28
MODERN MINING
June 2014
COPPER
capex has been published by Cupric but a figure
in the range of US$350 million to US$400 mil-
lion seems likely.
Tsimako noted in his presentation that
Khoemacau – the name apparently means
‘Hills of the People” and was suggested by
local school-children – will have a total power
requirement of 22 MVA, supplied initially by
diesel gensets but with grid power expected
by 2017 or 2018. The water requirement is
10 000 m
3
a day and this will be supplied by
a sustainable wellfield which has been identi-
fied – the downside being that it is 80 km away.
To provide reliable access, a 50 km gravel road
will have to be constructed to connect with the
A3 which links Francistown and Maun.
Boseto on the mend?
Interestingly, Cupric’s decision to exploit the
sulphide ores of the Kalahari Copperbelt via
an initial underground operation is being vin-
dicated by the decision of Discovery Metals
Limited (DML) to go underground at its trou-
bled Boseto mine which was officially opened
in September 2012 and is currently an open-pit
operation. DML now has a new CEO/COO in
Khoemacau’s proposed
underground mine will
utilise a sub-level open
stoping mining method
(footwall view).
Members of the Discovery
Metals Limited team are
seen here at the conference
in Gaborone. They are (from
left): Bob Fulker, CEO/COO;
Mokwena Morulane, Coun-
try Manager; Christian Heili,
Project Feasibility Manager;
Shirley Tjirokohe, Office
Administrator; Reuben
Molosiwa, GIS Engineer; and
Fred Nhiwatiwa, Business
Development Manager Af-
rica (photo: Arthur Tassell).
the person of Bob Fulker (who joined DML in
November last year) and is in what might be
described as ‘recovery mode’ after announcing
earlier this year that it would retrench about
15 % of its workforce at Boseto. The company
announced in May that its copper production
of 2 011 tonnes of copper during April was
a record (and 40 % higher than the monthly
average for the previous quarter). While this
is encouraging, it is still only about two-thirds
of what it should be as Boseto is designed to
produce approximately 36 000 t/a of copper in
concentrate.
An update on Boseto was given at the con-
ference by Mokwena Morulane, DML’s Country
Manager, who referred to the company’s “ramp-
up difficulties and liquidity
issues” but who said that a stra-
tegic growth plan was now in
place. He added that the com-
pany was working aggressively
to contain costs and noted that
the C1 cash cost of produc-
tion in April was US$2,86/lb
compared with the US$3,45/lb
recorded in the March quarter.
Morulane said the establish-
ment of an underground mine at
Boseto would be a game-changer
for DML with the mining of sul-
phides giving an improved ore
quality and an improvement in
metallurgical recovery. He noted
that the underground operation,
