Modern Mining June 2018

MINING News

In an update on its BK16 kimberlite proj- ect in Botswana, Tsodilo Resources, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, reports that the first two parcels of diamonds (101 stones – 18,57 carats and 130 stones – 17,79 carats) have been delivered to Lucara Diamond Corp for cleaning at its acid cleaning laboratory located at the Diamond Technology Park (DTP) in Gaborone, Botswana. The two parcels consist of diamonds recovered as of May 4, 2018. The diamonds will be stored at I Hennig & Co’s secured facilities at the Tsodilo delivers BK16 diamonds for acid cleaning DTP after cleaning has taken place. Ray Ferraris of QTS-Kristal Dinamika – South Africa, has been retained to initiate a Size Frequency Distribution (SFD) study as well as a Diamond Reconstruction and Breakage (DRB) study after the stones have been acidised. The SFD study is utilised to predict the diamond size frequency in a diamond deposit and contributes significantly towards the estimation of expected rev- enue. The purpose of the DRB study is to establish a first-order profile for the extent

and nature of diamond breakage related to natural or imposed industrial causes. This breakage study will also do a comparison with a parcel of historic dia- monds that were recovered between 1999 and 2000 from previous operations. Those diamonds were ‘mined’ from an old underground shaft and tunnel system and were not impacted by the LDD drilling programme. All 243 samples generated by the LDD programme at BK16 (which was under- taken last year) and all historical tailings have now been processed through the company’s DMS plant located in Letlhakane, Botswana. The recovery unit, which has been established in Tsodilo’s security area in Maun, has recently moved to a double shift operation of 15 daily hours to speed up the recovery process. The recovery unit is sorting both the main LDD sample concentrates and the audit retreatment samples through Tsodilo’s Bourevestnik (BV) Polus-MX-ray sorter. The plus 3mmBV concentrates will be re-crushed, screened and reprocessed through the X-ray unit to recover any locked-up diamonds in the 3 to 12 mm fraction. The BK16 kimberlite project is located within the Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF). In 2017, the OKF area produced 11,07 million carats. Of the 83 known kimberlite bodies in the OKF, eleven have been or are cur- rently being mined.  Bara is an engineering consul- tancy based in Johannesburg with extensive experience in African graphite and vanadium. The Scoping Study is expected to be completed by end-July 2018, putting the project on track for production and cash- flow by mid-2019. Mustang Managing Director Dr Bernard Olivier said: “This appointment is another key step in our strategy to be in produc- tion at Caula by the middle of next year. We have multiple workstreams underway to deliver a maiden vanadium JORC resource and an upgraded graphite resource along with metallurgical testing for an integrated vanadium and graphite processing flow- sheet. We are also awaiting the results of ore-sorting testwork in Australia.” 

Tsodilo’s DMS plant – which has been extensively refurbished – in Letlhakane (photo: Tsodilo).

ASX-listed Mustang Resources says that its strategy to develop the Caula vanadium- graphite project in Mozambique is well Bara to undertake Caula Scoping Study on track with the appointment of highly regarded specialists Bara International to undertake the Scoping Study.

Change at the top at Kore Potash Kore Potash, the potash development company whose flagship asset is the 97 %-owned Sintoukola potash project in the Republic of Congo, has appointed Stuart Bradley (Brad) Sampson, aged 52, as Chief Executive Officer and director, effec- tive from 4 June 2018. Sampson, a mining engineer, was most recently CEO of ASX-listed Tiger Resources, a copper producer in the DRC which in January 2018 entered into a binding agree-

ment to sell its assets to a Chinese group for US$250 million. Prior to this, he held senior positions at Newcrest Mining, one of the world’s largest gold mining companies, including General Manager of Newcrest’s West African operations. From 2008 to 2013, he was the CEO of AIM/ASX-listed Discovery Metals, where he was hired to lead the proj- ect financing, construction and subsequent production of the company’s flagship cop- per asset in Botswana. 

12  MODERN MINING  June 2018