Modern Mining December 2016

COMMENT

Platreef geologists and Karowe’s developers win Canadian awards

G eologists and mine developers as- sociated with two Southern Afri- can mining projects – the Platreef PGM project in South Africa and the Karowe diamond mine in Botswana – have been honoured in the 2016 Awards of the Association for Mineral Explo- ration British Columbia (AME BC). Focusing first on the Platreef project near Mokopane in Limpopo Province, Sello Kekana and Dr David Broughton, two key members of the Ivanhoe Mines exploration team that delin- eated the Flatreef deposit which forms the basis of the project, have been chosen as the recipi- ents of the Colin Spence Award for excellence in global mineral exploration. This is the second major geological award that Ivanhoe has received for its African projects over the past couple of years. As readers might recall, in early 2015 the com- pany’s exploration team received the Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) for the Kamoa copper discov- ery near Kolwezi in the DRC. The citation for this latest award says Kekana and Broughton are being recognised for their “outstanding work” contributing to the discov- ery of the Tier 1 Flatreef underground deposit. Kekana is currently head of Transformation at Ivanplats, the Ivanhoe subsidiary devel- oping the Platreef mine, while Broughton is Senior Adviser, Exploration and Geology, with Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe has put out a press release con- gratulating both Kekana and Broughton. In the release, the company also acknowledges other key members of the Flatreef discovery team who include Tim Dunnett, Danie Grobler, Devine Hadebe, Daniel Mudau, Shane Nielsen, Mike Phipps, Alfred Sarila, Kennedy Singo, Barry de Wet and Nick Williams. The company adds that within the Ivanhoe group’s senior ranks the late Ed Flood was a committed advo- cate for exploration of the Platreef prospect. Interestingly, Kekana, who holds an MSc in Geology from Wits, was born and raised in the small village of Kgobudi that adjoins today’s Platreef project. Comments Ivanhoe’s Executive Chairman, Robert Friedland: “He used to graze his family’s cattle on one of the farms that overlaid the Flatreef discovery. Today, thanks in part to Sello, we’re confident that Flatreef eventually will become one of the world’s great platinum mines, contributing to economic growth across the region and providing oppor- tunities and inspiration for a new generation

of South African geologists to follow in his footsteps.” AME BC notes that exploration in the Platreef area led to the “delineation of a large, near-surface, low-grade resource that was ame- nable to open pit mining; however, the open pit area was overlain by villages with a com- bined population of more than 30 000 people. Realising the challenges involved with relocat- ing the villagers, the company’s geological team led by David and Sello began work to identify other zones of mineralisation on the property. “Their unique approach, which included applying advanced geophysical modelling to high-resolution airborne gravity data, resulted in the realisation in 2010 that the regionally steeply west-dipping mineralised reef flattened at a depth of roughly 700 m below surface on Ivanhoe’s property.” Subsequent deep drilling of the deposit has defined a mineral resource containing an incredible 94,8 million ounces of PGMs plus gold in the indicated and inferred categories at a cut-off grade of 2,0 g/t. Turning to the second AME BC award, William Lamb and Lukas Lundin of Canada’s Lucara have received the Hugo Dummett Diamond Award for excellence in diamond exploration and development in recognition of the part they’ve played in developing the Karowe diamond mine near Orapa. Although these days he is based in Vancouver, Lamb was brought up and educated in South Africa and spent much of his career prior to joining Lucara with De Beers. Lundin, of course, is a member of the well-known Lundin family, whose interests also include Lundin Mining. Since starting up in 2012, Karowe has pro- duced a seemingly unending succession of large gemstones, including the second largest diamond ever mined, the 1 109-carat Lesedi La Rona . This was recovered in November 2015 in the same week that the mine produced two other ‘superstones’. Commenting at the time, Lamb said that “We are truly blessed by this amazing asset.” Karowe is indeed a phenomenal operation and its revenues since it was commissioned recently topped the US billion dollar mark, an amazing achievement for a mine that – in terms of carat production – is only a mid-tier producer. As AME BC rightly says, “Lukas and William are deserving recipients of the Hugo Dummett Award for their roles in the realisa- tion of this unique project.” Arthur Tassell

“Realising the challenges involved with relocating the villagers, the company’s geological team led by David and Sello began work to identify other zones of mineralisation on the property.”

December 2016  MODERN MINING  3