A LANDMARK PROJECT FOR THE NCP TEAM

NCP secured the order from Swakop Uranium to supply the new Grinding Mill package for the Husab project in 2013, the project was installed a year later.

The contract included for the supply of a new 36 x 19.5ft, 13500kW Primary SAG Mill and a new 22 x 34ft, 8500kW Ball Mill.

The SAG Mill was designed to accept Primary crushed ore at F100-250mm from the primary stockpile and process the material in open circuit. The primary mill liner design allowed for pebble porting and a dedicated scats crushing circuit processing the ejected +80mm material and recycled this back to the SAG mill feed.

The Ball mill operated in closed circuit with several vibrating screens, with the circuit designed to treat 1875tph of Uranium ore delivering a product of P80-350um.

Both the SAG Mill and the Ball Mill were supplied as dual drive mills carrying full VSD capability, through supply of two ACS6000 VVVF Drives. The drives were designed to start the mills in a controlled fashion and allow the mill operation at a preselected speed to optimize the grind and the final product size distribution. The drives were supplied with creep capability including auto positioning to allow inching of the mills to a preselected position by using the main drive motors. In accordance with NCP’s specification and the client’s preference, both mills also carried mechanical inching drives.

NCP’s contract included for the design and manufacture of the mills, transport to the mine site which is located around 40km east of Swakopmund in Namibia and the full installation contract.

The site conditions defined the maximum site temperature more than 40deg C, which required the mill motors and Variable Speed Drives to be water cooled. NCP’s contract included for the design, supply and installation of a complete water chilling and distribution circuit.

The mills were successfully commissioned in 2016, completing the entire design, manufacture, delivery to site on time within 50 weeks. The mills have been successfully running since 2016, with full after sales and technical support offered by NCP.

“This was a landmark project and is believed to be amongst the largest gear driven mills operating in Africa. Another successful project completed on time and on budget by NCP.”