PROJECTS

A general overview of the services we offer. Feel free to contact us for more information.

Project Management

Capital Projects in the Metallurgical Industry – Mainly focussing on Concentrator plants, Smelter plants

including Sinter plants at various mining houses.

Consulting to mining houses to assist with upgrades, stabilization, and optimization of various

metallurgical plants as part of a consulting team.

Managing and assisting with the following projects:

Process and Control stabilization and optimization: AG and Ball Mill units, Flotation circuits, Thickeners, Spiral plants, Kiln units, and Sinter plants.

Process and Process Control audits and data processing to determine main causes of instabilities

throughout the relevant process train.

Tuning of existing control systems.

Managing Advanced Process Control (APC) control projects and commissioning of these systems.

Control network checks and audits to eliminate instabilities and communication failures.

Implementation of the monitoring and reporting systems.

Provision of continues remote monitoring and reporting service to management to achieve a stable

process and to meet their recoveries target.

Managing the migration projects of IT platforms and control platforms in the mining industry.

Successfully managed and delivered the following:

Advanced Process Control (APC) and Reporting implementation Projects at the following plants:

Sibanye Concentrator Plants; Nkomati Nickel Concentrator Plant, Glencore Lion Smelter Plant – effectively stabilizing processes through these implementations. end to end. Marketing, scoping,

commercials, planning and assisting with implementation and commissioning.

Full migration of the control platform at Royal Bafokeng Platinum Mine (RBPM) and all other IIT systems as an additional service as APC integrators. Managing in-house, client and third-party integrator staff including all planning and scheduling.

Reporting systems implementation projects – numerous mining houses.

Laboratory integration project – Nkomati Nickel Mine.

Process Audit projects including detailed data analysis - numerous mining houses.

Commissioning Management

Greenfields Capital Projects – Platinum Group Metals (PGM) Refinery.

U-Drive was contracted to fill the Commissioning Management position during the commissioning

phase and the Senior Control Engineer position during the feasibility and design phase to configure the control designs for the Effluent Treatment Project. Responsible for the commissioning and optimization of the Platinum Refineries new Effluent Treatment Plant at their Tankfarm area.

Effluent treatment processes of the new Effluent Treatment Plant include the following process units:

• 3 Stage and single stage Evaporator units with Crystallizer. • Centrifuges, Plate and frame filters.

• Effluent neutralization and lime cake handling units. • Thickener, and Bagging plants.

Responsibilities towards this project are listed below:

• Commissioning planning and scheduling.

• Cold and hot commissioning phases up to C4 level.

• Commissioning team and budget.

• Merging of plant designs with ISA-88 control structures and lay-outs. Sequence layer recipe type

and phase type control designs.

• Control designs and testing – Factory and Site Acceptance Testing (FAT’s and SAT’s).

• Hazard and Operability Studies (HAZOP) and Control Hazard and Operability Studies (CHAZOP).

• Compiling of the Process Control Base’s (PCB’s) and Control Philosophies.

• Handover of the commissioned plants and final documents to the owner’s team – including the

closeout report.

Project Management

Brownfields and Greenfield Capital Projects- Platinum Group Metals (PGM) Refinery.

Phase – 1

• Design and sub designs of the Process Control Systems (PCS) solutions for the Brownfields and

Greenfields circuits.

• ISA-88 regulatory control and sequence recipe control.

• Factory and site acceptance testing.

Projects successfully completed for the following process units:

- PGM dissolution and preparation batch reactor processes.

- PGM recovery processes.

- Solvent extraction processes.

- Materials handling.

- Utilities units.

- Laboratory and batch process analysis.

Phase - 2

• HAZOP and CHAZOP studies.

• Upgrades to the process control system/solutions of existing processes.

• Continuous improvement of existing processes.

• Control upgrades which included simulation and testing.

• Piping and Instrument Diagram updates/”as-builts”.

• Process Design Base (PDB) and Process Control Base (PCB) compilation and updates.

• Maintained the Health, Safety and Environmental systems.

• Set-up and maintain ISA-88 and ISA-95 type system standards.

Projects successfully completed for the following process units:

• 2 Stage spillage evaporator control re-design/optimisation and commissioning.

• New chlorate destruct reactor circuit optimisation.

• Ruthenium refining circuit optimisation.

• Platinum and Rhodium circuits – conversion of single stage batch circuits to continuous control.

• Rhodium circuit (insoluble metals) effluent plant upgrade.

• Solvent extraction Iridium circuit, upgrade of the scrub acid and organic make-up circuit.

• Platinum reduction circuit – ammonia scrubbing circuit upgrade.

• Utilities upgrade – steam and condensate circuits; ventilation circuit; scrubbing circuit.

Achievements:

• Good current business /process plant availability and throughput through implementing and maintaining sound systems and support.

• Successful implementation of all new business projects.

• No safety incidents.

• Good budget and capital management.

• Good people management with low compliment turnover.

Control Engineering

Brownfields and Greenfield Capital Projects- Platinum Group Metals (PGM) Refinery.

• Plant, process and process control system upgrades and process de-bottlenecking.

Piping and Instrument diagrams updates and mark-ups.

• Compiled the Process Control Base’s (PCB’s) and Process Design Base’s (PDB’s).

• Provided In-house projects Cost Benefit Evaluation (CBE) formulation.

• HAZOP and CHAZOP studies and risk assessments.

• Control sequence recipe and equipment module control designs and testing as well as

commissioning and handover.

Projects successfully completed for the following process units:

• Single and double Stage evaporator units

• Chlorine handling and distribution

• Solvent extraction units

• Insoluble metals/Rhodium treatment plant

• Values Recovery Plant

• PGM pressure and atmospheric dissolvers and metals preparation reactor units

• Scrubbing units

• Filtration units – Glovebox; Membrane press; Nutsche filters

• Utilities plant process and supply units

Summary of changes and achievements during this period: PGM Values Recovery and Utilities Plants:

Values Recovery Plant (VRP)

Re-designed the complete process control system from the lower Interlock Matrix layer, the PLC control layer, the higher-level sequence interface, and SCADA mimics lay out. Re commissioned the five main PGM recovery processes, including the laboratory systems integration to enable Key

Performance Indicator (KPI) feedback. The Values Recovery Plant (VRP) Process Control System (PCS) was integrated with Laboratory data (LIMS system) that allows the system to generate Lab sample requests in the relevant process phases and then get analysis feedback from the lab system

which is then looped back to the higher-level sequence as analysis KPI’s to these processes.

Utilities Area Plants changed procedures to accommodate auto change-over functionality instead of duty/standby type

control. Changes were made to the different makeup and supply control sequences to accommodate

more effective distribution control.

Lime Recovery Plant AND Lime Cake Handling Plant

Assisted with the plant design as part of the design team and did the main configuration of the control design and was appointed as commissioning manager; the plant was handed over to the production department in March 2004. This plant is running at full design capacity. A great achievement!