May 2014
MODERN MINING
35
EVENTS
since opening in 2012, and the other the
Mowana mine (and the related Thakadu pit)
of African Copper, listed on London’s AIM
and the Botswana Stock Exchange. Speakers
from both companies will be presenting at the
conference.
Discovery recently reported a record
monthly production of 2 011 tonnes of copper
for April and has also received approval from
Botswana’s Ministry of Minerals, Energy and
Water Resources to amend its mining licence
to incorporate the proposed Zeta underground
mine in the Boseto project. If Zeta is developed
it could add 1,5 Mt at 1,3 % Cu to Boseto’s
annual ore production. Present thinking is that
the operation would be based on a sub-level
caving method with 20-25 m spaced sub-levels,
conventional trackless mining techniques, twin
decline access, and mine development rates of
between 600 and 850 m/month (including ore
drive development).
African Copper, for its part, produced 2 515
tonnes of copper in concentrate from its opera-
tions in the first quarter of this year, a marginal
improvement in the figure of 2 499 tonnes
recorded in the previous quarter. The company
recently appointed Diesel Power Mining as
its mining contractor (see also page 19 of this
issue). The contract, which commenced during
February, is valued at approximately BWP1 bil-
lion over the 52-month contract period.
Botswana’s next copper mine could be
the Khoemacau (previously Ghanzi) pro
ject of Khoemacau Copper Mining (owned
by Cupric Canyon Capital) in the north-west
of the country (in much the same area as the
Boseto project). Botswana press reports sug-
gest that development of the project – which
will apparently be an underground operation
– is imminent and awaiting only the issue of
a mining licence. Khoemacau Copper Mining’s
Johannes Tsimako is scheduled to provide an
update on the project at the conference.
Another interesting presentation on
Botswana’s copper resources will be given
by Simon Jones of copper/nickel miner First
Quantum. The company entered a strategic
partnership last year with Tsodilo Resources
giving it the right to explore on Tsodilo’s ten-
ements in the north-west of the country. First
Quantum is examining whether these proper-
ties host the south-westerly extension of the
Central African Copperbelt of Zambia and the
DRC, an hypothesis based on Tsodilo’s realisa-
tion that that the area contains a sequence of
rocks identical in age and composition to those
on the Copperbelt.
While copper is providing diversification
from diamonds for Botswana’s mining indus-
try, clearly it is coal which has the best
prospect of providing a firm base for the indus-
try in the future (given that diamond mining
will inevitably decline over the next couple
of decades). The country only has one oper-
ating coal mine at present, Morupule (which
will be covered in a presentation by the mine’s
Business Development Manager, Matthews
Bogopi) but many others could be developed
once the impediment of inadequate rail links
to neighbouring countries is removed.
A bi-lateral agreement on the proposed
US$100 million, 1 500 km long Trans-Kalahari
Railway between the governments of Namibia
and Botswana was signed in March in Walvis
Bay but it is not yet clear when construction –
which will take an estimated five years – will
start. Perhaps offering more immediate hope of
Botswana has massive coal
resources, which are still
mostly undeveloped. Seen
here is a core sample from
Shumba Coal’s Sechaba
coal project.
The proposed Zeta
underground mine, which
will be a sub-level caving
operation.
