The general treatment plant mining facility onboard Debmarine Namibia’s mining vessel Benguela Gem was announced the overall winner of the 2022 Southern African Institute for Steel Construction (SAISC) Awards.
Operating off the coast of Namibia and built at a cost of N$7 billion, the Benguela Gem was also awarded in the mining category.
SAISC CEO Amanuel Gebremeskel said the judges were unanimous in their praise for the project.
The Benguela Gem is the product of international collaboration. It was designed in Norway and Poland, built in Romania and fitted out by De Beers Marine South Africa.
Diamond recovery by Debmarine Namibia takes place at 90m to 150m below sea level.
The design, fabrication and installation of the 3,000-t diamond treatment plant on the vessel was carried out ahead of schedule by local engineers and fabricators in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
“This project stood out in a number of different ways, and presented a first in the history of the Steel Awards: it operates offshore, and is floating rather than being stationary and anchored – a truly distinctive applicant within the awards categories. As a sea-faring structure, it is furthermore subject to unusual engineering loads from a naval engineering perspective,” Gebremeskel said.
The vessel, built for De Beers Marine operations, is unique in Africa, being able to carry out the entire under-sea diamond dredging and treatment process.
From the vessel arriving at the end of September last year with an empty deck, it set sail again with a fully operational mine onboard.
“This project was an exceptional showcase of the use and applications of steel featuring South African design, fabrication and construction for an international client,” Gebremeskel said.
The treatment plant was nominated by designers PBA Projects and completed in collaboration with De Beers Marine and 3C Metal Belmet, Namibia and local fabricators Steel Services and Allied Industries.
This year’s awards, which seeks to commend excellence in the use of steel in construction, was the first in-person Steel Awards held since 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Even before the global pandemic, South Africa’s steel industry had gone through a period of severe challenges. The ‘green shoots’ theme is an acknowledgement of the importance of continuing to navigate through troubled times,” Gebremeskel said.
Gebremeskel explained that many steel construction projects globally were stalled during the pandemic, yet members of the South African steel industry managed to drive projects through to completion in the end.
Debmarine Namibia is planning to increase its contribution to the fiscus by nearly 200% to N$4.7 billion this year, up from N$1.6 billion in 2021 betting on the vessel’s contribution that is expected to boost the company’s annual diamond production by an additional 500,000 carats of diamonds.
Debmarine Namibia is owned in equal shares by the government of Namibia and De Beers Group. -The Brief/MW
