DAWRO COAL WASHING PLANT (DCWP)

ET Mineral Development S.C., among the eight selected companies by the Ministry of Mines was assigned to South West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region, Dawro Zone, Tarcha town to establish a coal washing plant mainly due to the areas strategic importance

Geographical Borders of Dawro Zone:

• Northwest to Southwest: Bordered by Gojeb and Omo rivers.
• West: Konta Zone
• Northwest: Jimma Zone (Oromiya Region)
• Northeast: Hadiya Zone, Kembata Zone, Tambaro Special Woreda
• East: Wolayita and Gamo zones
• Southeast: Gofa zone

Rich Coal Deposits: The region is rich in coal deposits, primarily lignite and some sub-bituminous coal.

Economic Impact: The plant aims to enrich locally mined coal, reducing reliance on imported coal and supporting local cement factories.

Dawro is bordered by Gojeb and Omo rivers from northwest to southwest in a clockwise direction. Dawro shares boundaries with Konta Zone to the  west, Jimma Zone (Oromiya Region) in northwest, Hadiya Zone, Kembata Zone and Tambaro Special Woreda in northeast, Wolayita and Gamo zones in the east, and Gofa zone in southeast. Dawro Zone and its most neighboring zones are endowed with coal deposits mainly lignite and some Sub bituminous.

The Washing Plant Capacity:

ET Mineral Development S.C. just completed installation and commissioning of the Coal Washing Plant.

The plant is designed to process 150 tons of unwashed coal per hour or 3,600 tons per day or 1.1million tons annually. The plant can wash raw coal and produce 450,000-500,000 tons of washed coal per year, that replaces the imported coal.

The Washing Plant Technology:

The Dawro Coal plant uses a Heavy Media Cyclone coal washing Technology. The crushed coal is sent to a mixing box where the coal gets mixed with the magnetite medium of required specific gravity. The coal plus magnetite from the mixing box will be pumped to the Heavy Media Cyclone by a centrifugal pump. The Heavy Media Cyclones will separate washed/clean coal and rejects by density.

Typical process flow of Dawro Coal Washing plant include:

• Crushing
• Screening into different size fractions
• Physical or mechanical processes to remove undesired impurities
• Dewatering