Solwezi Copper Concentrator & Flotation Plant

Flotation and electrowinning circuits generate a continuous acid mist that destroys conventional coating systems inside a decade, while the ball-mill floor imposes harmonic vibration that fatigues bolted connections. The site sits 2 100 km from our plant, across two international borders, with no local capacity for structural rework.

We modelled the full plant to LOD 500 in Tekla Structures and ran clash detection against the client's mechanical and piping models before cutting steel. Primary girders were fabricated as built-up plate sections on our submerged-arc line, with 100 % ultrasonic testing of full-penetration butt welds. Every connection was drilled on the CNC beam line from NC data — no manual marking anywhere in the chain. The C5-I coating system was applied under humidity control in our paint hall, and each shipment was pre-cleared with SADC certificates of origin before it left the yard.

The structure was erected with zero on-site reaming or hot work on primary connections. The plant reached mechanical completion three weeks ahead of the contracted date, and the coating system carries a 25-year performance warranty against the acid-mist environment.