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This major resource has the
potential to extend mine life
beyond 50 years of economic
production.
The Koniambo Nickel project,
a joint-venture partnership
between Xstrata Nickel and
Société Minière du Sud
Pacifique (SMSP), is a greenfield
pyrometallurgical facility in New
Caledonia designed to develop
one of the world’s largest and
highest-grade nickel laterite
deposits.
The project will process ore
in a 60,000-tonne-per-annum
ferronickel smelter. The
smelter will use a standard
pyromettallurgical process and a
new technology to confine dust.
Because of the scale of the
project and its remote location,
the metallurgical plant was
constructed in 15 separate
modules in Qingdao, China,
then shipped to site. The
modules, weigh up to
3,500 tonnes each and can
be more than 50 metres tall.
They arrived in New Caledonia
between October and
December 2010.
Hatch, in joint venture with
Technip in an integrated
owner’s team, is constructing a
metallurgical plant; a
350 MW coal-fired power
station; an ore preparation plant;
an 11.5-kilometre ore conveyor;
a port; and a construction camp
for more than 4,800.
Hatch’s Systems & Process
Control group was responsible
for the project’s fully integrated
systems-and-automation
approach, which includes
state-of-the-art communications
infrastructure, operational
systems, fibre optics and
networks, security systems,
management systems and all
automation.
“
Koniambo represents the opportunity to develop an outstanding
nickel operation with cash costs in the lowest quartile and
exciting, low-cost growth potential from its vast resource base.
The project is based on very strong valuation metrics.
— Mick Davis, Xstrata Chief Executive
“
Hatch Advantage July 2011 | 23