In terms of new projects the platinum mining sector in South Africa is deadly quiet at the moment with most platinum miners having cut back sharply on new investment. One exception though is TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines which – through its subsidiary Ivanplats – has started on the development of its Platreef underground mine near Mokopane, which will exploit the 24 m thick (on average) Flatreef orebody.
The new mine – the subject of an extensive report in this issue – is being implemented in a phased approach, with phase one being a 4 Mt/a operation producing 433 000 3PE+Au ounces a year.
Gold in West Africa seems to be on a roll with several projects in various stages of development. Some are covered in this issue, one being the Houndé open-pit gold mine of TSX-listed Endeavour Mining in Burkina Faso. This is a US$328 million development which – all going to plan – will commission in Q4 2017. It will have an average production of 190 000 ounces of gold and will become the flagship operation of Endeavour, which has four other operating mines in West Africa.
In Burkina Faso’s neighbour, Mali, a much smaller projects is Kobada, which is being developed by African Gold Group, Inc. A Feasibility Study on Kobada has just been completed which demonstrates the viability of a 1,6 Mt/a open pit mine at the site producing more than 50 000 ounces of gold a year over an eight-year mine life. The great attraction of Kobada is that the estimated capex required is a very modest US$45,4 million – with payback estimated in just 31 months.
In our coverage of companies, we have a profile of Tenova TAKRAF Africa which not only supplies TAKRAF’s world-class materials handling technology but also a host of other products, many of them inherited from Bateman Engineered Technologies (BET), which became part of the Tenova group in 2012.
Kinross Gold to proceed with Tasiast expansion
Kinross has announced that it will spend US$300 million to expand its Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania. This Phase One expansion will lift mill capacity from 8 000 t/d to 12 000 t/d while significantly reducing operating costs. The company is also considering following Phase One with a further phase of expansion which would result in the addition of another 18 000 t/d of milling capacity.
Tharisa achieves steady-state production levels
Tharisa, South Africa’s only PGM and chrome co-producer, reports it recorded a number of milestone achievements during the three months ended 31 March 2016 as its mining and processing reached steady state levels on an annualised basis.
The Platreef project – Ivanhoe’s platinum mining game-changer
Ivanhoe’s Platreef mine, now in the construction phase with the first shaft required about to enter the main sink phase, will be a highly mechanised underground operation exploiting the Flatreef deposit which lies within a flat to gently dipping portion of the Platreef mineralised belt at a relatively shallow depth of 700 to 1 100 m below surface.
Open-pit mining starts at Lerala
Basil Read Mining has started open-pit mining operations at the Lerala mine of Kimberley Diamonds Limited (KDL). Lerala – which was last in production in 2012 – is being recommissioned by KDL and first diamond production is expected shortly. The mine will have a life of nine years and average annual production is estimated at 336 000 carats.