New crushing plant boosts capacity at Ardmore

Commissioning is expected to start at Ardmore next week for new plant set to increase crushing capacity by 2.7 times at the north-west Queensland phosphate operation. Centrex is investing more than $4 million in the crushing plant, which should be fully operational by mid-November. It takes the phosphate mining and beneficiation operation at Ardmore another step along the path in its planned expansion and is expected to significantly reduce crushing costs. Centrex managing director Robert Mencel said the new equipment would give the operation a throughput of about 270 tonnes per hour when the circuit was complete. This compares to about 100 tonnes per hour with the previous set-up run by a crushing contractor that is now demobilising from site. Related: Centrex prepares to increase Ardmore production in 2024 Centrex managing director Robert Mencel. "The original crushing contract was set up when we were looking to commission the plant and effectively trial it and see how it performed," Mr Mencel said. "We've been operating the plant now for more than 12 months. It's been successful and we're now in a position of putting something in that's sustainable and also to increase the throughput rate. "So 270 tonnes per hour will give us all the crushing capacity we need for our stage 1.5 and our Stage 2 (expansion)." New low-moisture product at Ardmore The company has also started creating a new low-moisture product, meeting a 5 per cent moisture target specification. For some customers, product moisture is the limiting factor that determines how much a certain phosphate rock concentrate can form part of their plant's feed blend. Centrex plans to have an initial 5000-tonne low moisture product parcel available in December to test and confirm material handling characteristics. "We've been selling a product at minus 7 per cent moisture and it's been a good place to start, but certainly some customers are sensitive to moisture and some customers won't accept a product of that high moisture content," Mr Mencel said. "So we are continuing with solar drying. We've now had about a year of experience on how to do that. "We're designing better drainage pads and we're designing better solar drying pads and we are getting better in the way that we handle the material as well. "By combining all three things, we're producing a product below 5 per cent moisture, which is a big win for us. Ardmore product being loaded for shipment. "... It means that existing customers who are maybe sensitive to moisture can take more of our product and we think we can open the door to a number of customers in Asia who need a dryer product. And I think, in the long term, that will increase our customer base." Demand for the Ardmore product is such that 100 per cent of its expected output over the next two years is already allocated to customers. Centrex remains on schedule to produce more than 50,000 tonnes of beneficiated concentrate during the first six months of this financial year and expects to produce a further 50,000 tonnes during the March quarter 2024. Subject to the receipt and timing of debt funding, it is targeting up to 440,000 tonnes for the 2024 calendar year. Image at top of page: View of the Ardmore site showing four drying pads in the foreground. ,

New crushing plant boosts capacity at Ardmore

Industry Queensland

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