Modern Mining January 2018

MODERN M I N I N G

CONTENTS

JANUARY 2018

ARTICLES

COVER 20 BME ready for the upturn

Editor Arthur Tassell Advertising Manager Bennie Venter e-mail: benniev@crown.co.za Design & Layout

EVENTS 25 Junior mining to feature strongly at Mining Indaba FEATURE – AFRICA’S TOP MINING PROJECTS 29 Introduction 30 Endeavour’s Ity CIL project will create a flagship asset 42 Alphamin’s Bisie tin project takes off 48 Venetia Underground will be a high-tech pacesetter 56 Petra’s new processing plant a ‘gentle giant’ 62 Northam’s internal growth engine: Booysendal South REGULARS MINING NEWS 6 Teranga reports record gold production in 2017 7 Roxgold receives permitting approval 8 Tharisa makes strong start to its 2018 financial year 9 Metallon Corporation sells its Arcturus gold mine 10 Upgrade work triples hydropower plant’s output 12 Battery Minerals reaches“major milestone” 13 Mali’s newest mine pours its first gold 14 B2Gold’s African mines perform strongly 15 Boungou mine development 75 % complete 16 Solar-powered load scanning at gold mine 16 Record high-grade intersection at T3 deposit 17 Seventeen rigs deployed onWaterberg project 18 Azumah launches new drill campaigns PRODUCT NEWS 66 Mechanised equipment developed for local market 67 Komatsu introduces 70-tonne excavator 68 Massive motors installed by M&C at Cobre Panamá 69 Mining industry embraces bolted tank thickeners 70 Weba provides solution for Chilean copper mine 71 Tech Edge provides rope-handling system for Bakubung 72 Weir Minerals Africa boosts capacity and footprint

Darryl James Circulation Karen Smith Publisher Karen Grant

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Deputy Publisher Wilhelm du Plessis Printed by: Shumani Mills Communications

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.

Published monthly by: Crown Publications cc P O Box 140, Bedfordview, 2008

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Tel: (+27 11) 622-4770 Fax: (+27 11) 615-6108 e-mail: mining@crown.co.za www.modernminingmagazine.co.za

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Cover Specialised transporters are filled with BME’s Innovex emulsion from underground tanks and deliv- ered to re-filling stations near the stope face, from where the BME Minicharger portable charging units (PCUs) are filled. See page 20 for our cover story.

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Average circulation (July–September 2017) 4270

January 2018  MODERN MINING  3