Utilisation of lower grade (<60 per cent fe) resources, not utilised in the current products, is crucial to ensure optimal resource utilisation and maintaining improving future profit margins by reclassifying low-grade material to ore. the purpose of the sishen expansion project (sep) is therefore to investigate the technical and financial viability of producing up to an additional 10 mtpa of new products at sishen from material currently classified as low-grade materials._x000d_>
Jigging technology has progressed to a point where Sishen's 50 to 60 per cent Fe run of mine (ROM) material, once considered as waste, can be beneficiated to produce a saleable 64 per cent Fe product. This has been confirmed through appropriate beneficiation testwork. Consequently, Sishen can now produce saleable product from material not currently included in the resource definition, significantly increasing the resource base of the mine and ensuring higher resource utilisation._x000D_
Mine planning utilised the geological models to produce detailed planning schedules, reflecting the current and SEP plants separately, optimised to comply with product specifications of both the current and SEP plants and to confirm the viability of the low-grade resources identified as SEP feed material._x000D_
The SEP product specifications have been derived by optimally matching iron ore market requirements with the revised resource base. A 64.0 per cent Fe lump product and a 63.5 per cent Fe fine product are the optimal SEP products._x000D_
The SEP plant will be able to produce 10 Mtpa at an average yield of 60 per cent and a lump to fine ratio of 62:38. The plant consists of five major sections: namely crushing, material preparation, beneficiation, final product handling and quality control services. Maximum integration with the current Sishen plant was considered._x000D_
Kumba currently has an agreement with Transnet to rail up to 23.5 Mtpa through the Sishen Saldanha iron ore export channel (IOEC). Transnet and Sishen Iron Ore Company have signed a Definitive Agreement that deals with the expansion of IOEC's capacity, which increases Kumba's entitlement from 23.5 Mtpa to 35.0 Mtpa._x000D_
The detailed enviro-legal impact assessments for the SEP indicated that the project has low enviro-legal risk as a result of it being a brownfields project incorporated into the current Sishen operations.