January is the issue we distribute at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town and it always contains a roundup of some of Africa’s Top Mining Projects. This year we are featuring four projects covering graphite, tin, gold and zinc, all of them distinguished by either their size and/or the innovation they exhibit.
Our graphite project is Balama in northern Mozambique, now at an advanced stage of construction. The new open-pit mine, which will reportedly be the biggest graphite mine in the world, is being developed by Australia’s Syrah Resources at a cost of US$185 million and will have the capacity to produce 350 000 tonnes of concentrate a year. Read more....
The tin project we cover is Bisie in the DRC’s North Kivu Province. With a Feasibility Study in place and DRA named as the preferred EPCM contractor, Bisie – which will exploit one of the biggest and highest grade tin deposits in the world – is construction ready. Once built and in operation, it will produce 10 750 tonnes of tin in concentrate on average per year, accounting for roughly 3 % of world tin production. Read more...
The gold project in our ‘Top Projects’ feature is Asanko in Ghana. Phase 1 of Asanko was commissioned early last year and the processing plant is currently operating well beyond it nameplate capacity. Such has been the success of this first phase that Asanko Gold has now given the green light to Phase 2A of the project, which will see the Esaase deposit, 25 km to the north of the Phase 1 mine, being brought to account. Read more...
Our final project – Gamsberg – is located in the arid Northern Cape of South Africa near the town of Aggeneys. The developer is Vedanta Zinc International, which is investing US$400 million in the construction of a new open-pit zinc mine which will supplement its current underground mining operations at Black Mountain, just a few kilometres away.
The ground-breaking ceremony for Gamsberg was held in the middle of last year but development is now entering its peak phase with the appointment, late in 2016, of the bulk mining contractor and the EPCM contractor for the plant and related infrastructure. Read more...
Hummingbird appoints mining contractor for Yanfolila
AIM-listed Hummingbird Resources has appointed African Mining Services (AMS), a subsidiary of ASX-listed Ausdrill Limited, as its mining contractor at the Yanfolila gold project in Mali, where mine construction is currently underway ahead of the first gold pour, expected to occur in late 2017. Download the PDF.
BME grows its overseas footprint
Modern Mining talks to Joseph Keenan, MD of explosives supplier BME, who says that the globalisation of BME’s activities is just one of a range of initiatives designed to allow the company to continue on the uninterrupted growth path it has enjoyed in recent years. Download the PDF.
5D project design platform developed
WorleyParsons RSA has developed a 5D project design platform that integrates sophisticated technology tools in order to provide a greater degree of predictability throughout the lifecycle of an asset, ultimately increasing profits, even in the ongoing volatile commodity market. Download the PDF.
Pilot XRT plant opened at Vlakfontein
In a pioneering step that is hoped will demonstrate the scope for waterless beneficiation of South African coal, Mintek officially opened its pilot X-Ray Transmission (XRT) plant at Vlakfontein opencast thermal coal mine in Mpumalanga in November. Download the PDF.
MOD delivers robust scoping study for T3 project
ASX-listed MOD Resources has announced results of the scoping study for a proposed open-pit mine at its 70 %-owned T3 copper-silver deposit in the Kalahari Copperbelt of Botswana. The scoping study includes an optimised pit design to approximately 220 m vertical depth and construction of a processing plant to treat 2 Mt/a of ore with low cost expansion optionality if required. Download the PDF.
