Azmet Technology & Projects

A Z M E T T E C H N O LO GY A N D P R OJ E CT S

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AZMET TECHNOLOGY & PROJECTS

SA’s AZMET Sparkles

in Armenian Gold Project PRODUCTION: David Napier

AZMET continues to showcase SA engineering talent to a global audience. More than a year on from our last look at the Johannesburg-based EPCM business, Enterprise Africa talks again to Marketing Director, Ruan Kukard, about the company’s plans for further expansion and the opportunities that exist for organisations willing to innovate.

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AZMET Technology & Projects, the South African EPCM company borne out of passion for engineering, has been selected alongside other globally-recognised names to participate in the Amulsar gold project in Armenia. The project,

owned by Lydian International, will see the recovery of gold resources by means of heap leaching and is located in south-central Armenia roughly 170km southeast of the capital Yerevan.

AZMET will share the spotlight in Armenia with the likes of Zeppelin,

ABB, Sandvik and Renco as the project is commissioned later this year.

Founded in 2014, during extremely challenging economic conditions, AZMET has gone from strength to strength and is now recognised as an expert provider in

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MINING

the engineering, design and project management industry. It’s focus on precious and base metal recovery has helped the company to remain relevant in a quickly changing global industry.

Marketing Director and founding exco member, Ruan Kukard tells Enterprise Africa that AZMET is excited about striking gold in Armenia.

“It is our flagship project to date and is a 10.5 million ton per annum, 1100m3/hr, gold heap leach operation,” he says. “AZMET’s scope of supply includes the design and LSTK supply of the eight tonne carbon per day adsorption, desorption and recovery plant, including reagent make-up and dosing systems. Various innovations have been developed during this project including the development of our own proprietary equipment. These exciting new products benefit our clients on their heap leach projects.

“With Lydian, commissioning is

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foreseen to be finalised before the end of this year.”

He also hints at more Armenian work off the back of the success with Amulsar.

“We are confident in our capabilities to successfully execute capital projects and grow our footprint in this geographical market,” says Kukard.

INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED After the four AZMET founders came together to establish the business, initially working from a residential premises, the dream was always to gain international recognition for delivering quality process plants, products and process technologies.

To date, AZMET has been involved in projects and studies in Mozambique, the DRC, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Turkey, Armenia and other countries around the world.

Currently, AZMET is ready to commission a project in Turkey after

// IT IS OUR FLAGSHIP PROJECT TO DATE AND IS A 10.5 MILLION TONNE PER ANNUM, 1100M3/HR, GOLD HEAP LEACH OPERATION // completing the installation in Q3 2017.

The Eti Bakir project, awarded to AZMET in 2016, sees the company design, supply and commission a containerised, two tonne Carbon Batch, Gold Desorption and Recovery Plant.

“The project in Turkey was fabricated and installed on time and budget and we will commission the plant in Q3 2018,” details Kukard.

International growth relies on AZMET’s ability to develop relationships

AZMET TECHNOLOGY & PROJECTS

and onboard local representation in its target markets. This is how it has succeeded in Turkey, Armenia and other global markets. When we spoke to Kukard back in 2017, he said focus regions included Canada, Russia, Tanzania, Chile, Peru, and other South American markets.

“We are still exploring those regions,” he says, “the whole of South America is a huge target market for us. We consider ourselves to be experts in precious and base metal beneficiation.

“We are seeking representation in various global territories. We are making progress in Peru and Canada and we have representation agreements in Russia, Algeria and Brazil. We are still actively seeking representation in Chile, Australia and Tanzania since they remain target markets for us.”

South America, specifically Chile, remains a key target because of the big opportunities that exist with copper.

AZMET has vast expertise in copper oxide technology and is working on new copper sulphide technologies.

“All the large mining companies are talking about minimising operational expenditure and increasing throughput.

Our process technologies are developed with the focus on maximising the client’s profit, and we believe it’s just a matter of time before we gain traction and capitalise on these opportunities,” says Kukard.

But before South America, comes a project slightly closer to home. As part of the Hassai Project, AZMET has been awarded a LSTK contract for the design, supply and commissioning of a four tonne Carbon per day, Gold Desorption and Recovery Plant for the gold mining operation, located in Sudan’s Red Sea Hills desert.

“We received our fourth proprietary containerised gold desorption and recovery plant order in 2018. The order

is for the Hassai Project in Sudan. The desorption process makes use of a two tonne split AARL elution followed by zinc precipitation to handle the copper that is co-leached with the gold and silver.

Fabrication of the containerised modules are underway, and the plant will be ready for shipping in Q4 2018 with installation and commissioning following in Q1 2019,” says Kukard.

“We are busy,” he adds. The company has grown impressively in the past 18-months. To accommodate that growth, AZMET has moved into new offices which will allow for further growth.

