G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S
Aerial view of the Grande C么te mining area
Boosting the Senegalese Economy with a Globally Significant Mining Project Written by: Matthew Staff Produced by: Anthony Munatswa 3
G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S
Grande Côte’s 36MW power station
The TiZir Limited and Senegalese Government-owned company has spent much of the past decade planning for one of the world’s biggest mineral sands mining ready to bring the fruits of its success to the local region
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rande Côte Operations has begun production in one of the world’s largest dredging operations as it aims to achieve economic prosperity, not only throughout its 15 year-plus lifecycle of the mine, but also far beyond that to Senegal and the local population. Stretched four kilometres wide and 100 kilometres long, the Grande Côte site has been a long time in the planning under the guidance of owners, TiZir Limited, and the Senegalese Government who owns the remaining 10 percent; both of which have played an integral role in supporting all stages of the operation’s development. The origins of what is now a globally significant mine, goes back to 2006 when
SECTOR
Mineral Deposits Limited gained the tenure, followed quickly by a similar successful tender for a gold project, also in Senegal. While the gold mine took off immediately, Grande Côte was slowly developed in the background in regards to logistical planning, locating resourcing and carrying out feasibility studies; all of which culminated in the key ownership agreement which has funded the project to where it is today. Chief Executive Officer, Simon Finnis explained: “Mineral Deposits Ltd (MDL) signed an agreement with ERAMET, a large industrial company with an ilmenite smelter in Norway, as a joint venture partner. “MDL then merged the Grande Côte project
Simon Finnis
CEO Grande Côte Operations
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S This map shows the existing rail currently being refurbished and the new 22km rail spur link to the mineral separaton plan
“It’s very important to us that we are self-sustaining so we built everything ourselves to make sure everything is catered for onsite” – Simon Finnis, CEO
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into this joint venture, forming the company, TiZir Limited which now owns the smelter in Norway and 90 percent of the project here in Senegal. “Now that the construction effort is over we can look towards producing what some people have reported as six percent of the world’s mineral sands products from this Grande Côte mine.” Ramping up production Located 50 kilometres north of Dakar, Grande Côte runs parallel with the ocean for the entire 100 km length of the mining concession, making it a globally significant mineral sands deposit. The mine itself was constructed over a two year period, at a cost of $650 million, finishing
MINING
in March 2014 and will mine relatively low grade 1.7 percent heavy mineral sands. Now in the “ramping-up”, commissioning phase of the project, Finnis is eager to start seeing the fruits of the organisation’s labour. “The project itself is fully integrated and starts off with us mining a large sand dune with our dredge.” he said. “We then process that sand through a mineral concentrator - a floating wet concentrator – which separates the sand from the heavy minerals using gravity techniques, creating a heavy mineral concentrate. “This concentrate is pumped to a storage area, and we place the clean sand, using pumps, pipelines and stackers, behind us. “What you end up with is a big pond where we take from the front and put it in the back, so the whole pond continues to move along the mine path following the ore body.” The mining operation will, at full production, mine and process at a staggering production rate of 55 million tonnes per annum. Over a projected lifecycle of at least 15 years, this equates to more than a billion tonnes of resources, with nearly 800 million in reserve. The heavy mineral concentrate is then trucked to the operation’s mineral separation plant where it is put through further stages of processing, all of which culminates in approximate annualised production of 575,000 tonnes of ilmenite (two grades), 80,000t of Zircon (two grades) and smaller amounts of Rutile and Leucoxene.
Grande Côte Operations With construction complete and mining underway, the Grande Côte Mineral Sands Project is one of only a few major new projects globally that is set to take advantage of the supply-constrained mineral sands sector. Grande Côte is located in Senegal, west Africa. Having gained independence in 1960, Senegal enjoys a stable and investor friendly political and social environment. The government of the Republic of Senegal is a valued partner and holds a 10% free carried interest in the project.
