Braemore Resources plc confirms the occurrence of an operational incident at a furnace at Mintek’s ConRoast smelting facility in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday, 27 March. A full enquiry will be completed; however preliminary investigations suggest superficial damage to the plant and minimal impact on production. Safety procedures were strictly adhered to and no personnel were injured in the incident.

Initial estimates anticipate a cost of full repair to the operating infrastructure of the furnace of R1.5 million , to be jointly incurred by Mintek and Braemore. The majority of this cost will be for the repair and replacement of electrical cables. The furnace is anticipated to return to full production within 10 days.

The incident was caused when water from a water leak came into contact with molten material, which instantly vapourised the water, causing a series of minor explosions. This is the first incident of this nature in five years of operating the ConRoast technology at Mintek and occured during a period of trialling high sulphur content material in the furnace. The incident further supports the requirement of a complete ConRoast process, which under normal operating procedures removes all sulphur from the feed material through a roasting step.

Normal operating conditions take into account the hazards associated with such an event and the nature of the ConRoast technology allowed the incident to be quickly contained.