Basic & Detailed Engineering for ULTRACEM S.A.S. New Cement Grinding Line in Barranquilla, Colombia
Ultracem is a Cement and Concrete Production Company based in Galapa, Atlantico, Colombia. Its Cement products commercialization includes Portland Cement for Structural, Masonry, and Marine use. Ultracem ready-mix Concrete and aggregates are part of a big portfolio.
SAXUM has a long time relationship with Ultracem, to develop a series of projects and studies. In this opportunity and related to a specific Technical Services requirement by Ultracem, SAXUM was awarded a contract for the Basic and Detailed Engineering of a new cement grinding facility in its Barranquilla Plant, Colombia.
This project includes the multidisciplinary engineering designs for a clinker classification building, milling building, ball mill foundation, crushing and material handling buildings and all related installations. The SOW by SAXUM in this project includes the design of a new concrete silo for cement, feeding conveyors and other facilities connected with existing Milling Lines and Packaging Lines. SAXUM’s project engineers and designers in civil/structural, mechanical/piping, electrical/automation engineering are involved in the design of this project from its concept up to the issued for construction documents. The main equipment supplier in this project is Christian Pfeiffer, Germany.
The design approach by SAXUM in this project consists of the development of a full 3D model of the new cement grinding facility, from which the Issued for Construction documents are developed. The schedule of engineering deliverables matches the overall project schedule accounting for the construction milestones and featuring an early material take-off for on-time bidding purposes.
Due Diligence services for EXAR`s Cauchari-Olaroz project for lithium carbonate in Jujuy, Argentina.
Minera Exar is an Argentine company dedicated to the development and production of lithium in the Salar Cauchari-Olaroz, in the province of Jujuy, Argentina.
Exar`s Cauchari-Olaroz Project is in full construction/erection stage. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 and to start up the production of lithium carbonate in early 2022. Total project CapEx is USD 565 Million to build a 40,000 TPY production plant of “battery-grade” lithium carbonate.
EXAR has engaged SAXUM to perform Due Diligence on the engineering, procurement, and schedule of its project in order to obtain an accurate diagnostic of the status of its project. Particularly, the required Due Diligence considers the assessment of the following project items:
• Project Controls, aimed at reviewing Project Planning, CapEx and Risks, among other items.
• Engineering, aimed at assessing its completion, quality, overall integration and compatibility
• Procurement, Logistics and Expedition.
Owners Engineer for LIEX`s Tres Quebradas Lithium project in Catamarca, Argentina
In this opportunity, NeoLithium /LIEX has awarded SAXUM as Owner´s Engineer for its Tres Quebradas lithium project located in Catamarca, Argentina. As such, the aim of SAXUM’s involvement in this project of LIEX is to represent the owner’s interests by ensuring that the engineering documents and construction procedures fulfil the project specifications, design criteria, and goals. Owner’s Engineers also fill gaps in resources and expertise for a project.
A very important factor in the safety and long-term reliability of a project is the high quality in the planning and engineering design of the plant. SAXUM performing as owner’s engineer reviews the compliance of the project technical documents with international standards, thereby reducing the risk of liabilities while addressing eventual quality issues. In addition, it contributes to the reduction of the project’s costs through greater control over the project schedule, orders, design/construction strategies, and various other aspects.
SAXUM’s services for the Tres Quebrada project of LIEX involve the review of all documents of the basic and detailed engineering regarding the following areas of the new Lithium Brine Processing Plant:
- Chemical Plant
- Concentration Ponds
- Project infrastructure works at three different sites.
On the other hand, SAXUM’s scope includes the following:
- Project Evaluation,Feasibility and Planning reviews
- Contract reviews (non-legal)
- Monitoring of equipment and material compliance with specifications.
- Engineering design and planning reviews.
- Schedule Analysis and Optimization.
- Operational & Maintenance Review.
- Cost/Benefit Analysis.
- General reporting to owner on the basis of technical and business competence.
Syngyp Handling System Project for Giant Cement South Carolina, USA.