Mineralisation
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S Reaching new scales While inevitable that each of these products will ebb and flow in regards to market demand over the course of the mine’s lifecycle, the flexibility of Grande Côte means that the range of products available from the operations will allow a rise in certain customer interest in one mineral to offset any shortcomings from another. This is also testament to the sheer scale of the project, as Finnis explained. “The project is of such a scale that using equipment that had been previously used elsewhere wasn’t an option. Everything we built was brand new and purpose designed. “It’s a brand new industry in Senegal but not in Africa necessarily. The processes we’re using are common and the same goes for the equipment. However, the scale is not common. “From a mining perspective, it’s twice as large as any single dredging operation in the world so it’s a very significant project.” Ensuring that all construction and mining requirements were available onsite has been
MINING
Grande Côte Operations is the largest of its kind in the world
“The project is of such a scale that using equipment that had been previously used elsewhere wasn’t an option. Everything we built was brand new and purpose designed” – Simon Finnis, CEO w w w. m i n e r a l d e p o s i t s . c o m . a u / g r a n d e - c o t e - m i n e r a l - s a n d s
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Dredge launch
“It’s very important to us that we are self-sustaining so we built everything ourselves to make sure everything is catered for onsite” – Simon Finnis, CEO 14
a pivotal component of the mine’s potential success, and has recently lent itself to dealing with early challenges and teething problems. Minor redesigns of the project and the implementation of new equipment is something that Grande Côte has been able to respond to quickly and effectively to ensure that optimum productivity is returned to within as short a time as possible. Finnis continued: “It’s very important to us that
SECTOR
Overlooking the initial dredged pond
we are self-sustaining so we built everything ourselves to make sure everything is catered for onsite, to be as efficient as possible. “We’ve built a large facility at the port to store our finished products and load the vessels, as well as building a power station onsite to provide our electrical needs. We also have a camp, power lines and our own water system to ensure we have everything we need, built ourselves.� w w w. m i n e r a l d e p o s i t s . c o m . a u / g r a n d e - c o t e - m i n e r a l - s a n d s
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S
$50m Has been invested into Grande Côte’s Supply Chain
Supply chain management Continuing in this vein, Grande Côte has also taken the same internal approach to its supply chain, and especially its distribution channels via rail. “From this point of view, we have also installed a brand new railway from the mine to Mecke to connect in with the national rail network, and have refurbished the line from there to Dakar Port, which we are also managing as we transport minerals to the port,” Finnis said. “It’s 16
MINING
Locomotives and rolling stock are part of its fully integrated logistics solution from mine to ship
been quite difficult because we’re introducing brand new trains and brand new roads and a different culture from the point of view of maintaining that rolling stock in Sengeal.� As a consequence, $50 million has been invested into the rail builds and refurbishments with the operation having received a concession from the Government to manage it internally. Finnis continued: “The rail development has led to a key risk being eliminated in getting our products to port. The roads here may be w w w. m i n e r a l d e p o s i t s . c o m . a u / g r a n d e - c o t e - m i n e r a l - s a n d s
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S
Operators undertaking exploration drilling
Highly trained experts
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a lot better than in other African countries but it is still quite difficult from a traffic and efficiency standpoint. 700,000 tonnes per year heading to port is not feasible via trucks.” For such a large scale operation, supply chain considerations have played an integral role from the outset, with Grande Côte requiring the correct skills and equipment throughout the construction phase. In regards to the large amounts of steel, pipework, cables and dredges being purchased, availability simply isn’t there in Senegal, so a lot of the essential components were imported. However, the operation’s dedicated local focus was accounted for in terms of labour via nearby contracting companies.
