18
MODERN MINING
July 2014
MINING News
AngloGold Ashanti has announced com-
pletion of its sale of AngloGold Ashanti
Namibia (Proprietary) Limited, a wholly
owned subsidiary which owns the
Navachab gold mine, to QKR Corporation
Limited. The transaction, announced on
10 February this year, was concluded on
30 June after all conditions precedent were
met and the monies paid.
“We’re pleased to have closed this sale,
as we focus on optimising our global port-
folio to deliver improved cash flow and
returns,” said AngloGold Ashanti Executive
Vice President Strategy & Business
Development Charles Carter.“We thank the
Government of Namibia and the Navachab
team for the smooth handover to QKR, who
we wishwell as they take themine forward.”
Navachab was owned and operated by
AngloGold Ashanti since the company was
formed in 1998. As at 31 December 2013,
Navachab had gold mineral resources of
3,91 Moz and gold ore reserves of 1,92Moz.
In the year ended 31 December 2013,
Navachab produced 63 000 ounces of gold
at a cash cost of US$691 per ounce and an
all-in-sustaining cost of US$781 per ounce.
London-based QKR Corp, founded by
Lloyd Pengilly (formerly of JPMorgan Chase
Sale of Namibia's Navachab gold mine concluded
& Co and well-known in South African min-
ing circles), is reportedly funded by Qatar’s
sovereign wealth fund and by Polish bil-
lionaire Jan Lukcyzk. The purchase of
Navachab is its first transaction.
Currently Navachab is Namibia’s only
producing gold mine but it will be joined
within months by the new Otjikoto gold
Liquidation impacts on Boikarabelo’s schedule
One of the contractors at the Boikarabelo
mine in the Waterberg coalfield, Protech
Kuthele (Pty) Limited (PK), has notified the
project developer, ASX-listed Resource
Generation, that it has applied to court to
terminate its business rescue proceedings
and be placed in liquidation.
PK was undertaking the earthworks
for the rail link, the site infrastructure and
the roads. It has removed all staff from
the mine site and terminated all activities.
Addressing this unforeseen development
is expected to delay the completion of the
project by three to sixmonths, with first coal
production now estimated for the first half
of 2016. Based on the previous competitive
tender process, Resource Generation says it
does not expect any difficulty in appointing
an alternative earthworks contractor for a
similar cost.
Funding negotiations still continue
with proposed debt financiers of the
mobile equipment, the coal handling and
preparation plant and the rest of the site
infrastructure.
Stage 1 of the Boikarabelomine develop-
ment is targeting saleable coal production
of 6 Mt/a.
Mwana Africa, whose shares are quoted on
London’s AIM market, has announced the
completion of an independent study of an
accelerated restart plan for thenickel smelter
of its 76,3 %-owned, Zimbabwe-based sub-
sidiary, Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC).
Metallurgical plant and other infrastructure at the Navachab gold mine (photo: AngloGold Ashanti).
mine of Canada’s B2Gold Corp, now at an
advanced stage of construction. Otjikoto is
designed to produce an average of 141 000
ounces a year of gold in its first five years of
operation (although this could increase to
170 000 ounces a year as B2Gold is plan-
ning an upgrade to the mine’s capacity
from 2,5 Mt/a of ore to 3 Mt/a).
Mwana Africa to restart Bindura smelter
Completed by Hatch Goba, the study
represents a technical and economic
assessment of the potential refurbish-
ment and restart plans of the smelter
complex in Bindura and confirms that
the plan offers significant financial and
strategic benefits to Bindura Nickel.
Based on the independent study,
Mwana says it plans to have the BNC
smelter in operation during H1 2015 and
contributing to cash flows during calendar
2016.
Key benefits include a reduction in the
transport costs associated with selling
concentrates and potential to increase
revenue by producing and selling higher-
value nickel leach alloy.
The overall capital cost to execute the
restart is estimated at US$26,5 million.
Approximately half of the capital cost will
be funded through debt finance, with the
remainder to be financed from existing
BNC cash flow and company cash balances.
The estimated operating cost is
US$251/ton concentrate. The installed
power for the furnace is 14 MW, and con-
centrate throughput will be approximately
160 000 t/a. Trojan concentrate production
will be 106 677 WMt/a and therefore there
will be spare capacity at the smelter to
treat third-party material.
