Modern Mining January 2021

TOP PROJECTS

Unpacking Africa’s top mining projects In this year’s Top Mining Projects feature, we have selected projects distinguished by their size, high quality nature of the assets and innovation by the teams on the ground. This year we have selected three that have set the bar high from three different African countries, covering tin, gold and diamonds.

T he first project of note is AfriTin Mining Limited’s Uis Tin Mine is Namibia. Despite the COVID-19 influenced opera- tional challenges, nameplate tin concentrate production and completion of production ramp-up for Stage I of Phase 1 were successfully achieved during November 2020. The company achieved 63,9 tonnes of tin concentrate (containing 41,6 tonnes of tin metal) during the month of November, a 32% improvement on the previous month. The production level achieved in November 2020 represents approximately 107% of the Stage I target in terms of tin concentrate tonnes produced and 116% of the Stage I target in terms of tin con- tained in concentrate. The Uis Tin Mine project involves the redevelopment of the his- toric Uis hard rock mine. AfriTin is developing the project in two phases, with Phase 1 involving an estimated capital expenditure of £7-million on a processing plant capable of producing 60 tonnes of tin concentrate per month. The Phase 1 processing plant com- menced partial operations in August 2019. The second ‘Top Project’ is Newfield Resources Limited’s Tongo Diamond Mine in eastern Sierra Leone where first kimber- lite was intersected in December 2020, yielding the first production diamonds. The occasion is the culmination of the investment in the Tongo project by Newfield since its acquisition of Stellar Diamonds in early 2018. Apart from the 550 m underground development and the first production diamonds, Newfield has achieved several key project milestones since taking control of the project. The first major mile- stone was the declaration of the 7,4-million carat diamond resource, of which 1,1-million carats has been declared as a probable reserve.

Another major milestone has been the completion of the FEED study, which was commissioned by Newfield following its acquisition of Stellar Diamonds in early 2018. The FEED study was completed by leading mining consultant, Paradigm Project Management (PPM) in April 2019 and delineated a technically robust and highly economic project. Currently, the focus is on advancing the decline towards the Kundu kimberlite, which has advanced some 114 m to a split in the drive to an incline to the top of the ore reserve and RAW, and the continuation of the decline to access deeper levels of the Kundu ore reserve where mining stopes will be established. Our third and final Top Project is Perseus Mining’s US$265‑million Yaouré Gold Mine in Côte d’Ivoire, which suc- cessfully poured its first gold in December, five weeks ahead of schedule. The company attributes this achievement to a combina- tion of good planning, efficient execution and strong commitment to delivering on promises. The total construction cost for Yaouré, including measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, was projected in November 2020 to be below the budget of US$265-million and, by the end of December 2020, a total of US$237-million had been paid to sup- pliers of goods and services. Perseus is confident that the final cost will come in below the budgeted cost of US$265-million, once all accounts have been settled. With the successful development and commissioning of Yaouré, Perseus Mining will own and operate three active gold mines in the West African region, paving the way for the company to achieve its goal of producing some 500 000 ounces of gold per year, at a cash margin of in excess of US$400 per ounce in FY2022. 

Top projects

January 2021  MODERN MINING  13