A feasibility study into the proposed Orapa No. 3 plant is expected to be complete by year end, which could pave way for the development of a 12 million tonne per annum high-tech facility.

The proposed plant would replace the ageing Orapa No. 1, built more than 30 years ago. Plans for the newer plant date back several years and have been reportedly delayed by intensive studies, modelling and last year's global recession.

Two years ago, the project was reportedly at pre-feasibility stage, with expectations that it would then advance to feasibility and possible approval for development by the Debswana board.

Yesterday, Debswana Group Public and Corporate Affairs Manager, Esther Kanaimba told Mmegi that a feasibility study for Orapa No. 3 was expected by the end of year at which point the board would make a decision on whether to proceed with the project and thus issue a timeline for development.

"Debswana is completing the feasibility study for Orapa No. 3 plant in 2010. Only on completion of the study, assuming a viable business case can be demonstrated, would the project be put forward to the Debswana Board for consideration to move to the next project phase.

"It is still just a feasibility study. The Board will consider and approve any budget after this study, that is if a viable business case is demonstrated," she said.

Kanaimba said the proposed plant's capital expenditure would become clearer after the completion of the feasibility study.

The feasibility study is expected to address issues such as financing and budgets, capacity/supply/demand issues, technology, processing studies and process plant design.

Fluor Corporation's Technical Director (Diamond Processing) Graham Miles Popplewell said process plant design and other studies related to the Orapa No. 3 were ongoing. Fluor Corporation is involved with Debswana on the technical elements of the proposed plant.

Speaking at last week's diamond conference, Popplewell said the proposed plant would have several key features in its Main Plant and Recovery Sections. These include nine Dense Media Separator modules to optimise ore concentration, various highly specialised processing components and a control room to allow hands off operation of the entire plant.

He noted that to this end, emphasis had been placed on cost containment in the studies for the proposed plant."Value engineering studies were carried out to evaluate potential opportunities for capital cost reduction, although at all times within the context of minimising risk to plant utilisation which is benchmarked against an international standard higher than that currently achieved by the Orapa No. 2 Plant.

"A capital cost reduction workshop was held in December 2009 to determine which recommendations would be incorporated into the plant design", he said.

Technicians working on the proposed plant's design have already conducted simulation exercises to confirm various planned components and also determine whether further capital cost reductions can be made.

Capital costs are expected to be a major consideration for the Debswana Board, as plants such as the one planned for Orapa could run into billions of Pula. Another consideration will be throughput, whose levels will determine the viability or not of having plant capacity of up to 12 million tonnes per annum. Orapa Mine's production has reached levels beyond 17 million carats per annum, meaning the Orapa No. 3 would comfortably complement the processing plants currently on site.

A modern and high capacity Orapa No. 3 would also be appropriate for Debswana, whose operations in Orapa are expected to go underground in the next decade.