Giant Cement in Harleyville, South Carolina has been using a temporary system to feed synthetic gypsum to its finish grinding process. The limited storage capacity of their system requires an employee to feed the system several times a shift. Also, the temporary system does not include equipment that allows accurate control of the feed rate. Giant hired SAXUM to provide a conceptual design for a Syngyp system that would provide adequate Syngyp storage for feeding the system once a shift and for improved feed rate control and consistency.
In this sense, SAXUM has designed similar systems for other companies and has hands-on experience in dealing with the complexities of very sticky, wet Syngyp. At the same time, SAXUM provided to Giant a design that has been proven to provide consistent material feed and that prevents material build-up in hoppers and tanks.
Furthermore, SAXUM provided the CAPEX budget for the system with some reasonable alternatives for some of the equipment, but only alternatives that have been proven to work with Syngyp. As Giant considers the conceptual design and the budget requirements, SAXUM stands ready to assist with the design engineering, construction assistance, and commissioning of the system as needed.
Energy Supply Survey for the Diablillos gold mine project of Abrasilver
SAXUM, through its team of professionals, with nearly 20 years of experience providing complete engineering services for the mineral processing industries worldwide, is proud to be participating in the Energy Supply Survey for Abrasilver Resource Corp.
Abrasilver is a mineral exploration and development company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral resource properties in Argentina. In addition to its Diablillos silver-gold epithermal property, Abrasilver owns the highly prospective Cerro Amarillo porphyry copper-(molybdenum-gold) property, the Samenta porphyry copper-molybdenum property, and the Aguas Perdidas gold-silver epithermal project.
Abrasilver has recently awarded SAXUM for performing technical services aimed at evaluating alternative energy sources for power supply and, on this basis, determining the most efficient option under consideration of the economical, reliability and feasibility aspects, for its Diablillos Project. The main purpose is the update the conclusions and recommendations of the 2018 PEA, particularly regarding the convenience of originally considered gas pipeline to feed natural gas into the 9,5 MW Power Generation Plant.
The Diablillos property is located in the Argentina Puna, in the Province of Salta, approximately 160 km southwest of the city of Salta. The property comprises 16 mineral leases with several known occurrences of epithermal gold-silver mineralization. Exploration work, conducted by several operators over the history of the Project, includes 87,711 m of diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling in 476 holes. SAXUM is performing a detailed and objective evaluation of the most efficient alternatives for the power supply or power generation.
The emphasis of this study is the assessment of the reliability of the system, and particularly of the capacity of the existing infrastructure of the La Puna Gas Pipeline to satisfy Diablillos’ demand for Natural Gas, in parallel to the requirements of other mining operations already installed in this region as well as others which are currently in development.
Other alternatives for the power supply or generation that are been considered in this Trade-off study are diesel fuel, trucked compressed natural gas, trucked LNG, connection to the National Interconnected Power Grid, renewable sources as solar panels and wind generators.
The final report by SAXUM addresses the recommended strategy for energy supply, the findings on actual and projected natural gas consumption in the region of the Abraplata project, and the estimates of CapEx and OpEx related to each considered alternative for energy supply.
Mr. David Keough, SAXUM´s Non-Executive Director
David is an experienced mining executive with over 35 years of practice in the mining industry including, exploration, engineering, mine operations (Open Pit and Underground), corporate development, contracting, consulting, projects and construction. His extensive geographic and corporate mining experience ranges from: Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. He has direct experience in a number of commodities including precious metals, base metals, mineral sands, and lithium and has held a number of executive director positions with both private and public companies in Australian and Canada, with broad experience serving on Board audit committees, sustainability committees and compensation committees.
During his 35-year career, David worked for Placer Dome (Australia), Minera Alumbrera (Argentina), and spent 6 years with Goldcorp Inc in key corporate development, and operational roles in numerous countries before his appointment as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Crocodile Gold. He later served as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for Goldrock Inc, which successfully permitted for construction the Lindero gold project (Argentina) which was subsequently acquired by Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.
David commented having previously retained SAXUM on a number of major mining projects, the opportunity to join the board and provide guidance and a client centric perspective was an exciting opportunity. David says that SAXUM certainly have successful key niche expertise in ECPM in the challenging Argentina Puna environment and with the global cement industry in general. He´s looking forward to supporting management of this dynamic engineering company as its seeks to expend its client base both geographically and into other industries.
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