MINING
Promoting the best staff
“From a purchasing perspective now, we try and purchase locally as much as possible, keeping availability and price in mind,” Finnis added. Employ and train The theme of local commitment and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one that resonates throughout everything that Grande Côte does, and becomes especially prevalent in regards to employment and people management over the entire lifecycle of the mine. Similarly to the supply chain situation, the skill sets aren’t available in a lot of key operational areas, but this certainly does not mean that Grande Côte has cast aside the premise of local workers, and is instead devoting much
Grande Côte’s philosophy is to employ and train
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S of its efforts to developing and promoting the best that the surrounding region has to offer. “It is true that in some areas the skill sets just aren’t there; there aren’t the people who can operate certain items of plants, so our philosophy is to employ and train,” Finnis said. “We have a highly skilled set of expats here doing the training for us and there are very well educated people here who will continue to grow in the organisation. “Skill sets in areas like some trades, instrumentation and high tech plant aspects we don’t see exist, so we have to make sure we tailor our training and expatriate support for areas like that. “We are looking long term and building for the future so that in a couple of years the local guys will have received the high levels of guidance and mentoring required to take over from the expats and to run things themselves.” Local focus CSR and sustainability doesn’t just stop at employment opportunities either, with a tailored sustainability department set up to cover areas of environmental considerations, health and safety procedures, community initiatives and corporate aid. “Beginning with the Grande Côte workers, in a perfect world we employ people locally rather than from Dakar so they can go home every night to their families, get plenty of rest
MINING
“It is true that in some areas the skill sets just aren’t there; there aren’t the people who can operate certain items of plants, so our philosophy is to employ and train” – Simon Finnis
Grande Côte aim to train local people
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S and come to work refreshed and happy,” Finnis said. “We have therefore started a housing scheme so our workers can afford to buy and own their own home over a number of years. “We have set this up with BHS, a Senegalese institution that specifically targets the support of housing projects, where they will purchase land and we will assist in getting our people approved for mortgages which is usually a difficult process. We will look out for them and do what we can to help them get their own home in the local area, close to where they work.” A strong health and safety adherence promotes this ethos further, with hazard identification a pivotal factor not only for the organisation’s direct employees, but also the local population in general. Finnis continued: “It is not uncommon in Senegal to see things like people riding around on the roofs of buses, and other hazardous behaviours but of course we can’t accept that because of the safety risk to our people. “We therefore spend a lot of time training and planning to make sure that everything is not just as environmentally efficient as possible, but is also as safe as possible.”
MINING
Sending out trial samples
“Every time you introduce a new product, customers need to get used to that and we’ve sent some trial parcels to various places like China and North America over the past year” – Simon Finnis
Market acceptance Following the eight years of hard work, the next key phase to dictate the overall success of Grande Côte will be the market’s acceptance of the organisation’s products, something which w w w. m i n e r a l d e p o s i t s . c o m . a u / g r a n d e - c o t e - m i n e r a l - s a n d s
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S
Zircon and rutile storage at the Mineral Separation Plant
New track from the MSP to Méckhe nears completion
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Finnis anticipates being a relatively smooth transition, based on feedback already received. “Every time you introduce a new product, customers need to get used to that and we’ve sent some trial parcels to various places like China and North America over the past year,” the CEO explained. “We have seen acceptance of the products on a trial basis and we hope to do long term business with them, on ilmenite especially. From a zircon perspective we already have some long term partnerships in place.” There will inevitably be a period of time now while prospective customers assess the products coming out of Grande Côte but there is likely to always be a product among the range which is performing well to ensure
MINING
the ongoing success of the overall operation. “The products we’re going to make are high quality and they will gain market acceptance,” Finnis said. “There will always be periods in the industry when the market is soft and then times where it’s good. It’s just a case of getting from one period to the other as smoothly as possible. “For instance, the market is robust on the zircon side of the business right now but soft in the ilmenite market.”
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Mining HEADQUARTERS
Senegal, West Africa FOUNDED
World class business While many companies have short and medium term goals, the lifecycle of this mine means that Grande Côte can look even further ahead at the bigger picture, and Finnis believes that much of the organisation’s overall targets will be visible within just five years, especially in regards to its influence on Senegal. “In five years’ time we will be a well-known and well understood business in Senegal,” the CEO concluded. “We’ll be an integral part of the community, providing a continuous revenue stream and providing jobs to local people. “In just a few years, the number of expats will be reduced, the expertise of the locals will be increased and we will be providing a platform for the people of Senegal to go on to bigger and better things in the future as well. “We’ve come in and built a world class business and it deserves to be managed to the highest levels possible.”
2006 EMPLOYEES
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Mineral Sand Mining
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G R A N D E C Ô T E O P E R AT I O N S GRANDE CÔTE OPERATIONS Level 17, 530 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 Australia Tel. +61 3 9618 2500 Fax. +61 3 9621 1460 mdlmail@mineraldeposits.com.au www.mineraldeposits.com.au