GRANDE CÔTE OPERATIONS
Inside the 36MW power station
“ The rail development has led to a key risk being eliminated in getting our products to port ”
– Simon Finnis the project , as Finnis explained . “ The project is of such a scale that using equipment that had been previously used elsewhere wasn ’ t an option . Everything we built was brand new and purpose designed .
“ It ’ s a brand new industry in Senegal but not in Africa necessarily . The processes we ’ re using are common and the same goes for the equipment . However , the scale is not common .
“ From a mining perspective , it ’ s twice as large as any single dredging operation in the world so it ’ s a very significant project .”
Ensuring that all construction and mining requirements were available onsite has been a pivotal component of the mine ’ s potential success , and has recently lent itself to dealing with early challenges and teething problems .
Minor redesigns of the project and the implementation of new equipment is something that Grande Côte has been able to respond to quickly and effectively to ensure that optimum productivity is returned to within as short a time as possible .
Finnis continued : “ It ’ s very important to us that we are self-sustaining so we built everything ourselves to make sure everything is catered for onsite , to be as efficient as possible .
“ We ’ ve built a large facility at the port to store our finished products and load the vessels , as well as building a power station onsite to provide our electrical needs . We also have a camp , power lines and our own water system to ensure
88 October 2014