The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 23

NORTHAM PLATINUM LIMITED 15 MVA ELKEN SIX-IN-LINE

SMELTING FURNACE COMPLETE REBUILD 2008

T Dickinson

Dickinson Group

Introduction:

Northam Platinum is situated in Limpopo Province ± 30 km south of Thabazimbi. The

Dickinson Group was successful in securing the project which we started in September

2008 and completed in December 2008.The shutdown was planned for a total of 70 days

from the last matte tap to the first slag tap. We have successfully completed the project in

the planned shutdown duration.

Scope of Work:

The scope consisted of the following disciplines:

1. Engineering / Third Party Inspection:

1.1. Refractory drawings.

1.2. Structural and ancillary steelwork drawings.

1.3. Furnace shutdown procedure.

1.4. Furnace start-up & loading of pre-charge material procedure.

2. Quality Assurance and Quality Control Support.

3. Project Management.

4. Surveying Works.

5. Medical and Training.

6. Demolition Works.

7. Civil Works.

8. Structural Steel Works.

9. Steel Plate Works.

10. Steel / Flexible Piping Works.

11. Refractory Installation.

12. Electrical.

13. Instrumentation.

14. Loading of pre-charge materials.

15. Supply and Installation of Scaffolding.

16. Structural Painting.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 24

1.1 Refractory Drawings

RHI Refractories was responsible for the design and supply of all the refractory

drawings:

• Refractory course drawings.

• Refractory general arrangement drawings.

• Refractory cross section drawings.

• Refractory longitudinal drawings.

• Refractory BOM including the expansion materials.

1.2 Structural and ancillary steelwork drawings:

• Our Company has employed the services of Pöyry to conduct a laser point

scan upon completion of the furnace.

• The laser point scan was then converted into a 3-D model, which can be used

to generate 2-D drawings from any part of the furnace.

• We have also re-designed the matte tapping platform to ease the lancing

operation during normal operation of the furnace

1.3 Furnace shutdown procedure:

• Northam Platinum and The Dickinson Group were responsible to compile a

safe and practical furnace shutdown procedure.

• We have conducted a hazard identification workshop in order to identify all

the possible risks associated with the furnace shutdown.

• Northam Platinum derived a method to minimize the remaining product inside

the furnace after the final matte tap.

1.4 Furnace start-up and loading of pre-charge material:

• Northam Platinum compiled a heat-up / start-up procedure which included the

method to load the pre-charge material.

• Northam Platinum also provided a crew that was responsible to supervise the

furnace start-up on a 24 hours basis.

2. Quality Assurance and Quality Control Support:

• We have appointed a QA/QC officer at the manufacturing workshop to ensure the

correct quality and rectification of defects prior to the delivery of the steel

structure onto site.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 25

• RHI was responsible to oversee the refractory installation and to ensure that the

installation was according to the correct quality and standard.

• Northam Platinum was responsible to oversee the furnace heat-up electrical start-

up.

3. Project Management:

The Dickinson Group was responsible for the management of the complete project

which included the following:

• The manufacturing and delivery of all the steel related items.

• Manufacturing of miscellaneous refractory materials.

• Civil work repairs.

• Removal and installation of instrumentation in and around the furnace.

• Removal and installation of the earth ring and control system of the furnace.

4. Surveying Works:

We have appointed Young, Stuart & Associates Inc. to conduct the following surveys for

us during the installation project:

• Inside steel dimensions of the completed furnace box steelwork as well as the

buckstay positions.

• Matte & slag tap-hole elevations and positions was surveyed and punched onto

the existing steelwork.

• The hearth profile as per Northam Platinum requirements.

• Upper hearth skewback brick level.

• Inside of the furnace refractory dimensions.

5. Medical and Training:

All our Employees were trained on all skill levels which included the following courses:

• KBC and Site Induction.

• Valid occupational medical certificates.

• Mine Health and Safety Act.

• Hazard identification and Risk Assessment.

• Lock out procedure.

• Safety Induction.

• Occupational Hygiene.

• PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

• Valid driver’s license and/or Forklift license.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 26

• Hoist Operation course.

• First Aid course.

• Accredited Certification in all Refractory Installation disciplines.

6. Refractory Demolition:

During the initial 24 hour cooling down period of the furnace, we used the

opportunity to demolish the slag & matte tapping platforms, as well as the slag return

launder support structure. We utilized lancing equipment, telescopic forklifts fitted

with grabs, mobile cranes and the overhead crane.

We also demolished the two civil support plinths for both tapping platforms. This

was necessary to enable us to construct temporary ramps which were used to gain

access into the furnace during the demolishing period. After the initial 24 hours of

natural cooling, we forced cooled the furnace by spraying water into the furnace.

When the top layer of the material inside the furnace was solid we flooded the

furnace utilizing fire hoses. The flooding continued for 36 hours. Once the furnace

was cooled down sufficiently the furnace roof IPE beams were cut off using wire

packed lancing equipment. This caused the roof to drop down into the furnace.

