering that included the Issued for Construction documents with the stamping and sign-off by SAXUM’s licensed civil/structural PE in Alabama.
- As part of the Detailed Engineering, SAXUM was responsible for the final 3D-model for assemblies (ready to be delivered to the workshops selected by Beumer), and for the final overall 3D-model of the overland conveyor structural system.
A relevant feature of this project was the short lead time available for material quantity estimates to allow early purchases of structural profiles. SAXUM was able to comply with this project requirement on time.
Greenfield Cement Grinding Project at the Port of Houston, USA. Sintek – Cimsa.
The founders of the Sintek Group (hereinafter SINTEK), who held senior positions in various cement projects and large investment projects, established the company in Ankara in 2005. In a short time, SINTEK has established itself in the field of engineering and consulting services and project development thanks to its knowledge, experience, and qualified personnel. As a result of the successfully constructed facilities created and commissioned in the cement industry, it has gained reputation and reliability in this sector.
In addition, SINTEK is a supplier of equipment and integrated systems for the industrial sector, the company also carries out serious research and development activities in the field of process design.
On the other hand, Cimsa is one of the leading global brands in white cement and has approved the installation of a new cement grinding plant in the Port of Houston, TX – USA, with a production capacity of 80 tph and 100 tph.
SINTEK was contracted by Cimsa for the EPC services regarding its new Cement Grinding Project in Houston, TX, USA, and has awarded SAXUM the multidisciplinary basic and detailed engineering designs, including all disciplines, from process and mechanical/piping to civil, structural and electrical/I&C engineering.
The project areas in the Scope of Work (SOW) of SAXUM for the required engineering designs were:
- Raw material receiving;
- Raw materials warehouse;
- Mill feed hoppers;
- Grinding Unit;
- Cement transport;
- Cement storage.
Furthermore, SINTEK required for this project, as an optional service, the workshop drawings of the mechanical equipment as well as the development of all structural connection details for workshop fabrication, accompanied by the corresponding erection drawings according to Tekla standards.
New Tailings Drive System, Cerro Moro Gold Mine, Panamerican Silver, Argentina.
Pan American Silver is the world's second-largest primary silver producer, providing greater exposure to silver through a diversified portfolio of assets, large reserves, and growing production. PAS owns and operates mines in Mexico, Peru, Canada, Argentina and Bolivia.
In Argentina, the Cerro Moro gold and silver project is operating, in the province of Santa Cruz, which has several open pit and underground mines, which produce doré through a conventional and Merril-Crowe leaching process. Throughput in 2022 was approximately 1,074 tpd.
With the purpose to increase the tailings flow rate up to 120 m3/h at the discharge point on the tailings dam of its gold mine Cerro Moro, Pan American Silver awarded SAXUM for the needed conceptual and detailed engineering designs for the new tailings drive system.
For this project, SAXUM carried out a comprehensive survey of the current Cerro Moro tailings drive system to characterize the existing equipment and main components.
For the conceptual phase, SAXUM developed a hydraulic model of the tailings drive system, from the “tailing pump box” to the discharge point on the tailing dam, and then a comprehensive stationary Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation of the pumping circuit to evaluate the circulating flow and verify the accuracy of the hydraulic model and related pumping system. The results of the CFD simulation in terms of the tailings flow resulting at different outlet points of the drive, as well as the conclusions for the drive system and pumping circuit designs were provided in the final technical report issued by SAXUM to Pan American Silver.
On the other hand, for the detailed phase, the following activities are included in SAXUM’s SOW in this project:
- Design and select the control and power systems necessary for the new system. Evaluate the possibility of utilizing the existing installations and equipment.
- Evaluate and design the passage of the pipe below the plant route.
- Design and calculate the support structure required for the installation of the pumping system.
- Compile the technical report of all components of the new tailings drive system.
Aqueducts Conceptual design and CapEx Estimate for Hanaq Lithium Carbonate Project in Argentina.
SAXUM was awarded by Hanaq for the Conceptual Engineering Project of the aqueduct for a Lithium Carbonate Production Plant located in northwest Argentina. This project aims to extract water from potential wells located around the Salar to supply the production process.
Considering each of the water wells indicated by the client, SAXUM developed conceptual engineering designs of the aqueducts, defining the most convenient alternative for each of them and obtaining the resulting CAPEX of the project. SAXUM's analysis was based on the evaluation of different flow alternatives to perform a trade-off study regarding the project's capital investments.
SAXUM developed this project utilizing different sources of information including satellite from where the resulting aqueduct models were generated considering appropriate computational software.
Jared Weston announced as General Manager for North American Operations
With the retirement of Chris Hayman, SAXUM announces that Jared Weston will take on the role of General Manager for our North American office. He will continue to act as VP of Strategic Planning for SAXUM’s global operations.
“Since joining SAXUM in August 2023 as Director of Sales we have seen significant growth in the North American market and increased interest out of our Australian office. With Jared’s vast experience, starting in commissioning and progressing to developing capex projects of increasing size, there are few professionals who have a similar understanding of what is required to execute successful projects in these regions. Jared is the natural choice to lead our operations in the USA to continue to build SAXUM’s competencies to meet the needs of our customers in our fastest growing market.”
– Guillermo Este - CEO
Jared has a BS in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University focused on Engineering Economics. He has over 18 years of experience in the cement and mining industries. Jared’s core competencies include developing and selling customized CapEx project solutions, leading interdisciplinary and international teams, and incorporating modern and sustainable technology into existing plants.
SAXUM present at PDAC 2024, the world's Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention
Last March, SAXUM attended PDAC 2024 in Toronto, Canada, where we had a booth and had the chance to meet with representatives, explore mining opportunities and attend interesting presentations.
PDAC is the leading event for people, companies and organizations connected to mineral exploration. The annual award-winning PDAC Convention brings together up to 30,000 attendees from over 130+ countries for its educational programming, networking events, business opportunities and fun.
Since it began in 1932, the convention has grown in size, stature and influence. Today, it is the event of choice for the world’s mineral industry hosting more than 1,100 exhibitors and 700 speakers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.