Operations

Product & Logistics

The Savannah concentrate averages 7-8% nickel, 3-4% copper and 0.4-0.8% cobalt. The concentrate is trucked to Wyndham, 240 kilometres to the north of the Project. Bulk shipments to our customer in China are made on a monthly basis.

In February 2010, Savannah’s management group decided to proceed with the construction of a purpose built concentrate storage shed to be located at Wyndham Port and managed by Savannah personnel. This decision was announced at the conclusion of a two year study that focused on optimising the efficiency of the handling and transport of concentrate between Savannah and Jinchuan.

The tender for the shed’s construction and design was awarded to Ahrens Group. The design will allow road-trains to be completely enclosed within the shed for the unloading of concentrate. The shed will maintain negative pressure, and stored concentrate will be reticulated using a purpose built sprinkler system until the arrival of the monthly shipment. The new shed is scheduled to be fully operational by mid 2011.

A small fleet of containers will be used to transfer the concentrate to the wharf for loading. Discharge of the containers into the vessel will be completed by a tipping jig developed by CPC Engineering. To date, the prototype tipping jig has provided clear improvements to the way concentrates are loaded into vessels at Wyndham by eliminating spillage and reducing the amount of heavy machinery operating in close proximity to personnel. The jig has been well accepted by the stevedores at Wyndham, and has enabled them to achieve higher loading rates compared to previous methods.