February 2014
MODERN MINING
29
COMPANIES
BNC’s concentrator plant with the smelter/refinery complex in the background.
Mwana Africa’s operating
Zimbabwean assets are
clustered around the town
of Bindura, north of Harare.
in mid-2011) involved refurbishment of the
second mill and expansion of the leach circuit.
Although production for the quarter ended
31 December 2013 was 25 % off the pace due to
mill downtime, Mpinga says the mine has been
on a generally upward trajectory since 2009. In
the year to March 2013, some 65 350 ounces
were produced, a 36,8 % increase on the pre-
vious year. In the six months to 30 September
2013, the mine produced 45 324 ounces. All
in sustaining costs (C3) for the December quar-
ter increased by 22,6 % from US$1 053/oz to
US$1 291/oz. This was mainly due to the lower
gold production during the quarter and Mpinga
says the mine is targeting a C3 cost of below
US$1 000/oz.
With a JORC-compliant resource of 2,4 Moz
and a 10-year life of mine, Freda Rebecca is
looking to augment production from its under-
ground longhole stoping operation, accessed
by ramp systems, with dump retreatment. An
evaluation of the potential to treat some 13 Mt
of gold-bearing tailings is underway and a pilot
plant to retreat tailings is now in the commis-
sioning phase.
Mwana Africa is ultimately hoping to become
a 200 000 oz/a gold producer but, to achieve
this, it will need to develop Zani-Kodo in the
DRC as Freda Rebecca, with the addition of
a third mill, probably has a production ceil-
ing of 100 000 oz/a. Located in the Kilo-Moto
greenstone belt 60 km south-east of Randgold
Resources’ Kibali project (now entering pro-
duction) and 70 km from the Ugandan border,
the Zani-Kodo property extends over an area
of 1 605 km
2
which includes the historic Kodo
mine which ceased operations in the 1960s.
The project has a nearly 3 Moz gold resource
at 2,43 g/t (roughly 634 000 ounces in the
indicated category and the balance inferred)
and Mwana is looking at developing it in two
phases, phase one being a small gravity gold
plant able to produce 40 000 oz per annum
and phase two a much larger operation able to
produce up to 200 000 oz per annum. Mining
would be by underground methods. Mpinga
says that – tentatively – Mwana is looking to be
in phase one production at Zani-Kodo in 2016
with phase two following in 2017. This phase
could involve the introduction of a joint ven-
ture partner to the project.
While Freda Rebecca has been the main-
stay of Mwana over the past several years, the
Trojan mine is now emerging as an impor-
tant – in fact, the biggest – contributor to the
company’s revenues since being restarted in
2012. A trackless mining underground opera-
tion with access provided by a vertical shaft
sunk to 45 Level (nearly 1 300 m), Trojan has a
JORC-compliant resource of 114,9 kt of nickel
and a 10-year life of mine. It shipped its first
concentrate to Glencore (with which it has
an offtake agreement signed in 2011) in April
2013 and has subsequently performed well. In
the December 2013 quarter, it produced 2 016 t
of nickel in concentrate and recorded nickel in
concentrate sales (including some accumulated
stock) of 2 651 tonnes, an increase of over 76 %
compared to the previous quarter. Quarterly
revenue was 74 % higher at US$24,5 million.
During the quarter work commenced on the
Trojan shaft re-deepening project, which had
been suspended when the mine was put on
care and maintenance. The re-deepening will
extend the operating horizon of Trojan from
