Modern Mining August 2019

MINING News

Shanta’s Ilunga mine achieves commercial production

version of the inferred ounces into the mine plan and extending the mine life at Ilunga is expected to take place in H1-2020. “Bringing these high-grade ounces on line within budget and on time is yet another example of our model at work, namely: add- ing low cost ounces to resources at our well-established operations, thereby increas- ing the mine life and the free cash flow generation potential at NLGM,” comments Eric Zurrin, Chief Executive of Shanta Gold. “Now that we have reached commercial production, we hope to delineate further mineable ounces by upgrading our inferred resources via cost-efficient underground drilling.” Shanta Gold currently has defined ore resources on the New Luika and Singida projects in Tanzania and holds exploration licences covering approximately 1 500 km 2 in the country. The flagship New Luika Gold Mine entered production in 2012 and pro- duced 81 872 ounces in 2018. In the quarter ended 30 June 2019 (Q2-2019), New Luika’s gold production was 19 856 oz. Overall, a total of 155 779 tonnes of ore grading 4,53 g/t was mined in Q2 compared with 136 616 tonnes of ore grading 5,72 g/t in Q1. Some 177 647 tonnes of ore was milled during the period (Q1: 172 644 tonnes), a new all-time daily throughput record for the quarter. There were no Lost Time Injuries (LTIs) during the quarter and Shanta has now reached 2,9 million man-hours without experiencing an LTI.  “We are pleased that the upgrade of the crushing circuit has been completed,” commented Mike Houston, Bluerock’s Executive Chairman. “We have taken the opportunity to make a number of improve- ments to the processing plant during the crusher shut-down period and are confi- dent that these improvements will have the desired effect in achieving our targeted level of production in the second half of the year. Our volume guidance for the year remains at 280 000 tonnes to 335 000 tonnes and, as previously announced, we will refine our guidance following the end of Q3 after the reconfigured plant has been operational for two months.” 

Portal to the Ilunga underground mine (photo: Shanta).

Shanta Gold, whose shares are quoted on London’s AIM, reports that the Ilunga underground mine at its New Luika Gold Mine (NLGM) in south-western Tanzania has achieved commercial production on sched- ule and on budget. The primary ventilation fan and under- ground infrastructure are installed and operational. The first ore stope is now in production at a depth of 98 m below the portal and 130 m below surface. Commercial production comes following gross pre-production capital investment of only US$7,9 million (US$5,0 million GRES appointed for Manono DFS ASX-listed AVZ Minerals has appointed GR Engineering Services Limited (GRES) as the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) Engineer for the Manono lithium and tin project in the DRC. The project is located 500 km due north of Lubumbashi. GRES is a Perth-based engineering group with significant experience in study man- agement and the engineering design and construction of resource projects in Western Australia and globally, both as an EPCM and EPC contractor. Members of the GRES team nominated for this engagement have appropri- ate experience in Africa including in the DRC, where GRES recently provided operational support and optimisation studies at the Kipoi copper project. 

after netting off pre-production revenue) and less than 12 months after the under- ground portal blast at Ilunga was carried out in August 2018. Ilunga is now the third source of high-grade underground feed from NLGM alongside the Bauhinia Creek and Luika mines. Ilunga underground has a probable ore reserve of 660 500 tonnes at 5,56 g/t for 118 000 oz contained as well as inferred resources of 636 647 tonnes at 3,57 g/t for 73 067 oz. Underground drilling targeting the con-

Larger cone crusher installed at Kareevlei BlueRock Diamonds, the AIM-listed dia- mond mining company which owns and operates the Kareevlei diamond mine in the Kimberley region of South Africa, reports that the upgrade to the crushing circuit, including the installation of a larger cone crusher (‘New Crusher’), is now complete. In addition to the installation of the New Crusher, the crushing circuit has been upgraded and reconfigured in order to handle the expected increase in material flows and is now set up to be able to oper- ate the New Crusher alongside the existing cone crusher. The existing cone crusher will continue to run as volume through the New Crusher increases in order to maintain production and build stockpiles of crushed ore in line with the operating plan.

12  MODERN MINING  August 2019