Buffelsfontein Chrome Smelter

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This smelter is owned by International Ferro Metals.

Pelletising & Sinter plant:

This involves grinding the chromite concentrate in a ball mill, pelletising a mixture of concentrate, coke, fines and bentonite which acts as a binder, then heating the pellets in a steel belt sintering furnace. In sintering, the pellets are heated to form strong bonds between the chromite grains to yield and agglomerate material. The sintered material is sized and then used as feed to the furnace. The world-renowned engineering and technology supply company Outukumpu (Oututec) provided the pelletising and sintering technology; the Outukumpu technology has been proven at a number of sites, including other ferrochrome operations in South Africa. The process is extremely energy-efficient and produces strong, high quality pellets with low binder requirements and high chrome content. Sintering ensures that pre-oxidation takes place. This modifies the crystal structure and makes the pellets more readily reducible in the smelting furnace.

Furnace operation:

Ferrochrome is then produced using submerged arc furnaces. IFM’s plant consists of two submerged acr closed-top furnaces, each rated at 66 MVA. This technology not only avoids the release of dangerous gases but is also more efficient, using less electricity than open furnaces.
Chromite lump ore, pellets, carbon, quarts and lime stone are mixed in a pre-calculated composition. The material mix is fed into the furnaces where the ferrochrome alloy is produced via a reduction process of the Chromite ore to elemental chrome.
The casted alloy from the furnaces is crushed and screened to different sizes according to customer specification. This alloy is then transported to South Africa's main ports by road or rail for export to stainless steel producers around the world.

Expansion:

Construction of three additional 66MVA smelting furnaces is planned to commence in the near future for the Skychrome project, together with an additional 700 000 tonnes per annum pelletising and sintering plant and beneficiation plant. This expansion will increase output by 150 percent, from its current 267 000 tons tpa to 665 000 tpa a year.