Modern Mining December 2023

path to production

The gearhead tower at the Prieska Copper-Zinc Project.

Employees in the underground operations at Okiep Copper Project.

installation of a pilot processing plant onsite. The pilot plant is expected to process 30 000 – 40 000 tpm, with the miner adding modular plants as production ramps up to 200 000 tpm (2.4 mtpa) in five years, by when it will be producing 22 000 tpa copper and between 60 and 70 000 tpa of zinc. The production efficiencies achieved during trial mining will inform the revised feasibility study, which will be published early next year and inform Orion Minerals’ plan of execution as it ramps up to full scale production. Moreover, the company is in talks with potential contractors for the implementation of a Build Own Operate model. “Five years from now we expect to achieve the original bankable feasibility production profile that we originally set out to achieve,” says Smart, who explains that one of the pre-requisites of being funded by the IDC is the need for independent veri fication by experts before sign-off on the feasibility study. “This will unlock the next tranche of project financing and enable Orion Minerals to progress project development.” Meanwhile, the company welcomes the benefits associated with resuscitating the brownfields opera tion, which is accompanied by well-established large scale infrastructure including water pipelines, grid power, shafts, declines, roadways, accommodation and a rail line 40 km from the site, as it saves Orion Minerals on hefty infrastructure outlay.

“As a brownfields site – with the benefit of exist ing primary infrastructure and services including grid power, water and decline roadways to access the drilled mineralisation remaining from an era of mining with very low metal prices – the barriers are substantially lowered for redevelopment,” says Smart. However, the challenge for Orion Minerals lies with the fact that the Prieska mine is currently flooded to about 275 metres below surface. Following the mine’s closure in 1991, rain run-off has accumulated over the past 30 years, which means that pumping out the amassed water is a key undertaking lined up for the junior miner. Further to this, the company is developing ventila tion for underground mining and establishing refuge chambers and underground electrical feed.

Construction vehicle returning employees from the underground operations at the Prieska Copper Zinc Project.

December 2023  MODERN MINING  15