Introduction

Appointed by a consortium of international development and commercial banks to provide independent technical advice on the development of a new $1.4 billion mine with associated rail and port facilities.

Mandate

Since 2015 Palaris has been engaged to provide technical oversight for development, construction and operation of a new 13 Mtpa bauxite mining complex in Guinea, West Africa. Initially starting with due diligence of the project feasibility study, the team continued on into construction monitoring and is presently overseeing ramp up of operations.

The new mine is a conventional open pit with truck and shovel which feeds a two-stage crushing plant, stacking the crushed or onto the newly developed train loadout. Ore is railed to new port facilities including rotary car dumper, stacker-reclaimer and berth with barge loader for transhipment. The review has included associated infrastructure such as two new power stations and water dam.

Approach

For this mine to port assignment Palaris brought together a team of mining, rail and port specialists to provide a seamless review to Lenders. Palaris’ own geology, mining and processing specialists covered all aspects of the mine development, while globally recognised rail and port engineers were engaged to work under Palaris to cover the full design scope. Over the top of this Palaris provided operational analysis across the full supply chain with its inhouse team having experience across all aspects mine to port

Outcome

The mining development was successfully financed and constructed with operations now continuing to ramp up to steady state. Palaris’ review and analysis has not only been used by Lenders to support the loan facility but also by the mine owner for consideration of operational improvements.