Modern Mining July 2016

COUNTRY FOCUS BOTSWANA

would be produced in the first half of 2019. The resource at Zone 5 is sufficient to support a much higher production rate than 3,6 Mt/a and – as explained by Tsimako – Cupric envis- ages the Starter Project being followed by the second stage of the Hybrid Project taking capacity to 6,1 Mt/a initially (plus 80 000 t/a of copper). The expansion to 6,1 Mt/a will involve an additional two declines at Zone 5 and a new 6,1 Mt/a plant and will cost an estimated US$304 million. The construction of this new Zone 5 plant would free up the Boseto plant for further expansion initiatives – based on existing deposits at Boseto as well as the recently dis- covered Zone 5 North deposit – which would take capacity up to more than 10 Mt/a of ore (or plus 100 000 t/a of copper). Even the 100 000 t/a of copper production rate, high as it is, is not the end of the expan- sion possibilities offered by Cupric’s nearly 4 000 km 2 ground-holding in the Kalahari Copperbelt. The company’s total mineral inventory over its tenements is 437 Mt at an average grade of 1,26 % copper and 14,2 g/t silver. This includes the promising Banana Zone located approximately 60 km south-west of Zone 5 which has a substantial resource of 155 Mt at 0,85 % Cu and 11 g/t Ag. Tsimako said the development of the Bananza Zone and other resources could see Cupric pro- ducing plus 150 000 t/a of copper. He added that the Banana Zone was the subject of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) but that its development would almost certainly

require an entirely new processing plant. With Zone 5 and Boseto being the current focus of attention, it will probably be a few years down the line before Cupric makes a deci- sion on the Banana Zone. Summing up the potential of Zone 5, Tsimako said it was a well-defined, well-under- stood, high-grade deposit ideal for mechanised underground mining which could be developed on a staged basis to reduce risk. He described the project as being “execution ready” with a “best in class” local management team already in place and added that it had “industry lead- ing economics”. He predicted that it would be the project to finally unlock the massive poten- tial of the Kalahari Copperbelt. Report and photos (unless otherwise acknowledged) by Arthur Tassell

The existing power plant at the Boseto site has a capacity of 18 MW.

The company’s total mineral inventory over its tenements is 437 Mt at an average grade

Hybrid Starter Phase – process flow diagram

of 1,26 % copper and 14,2 g/t silver.

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July 2016  MODERN MINING  35