Fluorspar Mining and Processing
Fluorspar is the commercial name for the industrial mineral fluorite (calcium fluoride - chemical formula CaF2). Fluorspar is the essential raw material for fluorine products but is generally unseen in everyday life. From refrigerants, to pharmaceuticals, to materials in our kitchen fluorine is present, and demand for Fluorspar is strongly linked to economic activity. Future projected demand for Fluorspar is expected to be driven in particular by rising demand for refrigerators, air conditioners, and motor cars in China, India, Russia and Brazil, as well as overall global growth.
Below is a fluorspar mining and mineral processing project designed by SBM Machinery.
Scoping Study Highlights
| BASE CASE | EXTENDED MINE LIFE | |
| Open-pit mineable tonnes (million tonnes) | 17.96 | 22.96 |
| Head-grade (% CaF2) | 12.3% | |
| Metallurgical recovery | 81.9% | |
| Average Annual Production of Acid –Grade Fluorspar | 103,000 tonnes/yr | 103,000 tonnes/yr |
| Mine Life | 18 years | 23 years |
| Gross Cash generated over Life of Mine (LOM) | $616 million | $787 million |
| Net Cash generated over LOM | $137 million | $174 million |
| Initial Capital Costs (Capex) | $ 46 million | $ 46 million |
| Average Annual Net Operating Cash Flow Years 1-5 | $ 17 million/yr | $ 17 million/yr |
| NPV (8% discount rate) * | $ 33 million | $ 41 million |
| IRR (ungeared, 100% equity) | 24.1 % | 24.2% |
| Payback | < 3 years | < 3 years |
| * Based on a concentrate selling price (CIF Rotterdam) equal to the June 2010 price for Chinese fluorspar (CIF Rotterdam) of $357.50 published in Industrial Minerals Magazine | ||
Scoping Study highlights ($ = US dollars, all Pre-Tax)
Fluorspar Mine Location
The deposit is located in an area with well established infrastructure. It is located adjacent to a sealed highway and only 25 km from the regional town of Storuman which is connected by rail and a sealed highway to the city and port of Umeå on the Gulf of Bothnia. The sealed highway continues in the opposite direction to the port town of Mo-I-Rana in Norway. There are also sealed highway routes to the major regional port of Skellefteå. Each of these three named ports are roughly 250km from the project site.
Fluorspar Mineralisation
The basis for the Storuman Project is a large area of flat lying, sandstone hosted fluorspar mineralisation that extends over an area of at least 2 km by 1.2 km where the mineralised horizon is typically 3-10 m thick. The mineralisation has been defined (but not closed off) by 49 drill holes; 39 completed by Gränges International Mining in the 1970s; and 10 by Tertiary Minerals in 2008.
A computer block model of the mineralisation which occurs in two distinct closely-spaced horizons was prepared by Scott Wilson Ltd and this formed the basis of a Competent Persons Report (“CPR”) containing a tonnage and grade estimate of 28 to 31 million tonnes grading 11.2-12.3% CaF2 at a cut-off grade of 8% CaF2, which is overlain by glacial till of thickness between 4 m and 14 m.
Fluorspar Mining
A conventional open pit strip mining operation of 1.0 Mtpa is envisaged for the Project, with a life of mine of 18 years. Waste rock material generated from the stripping operations will be used to construct the tailings storage facility and excess waste material will be directly backfilled into the open pit during operations, effectively progressing pit closure during mining operations.
The primary mining operations will consist of drilling, blasting, crushing, loading and hauling of ore and waste materials. The crushing process is the most important step and the most cost step in fluorspar mining. SBM is a professional manufacturer of mining equipment and supplier of mining solutions. SBM crushers, include jaw crusher as primary crusher, cone crusher as secondary crusher, belt conveyor as transfering equipment, vibrating feeder as feeding machine to crushers and vibrating screen as sieving equipment to screen the final products, consist of the whole complete fluorspar crushing plant.
Based on a preliminary Whittle pit optimisation carried out by Scott Wilson, a total mineable tonnage estimate of 18.0 Mt grading 12.3% CaF2 and producing 1.9 Mt of concentrate can be economically extracted. The average stripping ratio is 2.2 for the life of mine which equates to 39.9 Mt of waste produced.
Fluorspar Mineral Processing
A 1.0 Mtpa flotation process plant is envisaged for the Project with three stages of crushing, primary ball mill and two regrind stages. Ore will be delivered to a run of mine (ROM) pad and fed to the plant via a front end loader. The final concentrate product will be transported to a Swedish port for export.
Metallurgical testwork conducted by SGS Minerals Services (Canada) during 2008-2010 was directed and reviewed by Malcolm Crawford of Delta Minerals Limited, a recognised fluorspar processing specialist based in England. This testwork formed the basis of the conceptual process flowsheet used in the Scoping Study and shown below.
The concentrate produced by the process flow sheet results in a fluorspar concentrate that meets concentrate product specifications for sulphur, silica and calcium carbonate with a process recovery of 81.9%. As a result of the need for fine grinding the process flow sheet results in a fluorspar concentrate that is finer grained than traditionally supplied to the market. However, the Company’s recent marketing enquiries have not met resistance to a finer grained concentrate with a number of consumers interested to test Storuman fluorspar through their acid-plants.
Relative Solutions
| Tel: | 0086-21-58386189 |
| Fax: | 0086-21-58386211 |
| Email: | mill@unisbm.net |
