Premier’s Conditioning Tank to be Commissioned This Week
London Stock Exchange-listed mining and exploration junior, Premier African Minerals, has met its targets and will commission its conditioning tank at its flotation circuit, company CEO George Roach announced.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
A conditioning tank, though adding to the capital cost of the flotation circuit, has the potential to improve circuit control, reduce operating costs, and enhance process performance.
According to Roach, the conditioning tank, which is the final plant modification, is installed and will be commissioned this week according to the planned timelines.
“Following Premier’s announcements on 29 May 2024 and 18 June 2024, Premier is pleased to confirm that the conditioning tank is now on site and largely installed, with commissioning, as originally expected, to be completed over the course of this week,” Roach said.
“While the plant is able to run continuously and produce spodumene concentrates at up to 50 tons per day during this commissioning phase, ongoing testing clearly demonstrated that to achieve recovery and acceptable SC6 grade would require a final modification to the spodumene float circuit. Profitable plant operations require concentrate at grade. It was anticipated that the plant could run while the additional conditioning tank was being installed, but with no further advances in plant performance without this addition being possible, it is logical to stop the float circuit now and in so doing both expedite the changes to be made and preserve cash to the extent possible. The civil construction to support this conditioner is expected to be completed by 10 June 2024 and assembly of the new components to commence as soon after 20 June 2024 as possible. The target completion date is now 10 July 2024, and all efforts are targeted at shortening this period,” stated the 29 May announcement.