Project Location:

Mbeya, Tanzania

Client:

Shanta Mining Company Limited (Shanta Gold)

Client Needs and Requirements:

Shanta Mining Company Limited (SMCL) is a publicly traded gold producer trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. As SMCL continues to develop the New Luika Gold Mine in Western Tanzania, the requirement for a lower cost, highly available power source was realized.

Challenges and ISI’s Response:

Inglett & Stubbs International (ISI) was awarded the contract to Engineer, Procure, and Construct (EPC) a 7.5MW Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) fired Power Station to support the client’s needs & requirements. The contract was awarded through a competitive bid process on December 15, 2015.

The Results:

Scope required ISI to provide a Turn-Key solution for a 7.5 MW  Power Plant in an N+1 arrangement that would provide reliable prime power to the mine site for +15 years. The new power plant was designed as a client-owned permanent solution to replace an existing rental plant. The client operates the mine on a 24/7 schedule, so efficiency and reliability are critical to the end-user’s production. Final execution of the contract will require the plant to commission against live-load which requires additional engineering and coordination that is complex in nature with cut-overs having little to no impact on site operations.

The Details:

The entire plant was custom designed and implemented by the ISI team to provide the client with a fully-automated plant. All phases of this project are considered highly complex in nature with construction occurring in an extremely remote location.

The plant consists of six medium speed generators that are capable of operating off of a Diesel or HFO fuel source. The Balance of Plant (BOP), supporting generator systems, include HFO storage, treatment, & distribution; high & low pressure compressed air; heat recovery and distribution system; electrical distribution equipment; and an automated control system. With the critical nature of the plant, a “HAZOP” review was performed in the design phase so the end product will have redundancy to maximize efficiency and reduce disruption to on-going operations.