Modern Mining January 2017

GRAPHITE

Balama’s concentrate will be packed into bags and trucked to the Port of Nacala, some 490 km to the south-east over a bitumen-sur- faced road, for shipment overseas. Nacala is reportedly the deepest port in Southern Africa and is equipped with twin berths for contain- ers with a total length of 600 m, as well as four berths for bulk traffic with a total length of 600 m. Trucking of product will be out- sourced to a contractor and, at full production, there will approximately 67 trucks (B-Double trailers), each transporting approximately 36 one-tonne bags of product, from Balama to Nacala port daily Finally, it should be mentioned that Syrah has a very active corporate social responsibility programme in place, which has already seen it carrying out a number of community projects, which have included the drilling of boreholes in eight villages, the installation of solar panels in schools and clinics and the support of the local orphanage with food and clothing. The company is currently in the process of signing a community development agreement with the Government of Mozambique which will commit it to spending US$15 million on community development initiatives over the life of mine, with the initiatives to include the construction and management of the Balama training centre, the provision of community roads, the establishment of a community nurs- ery, a farmer development programme and similar projects. Photos courtesy of Syrah Resources

biodiversity. In addition, a high temperature incinerator has been installed on site to incin- erate combustible waste, with Syrah estimating that the waste management programme will reduce the production of greenhouse gases fourfold (when compared with land filling). The Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) is being lined with a geomembrane liner which will ensure that no potential contaminants are released to groundwater. Waste oil will be removed from the site by a licensed hazardous waste operator for disposal or re-use. While one might think that one of the main challenges of the project would be its remote location, Strange says that this has not been as big a hurdle as expected. “Certainly, we are a long way – 2 700 km by road – from Gauteng in South Africa, which is where many of our suppliers are located, but good transport scheduling and efficient customs clearance procedures have made this distance manage- able,” he told Modern Mining . “Moreover, the project is fortunate to be served by reasonably good infrastructure. The main Pemba-Lichinga road passes within 3 km of the mine and is tarred to within 15 km of site. Two fibre optic cables and a 33 kV powerline are strung along the road, providing power (for the construction phase) and communications for the project. Pemba, the provincial capital, is 240 km (three hours) by road from the site, and is served by a modern international airport with daily flights to Johannesburg and by a sea port of limited capacity.”

The recycle crusher (with ROM pad and primary crusher at top right).

The main Pemba-Lichinga road passes within 3 km of the mine and is tarred to within 15 km of site.

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