Modern Mining July 2018

MINING News

Gamsberg zinc project now commissioning A recent view of the Gamsberg processing plant (photo: VZI).

Vedanta Zinc International (VZI), a subsid- iary of London-listed Vedanta Resources, repor ts that commissioning of its Gamsberg project near Aggeneys in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province has begun. The project is one of the largest greenfield mining projects in Africa. Waste pre-stripping was completed by the end of June 2018 and ore production has commenced. In total, 67,2 million tons of waste has been pre-stripped, against an initial target of 68 million tons, and 487 000 tons of ore has already beenmined, against an initial target of a 500 000-ton ore stock- pile before plant commissioning. The team is consistently achieving a mining produc- tion rate of 4 to 4,5 million tons per month of overall rock mining and this is expected to continue into the operational phase of the project. Plant and infrastructure construc- tion activity peaked in the first quarter of 2018/19, with almost 3 000 personnel employed at the project site. Of those employed on site, 1 050 are from the Northern Cape and 550 from the local Khai-Ma municipality.

Run of mine (ROM) pad under construction (photo: VZI). The necessary water and power infra- structure (a 38 km water pipeline with pumping and storage facilities and 20 km of powerlines with amain receiving substa- tion) has been successfully commissioned

and is now delivering water and power at the required capacity. Construction of the 117 ha HDPE-lined Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) is complete and it is ready to receive tailings. Cold commissioning of the

4  MODERN MINING  July 2018