The GUGULETHU DMS Plant is situated on the farm De Wittekrans in the Hendrina district Mpumalanga. The plant will process coal that comes from the mine adjacent to the plant. The entire plant was constructed on a greenfields site and will when fully in operation produce processed coal at a rate of 400 ton per hour, 24 hours per day. The plant consists of Primary and Secondary crushers, a drum plant, a spiral plant, a cyclone plant and various conveyors and product storage bins. Coal produced is primarily earmarked for the export market.
Site conditions, i.e the area of the site, founding conditions and drainage over the large area posed some challenges with the design. All the steel structures were dismantled at another site, transported and re-erected at Gugulethu. The foundations however had to be redesigned for the specific site conditions. A detailed 3-D scan of the existing facility was done before dismantling commenced to ensure that all pieces could be put together again and that it will fit on the new foundations.
The project took 9 months to complete.
- Total bulk earthworks amounted to 46 000 m³ of cutting and 12 000 m³ of filling to create a surface area of about 8 hectares (80 000 m³)
- A additional layer works for the platforms amounted to about 40 000 m³ of imported and compacted material
- Filling behind the retaining wall amounted to 22 000 m³ of imported and compacted material
- 1 750 m³ reinforced concrete was used with approximately 100 ton of reinforcement
A specific feature of the project is the 14 meter high reinforced concrete retaining wall where approximately 575 m³ concrete was cast.
