JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mineral explorer African Minerals says product mix from its Tonkolili iron-ore mine, in Sierra Leone, will, in future, include only deslimed fines, intermediate product and lump, until the establishment of friable hematite concentrate production.

At present, the company’s production consisted of fines, lump and all-in 32 (A32), which had, historically, caused material handling problems in the port, where high clay levels had lowered throughput capacity and produced fines with a high moisture content that required significant rehandling and drying before being shipped.

The establishment of new screening and desliming circuits, expected to be fully commissioned in the third quarter of the year, would create clean, free-draining products with low moisture content and better product quality, which were expected to be shippable year-round.

Fines material below 10 mm would be screened to 2 mm, or above, to create a new intermediate product, a group C cargo, which had no transportable moisture limit restrictions.

Desliming would remove fine, sticky clays and ultrafine material from these fines to create a clean, free-draining higher-quality product, with low moisture content and enhanced material-handling characteristics.

Discounted A32 would be phased out completely during the fourth quarter.

Commenting on the miner’s plans, CEO Bernie Pryor said the establishment of the screening and desliming circuits would be a game changer for African Minerals’ wet-season strategy, in that most, if not all, of its product would now be able to be shipped year-round.

“[Also], the removal of fine sticky clay from our material, and of course the eradication of A32 itself, will greatly improve our port material-handling characteristics. With a year-round shippable product and cessation of A32, we also expect our price realisation to improve meaningfully,” Pryor noted.