Modern Mining March 2018

MINING News

Baobab’s inferred resources increase

Lucara gets a new CEO Lucara Diamond Corp’s CEO, William Lamb, has retired and has been succeeded by Eira Thomas, a founder and director of the company. Under Lamb’s leadership, Lucara’s flagship Karowe mine in Botswana has evolved into one of the world’s highest margin diamond mines and the foremost producer of large, Type IIA diamonds in excess of 10,8 carats, including the historic 1 109 carat Lesedi La Rona . According to Lucara, Lamb galvanised Lucara’s reputation as an innovator, cham- pioning its technologically advanced mine design to optimise revenues and minimise diamond losses through both autogenous milling and the use of X-ray transmission sort- ers to preserve large, high value stones and to create a more secure and efficient flowsheet. Assuming the role of CEO, Thomas brings more than 25 years’ experience in the min- ing industry, including 16 years with Aber Diamond Corporation (now Dominion Diamond), where she served in ever increas- ing roles from initial discovery as a geologist to Vice President Exploration and ultimately a Director of the Board. She was co-founder of Stornoway Diamond Corp, serving first as CEO and then as Executive Chairman. There she led the acquisition of the Renard diamond deposit which subsequently became Quebec’s first diamond mine. In 2007, she founded Lucara with partners Lukas Lundin and Catherine McLeod Seltzer. Lucara has also announced that Seltzer will be joining the Board of Directors. 

ASX-listed Avenira reports that the poten- tial longevity of its Baobab phosphate project in Senegal has been significantly increased with the release of updated inferred mineral resource estimates, 10,9 % higher than the previously estimated inferred resource tonnage at Gadde Bissik as reported on 12 October 2017. The indi- cated mineral resource estimate remains at 34,9 Mt at 20,7 % P 2 O 5 . This resource update and a planned resource report are key components of Baobab’s Gadde Bissik expansion and upgrade project feasibility study currently being kicked-off by the company. At a 10 % P 2 O 5 cut-off, the indicated resource tonnage and inferred resource tonnage are estimated at 42,0 Mt at 19,4 % P 2 O 5 and 320 Mt at 16 % P 2 O 5 , respectively. An objective of the feasibility study will be to confirm the mining plan’s cut-off. Avenira’s Managing Director, Louis Calvarin, said: “This updated resource model showing a continuous inferred resource area over 20 km is yet another strong confirmation of the vast scale of Baobab’s Gadde Bissik resource, and is most welcome as the company is actively pursuing engineering studies for the Gadde Bissik expansion and upgrade investment project.” During the 2017 calendar year, Avenira established a strategic plan for the Baobab project, focused first on a major expansion and upgrade of the existing beneficia-

tion plant at Gadde Bissik mine to bring it to a sustainable operational level, and subsequently on implementing next-step investments towards the longer-term objective of downstream integration. Under the plan to expand and upgrade the existing ore beneficiation unit, Avenira engaged engineering firm Hatch to con- duct a conceptual engineering study which delivered positive results, as Avenira reported in October 2017. The planned expansion and upgrade of the existing ore beneficiation unit is expected to deliver a capacity and perfor- mance expansion of the existing Baobab processing facility at Gadde Bissik. The project includes a flotation step and a magnetic separation step to improve P 2 O 5 recovery from around 50 % currently to around 70 %. Following completion of the expansion and upgrade of the existing ore beneficiation unit, the nameplate produc- tion capacity is projected to be 1 Mt/a. The 2017 conceptual engineering study concluded that upgrading the processing plant and increasing its nameplate capac- ity to 1 Mt/a of high-grade phosphate rock concentrate could be undertaken for a total upfront capital expenditure of approximately US$53,4 million. Avenira believes this expansion should signifi- cantly improve product specifications and place the Baobab project in a globally competitive unit operating cost position, on a quality adjusted basis. 

March 2018  MODERN MINING  17