Modern Mining January 2017

TIN

Continued from page 36

The company’s Chairman is Charles Needham, who was CEO of Metorex when it developed the Ruashi copper project near Lubumbashi in the DRC. Heading Alphamin’s DRC subsidiary, Alphamin Bisie Mining SA, is Dr Richard Robinson. The son of American mission- aries who was born and brought up in the DRC, Robinson has a wealth of experience in the country and was at one point the Social Programs Manager for the Tenke Fungurume copper mine in Katanga in the south of the DRC. He is based – with his family – at Goma. Kamstra also notes that Alphamin has retained two world experts to advise on and contribute to aspects of the Bisie project. “We have engaged Ian Dun to review and optimise our proposed tin recovery process and we’ve also appointed Tony Cox to our project team. Ian is a leading expert on tin metallurgy with over 30 years’ experience in the field while Tony – whose background includes service with Gold Fields, AngloGold Ashanti and what used to be known as Turgis Consulting – is an underground mining specialist with very wide experience of Sub Level Caving.” He adds that Alphamin’s Camp Manager at Bisie, Sam Mwanga, who has been based at the site since 2013, has performed incredibly under sometimes difficult circumstances. Summarising the Bisie project, Kamstra says that it is a tin project without peer which will be entering production at a time when there is a developing global shortage of the metal. “Yes, the project has its challenges but these are completely outweighed by its pluses,” he

states. “We’ve demonstrated in our studies that the ore can be efficiently mined and processed at healthy margins and that the project has sig- nificant potential to grow. “We’re definitely on top of the logistical issues and we have an in-depth knowledge of how to operate in North Kivu, based on the fact that we’ve already been there for more than three years. Moreover, this is a mine that could transform North Kivu, providing around 450 permanent local jobs along with very signifi- cant economic benefits in a region of the DRC which has seen almost no foreign investment thus far. In short, this is a project demanding to be built and we’re very optimistic that con- struction is just months away now.” Report by Arthur Tassell, photos courtesy of Alphamin

Drill pad preparation at Bisie using local labour.

Top projects

January 2017  MODERN MINING  45