BBE Projects, a division of BBE Group, said it has completed a turn-key air cooling system for De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. The mine is currently approaching the final stages of a nearly 10-year, US$2 billion transition from open pit to underground mining.
The system includes two water-chilling refrigeration machines, with an option to add a third, housed in a central plant that distributes chilled water to several users, as part of a distributed cooling approach.
The main air cooler is a direct-contact spray chamber located adjacent to the plant building and will eventually feed cold air to the underground workings via a large downcast shaft, which is currently being raised-bored by a specialist contractor.
BBE Projects said it will return to the project within the next eight to 10 months to install the final piece of duct connection between the spray chamber and the downcast shaft once the raise boring is completed.
Venetia is one of De Beers’ six remaining diamond mines in South Africa and the only major diamond mine to be developed in the country during the past 25 years. It produces 5.5 million tons of ore per annum and will ramp up to 5.9 Mtpa once the underground project becomes operational.
Source: BBE Group