Modern Mining January 2015

MINING News

The metallurgical plant at Otjikoto (photo: B2Gold). New Namibian mine pours its first gold

B2Gold’s wholly owned subsidiary, B2Gold Namibia, entered a transition phase several months ago from construc- tion to steady state. The focus of this plan is the end of construction and preparation for production and operations. Otjikoto achieved a substantial and sig- nificant overall safety performance during 2013 and 2014. During the construction phase of the project a number of signifi- cant safety achievements were recorded: there were no fatal incidents, there was a year-to-date Lost Time Accident Frequency rate of only 0,08 (project-to-date 0,16) and over 2 million man hours were worked without a single Lost Time Injury (reached on 29 June 2014). The mine is located approximately 300 km north of Windhoek between Otjiwarongo and Otavi and is owned 90 % by B2Gold and 10 % by EVI Mining Universal Coal has also provided an update on its NCC (New Clydesdale Colliery) project in the Kriel District south of Witbank and says it only awaits approval of the Section 11 from the Department of Mineral Resources prior to finalising the impending NCC acquisition, which is expected to conclude early this year. At present, the opencast tendering process is underway on Roodekop while discussions are ongoing with underground mining contractors in order to re-activate the workings once NCC is started up. A bankable feasibility study as part of the debt funding is also progressing, cash distributions to its shareholders in the form of shareholder loan repayments and/ or dividend distributions.

tory as one of the fastest-moving mine construction projects in the country. B2Gold received the Otjikoto mining licence in late 2012 and bush-clearing started in January 2013. With the ground- breaking ceremony held on 26 April, 2013, construction of the Otjikoto gold mine was officially underway. Since that time, the team has placed over 1,3 million m 3 of earthfill, over 20 000 m 3 of concrete and has worked over 3 million man hours. The nations represented in the con- struction crew include Namibia, South Africa, Canada, the US, Russia, Ghana, Italy, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, Chile, the Philippines and Nicaragua. “As a result of their incredible work, B2Gold now has a world-class mine and processing facility in Namibia,” says the company. Completion testing for a continu- ous period of 90 days commencing on 1 August 2014 and running through to 31 October 2014 was deemed satisfactory according to the ‘Independent Technical Advisor’ based on their assessment of the mine safety record, various designs, mine plan, mine production performance, prod- uct yields and qualities, plant performance and customer delivery. Universal Coal has now fully com- plied with its performance obligations and qualifies for more attractive project finance facility terms. Furthermore, the Kangala colliery is now entitled, under certain circumstances, to make permitted

Canada’s B2Gold Corp reports that the first gold pour has occurred, ahead of schedule, at its new Otjikoto gold mine in Namibia. Otjikoto is only the second Namibian gold mine and – says B2Gold – has made his- Bill Lytle, MD of B2Gold Namibia, with Otjikoto’s first gold bar (photo: B2Gold)

Kangala colliery passes its project Completion Tests

ASX-listed Universal Coal has reported that its Kangala colliery near Delmas in Mpumalanga has successfully met pro­ ject Completion Tests to the satisfaction of debt financier Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). Universal says this represents another sig- nificant milestone for the company, marking the official transition to steady state opera- tions for Kangala. Located near Delmas in the Witbank coal field of South Africa, Kangala is a 2,4Mt/a run- of-mine (ROM) operation, with installed plant capacity to expand to 4,25 Mt/a. The opera- tion is cashflow positive, with the majority of its thermal coal product supplying South Africa’s primary power utility, Eskom.

6  MODERN MINING  January 2015