Modern Mining January 2023

MINING News

Ironveld achieves first production at refurbished smelter

AIM-listed Ironveld reports that its sub sidiary, Ironveld Smelting, has completed refurbishment of the first of the three fur naces at the Rustenburg smelter complex and has successfully produced metal from the furnace, marking a transformational step in the company’s development. The refurbishment work at the Rusten burg smelter complex is proceeding well against the planned six-to-nine-month schedule envisaged at the commencement

of works, the company said. During December 2022 ‘cold commis sioning’ of mechanical equipment at the smelter was successfully completed and has been followed over the holiday period by ‘hot commissioning’ of the first of three planned operating furnaces. The furnace has successfully smelted test quantities of magnetite ore to produce HPI and tita nium slag of marketable standard for the first time. Initial analysis of the HPI confirms

that it meets planned quality and content specifications. In the coming weeks, operations from the first furnace will be tested and opti mised and extended to include production of vanadium slag, which requires a further processing step. First production sales are still on line to be achieved by Q2 2023 as planned. The second and third furnaces at the smelter continue to be refurbished and are both expected to be in production by April 2023. Once the three furnaces are fully operational, the complex will be capable of processing around 40 000 tonnes of Ironveld’s magnetite ore per annum which, in turn, will provide the following approxi mate quantities of finished products per annum: 20 000 tonnes of high purity iron; 190 tonnes of vanadium in slag; and 3 800 tonnes of titanium in slag. Martin Eales, CEO of Ironveld, com mented: “Our aim is to create a sustainable, socially and environmentally responsible operation that will prove to be rewarding for all stakeholders. The news that Ironveld Smelting has successfully smelted ore into marketable metal products in the first oper ating furnace is a fantastic achievement for the whole Ironveld team. We anticipate first revenues from initial production comfort ably in line with our original expectation of Q2 2023.” 

Ironveld Smelting completes refurbishment of first of three furnaces.

Tembo Capital provides convertible loan facility to Orion Minerals

JSE-listed Orion Minerals has announced that substantial holder, Tembo Capital Mining Fund II LP (Tembo) continues its strong sup port of Orion, through providing a new unsecured Convertible Loan Facility of US$0.50 M. Orion’s CEO, Errol Smart, commented: “This funding provides valuable bridging finance to maintain momentum for commence ment of the trial mining and dewatering operations at the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine in January 2023, while the IDC and Triple Flag funding facilities are finalised and draw down on that funding is achieved. It has been exactly six years since Orion exercised its option to acquire the Prieska Copper Zinc Project, and Tembo pro vided its first funding to Orion in the form of a convertible note to fund the acquisition of the project and undertake the first drilling in 2017. The project has since lived up to our technical expectations and, with Tembo’s support, Orion has taken the project from a pros pecting right application to a fully permitted mining right, supported by a bankable feasibility study (BFS), demonstrating potential for attractive financial returns. Our revised strategy announced in 2022, to accelerate start-up of production with mining from near surface ore sources, while dewatering the mine to access the

Orion’s CEO, Errol Smart.

Prieska Deeps Ore and ramp up to the BFS design of 2.4 mtpa run of-mine operation, is fully supported by Tembo, who continues to provide financial support to unlock the investment.” 

8  MODERN MINING  January 2023