Commissioning of the newly installed equipment on the Aokam Thai No. 3 dredge is now in progress at the Sunda Shelf diamond project, offshore from southeast Kalimantan, Indonesia.
The company has been advised by Trans Hex International, the project manager, that the plant is being commissioned with gravels dug from the first subsection of the planned 37,840 cubic metre No. 1 bulk sample.
The commencement of full scale digging and processing operations is scheduled to begin during the coming week with the results of the first sub-section to be announced during March.
During the initial processing of gravels last November, clay impaired the screening and jigging sections of the plant. To combat this, the washing section of the plant had been modified. At the same time, the jig plant capacity was increased from 35 to 45 cubic metres per hour and a waste disposal pump installed to dispose of overburden 300 metres from the dredge.
