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FLSmidth has inked a contract worth 950 million Danish kroner (US$130.2 million) to provide mineral processing equipment for ShalkiyaZinc's zinc-lead mine in Kazakhstan.
The equipment will help cut down on emissions at the zinc-lead separation processing plant, FLSmidth said.
FLSmidth will supply two underground crushing stations with a materials handling system to the process plant; a full package of comminution and separation equipment which includes SAG and ball mills; mill circuit pumps and cyclones; and a zinc-lead concentrate flotation and regrinding circuit, which includes nextSTEP, VXP vertical mills, concentrate thickeners, and Pneumapress filters.
The order will also include a reagents preparation and dosing area for the circuit.
The concentrator will be technically supported from FLSmidth's new service supercentre in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
The equipment delivery will be completed in 2024, with commissioning starting before the end of 2024.
"Our new nextSTEP flotation technology will improve the quality of the concentrates, the SAG mill will provide more flexibility, while the automation and digital solutions will further enable water and energy savings alongside safer operations," FLSmidth Groupe CEO Mikko Keto said.
ShalkiyaZinc is confident the order will "improve the productivity and sustainability of our plant," Assel Rakhimova, chief project director of Tau-Ken Samruk said. Tau-Ken Samruk is a holding company for the Kazakh government's share in the country's largest mining companies, and owns 100% of ShalkiyaZinc shares.
ShalkiyaZinc began mine construction at its polymetallic deposit of Shalkiya in November 2021. The contractors are Chinese companies JCHX Mining and The China Civil Engineering and Construction Corp (CCCEC).
The mine is aiming to produce 4 million tons of ore per year. The Shalkiya ore deposit was first opened in 1963. Tau-Ken Samruk conducted studies on available reserves in 2016, finding the mine contains 3,445,000 tons of zinc and 935,000 tons of lead.
Production is projected to begin by the end of 2024, reaching design capacity in 2025.