Lancing Operator busy cutting out the old floor plates and Grillage beams

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 27

The end wall refractories were removed next, utilizing large excavators. The end

wall buckstays were removed afterwards with telescopic forklifts fitted with grabs

and the overhead crane.

Large Excavator removing rubble from the inside of the furnace

After the end walls were completely demolished, we used waste rubble and rock

material to construct the two ramps at the slag and matte ends. The rest of the furnace

was demolished utilizing four large excavators, two fitted with demolition hammers

and two with buckets.

All the buckstays were lanced into two halves which eased their removal. When all

the refractory material was demolished and carted away, the rest of the steel structure

was lanced off and removed with large excavators.

Care was taken not to damage the civil plinths underneath the furnace floor.

All the rubble and scrap steel was sorted and transported to an area away from the

furnace.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 28

Front-end Loader clearing the rubble inside the furnace

7. Civil Works:

We have constructed new plinths under the matte and slag tapping platforms.

The plinths under the matte tapping platform was re-designed in order to suit the new

design of the matte tapping platform. All damaged plinths under and/or next to the

furnace were repaired with a high early strength concrete (Sika Crete). The concrete

slope under the furnace was repaired to its original condition.

Damaged plinth boxed and ready to be casted

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 29

8. Structural Steel Works:

Both the matte and slag tapping platforms were replaced with newly fabricated steel

work. The slag return launder platform and support structure were supplied and

erected by the Dickinson Group.

Installation of Grillage Beams

We supplied and installed the buckstay grillage beams, the side and end wall

buckstays, the whaler beams as well as the furnace inspection door frames complete

with door and handle.

Installation of side wall buckstays

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 30

Installation of matte end buckstays and shell plates

We completed the mechanical installation of the roof which consisted of the furnace

roof main support structural beams, roof yoke end connections, all the primary

support structural beams and support castings.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 31

Roof main support beams between the electrodes

We removed the hearth cooling ducting and we were able to salvage 50% of the total

ducting. The additional 50% required was fabricated and installed with the salvaged

ducting.

9. Steel Plate Work:

The scope of work for the aforementioned works consisted of the supply and

installation of miscellaneous sizes of steel packer plates for the leveling of the

grillage beams, mild steel plate to cover both tapping platforms (as per the design),

furnace bottom, side and end walls shell plates as per the existing design.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 32

Installation of steel side walls

10. Steel / Flexible Piping works:

• We have removed all large bore piping at the slag end to provide access for the

large excavators during the demolition phase. All the piping was re-installed after

the refractory installation period. All the piping was salvaged and re-used.

• New small bore piping was supplied and installed at the matte and slag tap holes.

• We have covered these pipes with heat resistant glass fiber coating to give

additional protection and to extend their useful life.

11. Refractory Installation:

The refractory installation consisted of the installation of the bottom-in fill, infill

screed, lower hearth, upper hearth, both side and end walls and the roof refractory

material.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 33

Refractory installation of the bottom infill brick

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 34

Refractory installation of lower hearth bricks

Completed refractory installation

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 35

Hanging roof structure

We also supplied and installed stainless steel anchors and guniting material required

for the fire protection of the structural steel work on the matte and slag end as well as

the furnace buckstays, whaler beams etc. We installed ceramic sleeves around the tie

rods to protect the tie rods from heat.

12. Electrical:

The Dickinson Group was responsible for the removal of the existing ring earth

around the furnace and we replaced the existing system with a similar system widely

used in the typical installation of six-in-line furnaces.

13. Instrumentation:

• Drilling of the thermocouple holes was done as per the original design.

• We supplied and installed new cable racking, cables and thermocouples as per the

original design.

The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Refractories 2010 Conference

T Dickinson

________________________________________________________________________

Page 36

14. Loading of pre-charge materials:

• Our Company was responsible to load all pre-charge material as per Northam

Platinum’s specification and procedure.

• The dry slag was loaded into trucks that are equipped with pumps that can pump

the dry slag from the truck into the furnace.

• We loaded scrap railway lines and scrap steel under the electrodes.

• We constructed a steel basket under each electrode and filled each basket with

coke.

• All the pre-charge material was supplied by Northam Platinum Mine.

15. Supply and Installation of Scaffolding:

We employed Kaefer as our scaffolding sub contractor. They supplied and erected all the

scaffolding that was required during the complete shutdown period. Their personnel and

material were based on site which made the logistics and management of them practical.

16. Structural Painting:

• All structural steel that we supplied was painted as per the required specification.

• The hold down boxes were removed by us, sent out for sandblasting and painted

as per specification.

• All the surrounding steel work, including handrails, kick plates and building

columns were cleaned by wire brushes and painted as per specification.

• The hearth cooling ducting that was salvaged was cleaned and painted as per

specification.

• All hard steel piping was painted as per specification.

The Dickinson Group successfully completed this turnkey project in the planned

shutdown period. The key to our success in every project that we undertake is the

commitment of top management and our workforce, proper planning, knowledge and

experience in our work field, financially strong to back a project of this size and leaders

in turnkey refractory services.