Global copper miner Sandfire Resources today announced the successful commissioning of its new permanent filter press at the Motheo copper mine in Botswana.
During the initial ramp-up of the Motheo process plant in the September Quarter 2023, it was identified that the OEM filter press installed during construction was unable to achieve design parameters. An interim solution using mobile filter units was implemented, enabling the operation to safely ramp up the production of copper concentrate at planned rates and specifications.
In parallel, a US$8M capital investment secured the procurement, installation and commissioning of a Larox filter press that will support the long-term operational requirements of Motheo.
Sandfire Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Brendan Harris said:
“Commissioning of the new filter press concludes a challenging period for the Motheo operations team, and I congratulate them on their hard work and ingenuity.
“The new filter press removes significant complexity at the ‘back end’ of our processing circuit and provides the capacity needed to test higher rates of production as we debottleneck the operation.”