AZMET CULTURE There is a unique culture of excellence and this is nurtured through the company’s ability to solve metallurgical problems. AZMET looks specifically for multi-skilled engineers to build onto its already strong team. Last year, Kukard explained that having a small but multi-

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MINING

talented team allowed the company to respond to any enquiry instantly.

Today, and going forward, the company will maintain the same recruitment philosophy to ensure that we provide the best service to our clients.

“We have our culture of service excellence and conduct our business with honesty and integrity” he says.

“Everyone in the company contributes to making AZMET a success and stands accountable in their decision making.

We are very focused on innovation in the mining industry, which resulted in several new technologies and products being developed over the last year.

We believe that this makes us different from other EPCM companies.

“This year, we’ve expanded our project management team, expediting and costing team, as well as the process engineering department. By using referrals and recommendations from valued clients and/or contacts, we have been able to employ brilliant people who truly add value to AZMET.

“We have a dynamic team with the capabilities to execute large capital projects; we are excited about our future growth and current opportunities.”

INNOVATION In AZMET there is a constant focus on developing new concepts and finding more efficient, cost effective and fit for purpose solutions for our clients.

“To differentiate ourselves from other EPCM companies in the world, we develop new process technologies with the aim of reducing project CAPEX and OPEX. We are busy with new products and technologies having niche process benefits,” explains Kukard.

“In 2017, we were awarded the Business of the Year award for Engineering for a second year in a row. We also received the Silver award for innovation.

“We have designed a unique CIC (Carbon-In-Column) system for the Heap Leach Adsorption process. The design originated from a project requirement to handle a big variance in pregnant

Braam Smit, Barry Beylefeld, Charl du Preez & Ruan Kukard

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// WE HAVE GAINED A LOT OF TRACTION IN THE MARKET. WE HAVE HAD A COUPLE OF VERY IMPRESSIVE PROJECTS // solution flow rate. The flared columns with the AZMET patent pending bubble plate (AZ BPP) design provides even flow distribution with minimal pressure drop over a wide range of flows (285 - 1100m³/h). This design ensures optimum counter current carbonsolution contact.”

Activated carbon is used in CIS, CIL and CIP circuits in typical gold plants.

AZMET has developed a patent pending carbon fines removal system and is busy with pilot testing a new carbon transfer pump. The pump has been designed to operate at much better efficiencies

AZMET TECHNOLOGY & PROJECTS

at very low static heads, thus saving operational costs. The pump will also minimise carbon breakage; as any fine carbon in the circuit ultimately leads to gold losses.

The company also filed a patent for a hydrocarbon contamination removal system that will have significant improvements on the operation of especially flotation concentrators.

“The impact of mechanised underground mining is observed when the ROM ore is analysed for hydrocarbon contamination. Any hydrocarbon present in the feed ore will have a negative impact on the kinetics of the flotation circuit. When the hydrocarbon contamination gets too high, it becomes difficult and sometimes impossible to control the flotation, resulting in recovery losses and a reduction in concentrate grade.

Current testwork is showing that the AZMET process is reducing very high hydrocarbon contamination from ‘oil sludge’ ore, rendering the previously untreatable ore floatable with very positive results. We are confident that our hydrocarbon scrubbing process will benefit any operation where mechanised underground mining is used. We do testwork to compare the client’s current base-case operation results against a ‘AZ Cleaned’ ore followed by flotation on the same parameters to show the change in recoveries and grade.” explains Kukard.

“We are also busy developing a carbon to metal technology. Fine carbon that is removed from a CIL and Regeneration circuit contains gold and is typically sent away to a third-party treatment facility for processing. Our technology will give the client the peace of mind that their gold loaded carbon can be treated on their own mine site.

This ensures transparency regarding the amount of gold recovered and will save the client time and money.”

SA SUCCESS STORY? In the past 18-months, many involved in the mining industry have not

AZMET MArketing Director - Ruan Kukard

// ENGINEERING IS NOT A PROFESSION, IT’S A PASSION AND THAT IS VERY TRUE AT AZMET // enjoyed the success that has been realised by AZMET. Perhaps because of the company’s focus on the global mining market, or perhaps because of its culture of excellence, AZMET has not been growth-shackled like other contributors to mining.

Asked if the future could hold more of a local flavour for AZMET, Kukard suggests that anything is possible.

“We are excited about the direction we are moving with our products and process technologies and we believe we will be very successful in the local market after we show the financial benefits on the first PGM concentrator.”

Now is an important point in the journey of AZMET. Four years into its life, the company is transitioning from a small to medium to large organisation very quickly. One of the final snags the

company must overcome is the ability to woo investors, something which, according to Kukard, will come naturally.

“We have gained a lot of traction in the market. We have had a couple of very impressive projects,” he says.

With interest from all across the globe, it seems as though it’s just a matter of time before AZMET bags its next big project and eases into the next stage of its development. And everything becomes that little bit easier when you love what you do: “Engineering is not a profession, it’s a passion and that is very true at AZMET,” Kukard concludes.

WWW.AZMET.CO.ZA

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