Modern Mining Marchh 2017

MINING News

The company will further complete a detailed technical review of Paragon’s pro- posed mine plan and scheduling for Kipushi as part of its current due diligence review. Upon successful completion of its due diligence and the establishment of the JV, the company will allocate its technical and financial resources to finalise and optimise the Kipushi mining plan and processing of the tailings in order to meet the joint ven- ture objectives of commencing mining operations within six months. The Kasombo copper-cobalt project is part of the Kasombo Complex, a series of copper-cobalt rich deposits that have been extensively explored by Gecamines and developed and mined by various inter- national companies in joint venture with Gecamines. Kasombo comprises three proj- ects across two granted mining licences. Kasombo 1 was the first operation to be developed in 1995 and mined and pro- cessed ore under a joint venture between Forrest International Group and Gecamines. The mined copper and cobalt grades were reportedly 2,7 % to 3,7 % copper and 0,7 to 1,5 % cobalt. Paragon has secured an option with Gecamines over Kasombo 6, 7 and 12 which is required to be exercised as a condition precedent to the transaction. Cape Lambert says that – assuming a suc- cessful completion of its due diligence and the establishment of the JV – the objective is to complete further exploration and feasibil- ity study work on Kasombo in order to meet the JV objective of completing a feasibility study within 18 months and starting mining activities within 24 months.  centrator circuit will be used to upgrade the gold grade of the dump material before fur- ther metallurgical processing. The circuit’s nameplate processing capacity is 60 000 tonnes per month for sand and slimes materials. The plant includes a water recycling system to minimise the usage of clean water. It is anticipated that the concentrator circuit will arrive and be assembled in the second quarter of 2017, with commissioning to take place during the third quarter of 2017. CRG’s assets are located within the Central Rand Goldfield which borders the southern outskirts of Johannesburg. 

Central Rand Gold (CRG) says it has placed an order, on binding contractual terms, for the procurement of a concentrator circuit. It will consists of four centrifugal concentra- tors, two scrubbers, one high-speed agitator, one dewatering screen and other ancillary equipment necessary to process material prior to thickener underflow processing in the metallurgical plant. As announced on 6 October 2016, the company has executed an agreement to acquire mine waste dumps – situated 10 km from its processing plant – that contain 2,3 Mt of gold-bearing materials, with an average in-situ grade of 0,7 g/t. The con- The Kipushi tailings are from Geca­ mines’ nearby flotation plant that treated ore from the Lwiswishi open-pit cobalt- copper mine. Lwiswishi, which was operated under a joint venture between Forrest International Group, OM Group and Gecamines, is reported to have produced 4 500 t/a of cobalt in the mid-1990s and accounted for as much as 10 % of global supply. Approximately 4,7 Mt of material was deposited into the Kipushi tails dam. Cape Lambert is proposing to complete further confirmatory sampling and met- allurgical testwork and a shallow auger drilling programme in order to allow a JORC 2012 compliant resource and reserve to be determined for Kipushi. tailings. Extensive metallurgical testwork was completed in China and in South Africa prior to the commencement of construction activities. Cape Lambert will complete a detailed review of the plant and the metallurgical testwork that has been completed as part of its technical due diligence review. The Kipushi tailings are located 8 km from the Kipushi processing plant and immediately adjacent to TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines’ Kipushi project. The tailings extend over an area of more than 1,2 km in length and over 400 m in width. They have a maximum depth of approximately 12 m in the centre of the tail- ings dam and 5 m at the boundaries, with average depths of around 8 m. Paragon has secured the right to mine the Kipushi tailings under an existing agree- ment with state-owned copper and cobalt mining company, Gecamines.

HOISTING SOLUTIONS Winder Controls is a leader in the mechanical, electrical and hydraulic design, manufacture and installa- tion of mine winders and related equipment. Our designs comply with the latest international safety and reliability standards including SIL assessments where applicable. Our services include relocations, refur- bishment and upgrades, as well as full aftersales and maintenance support. In addition we offer a range of special products including steel wire rope handling equipment, Three Chamber Energy recovery systems and Nuclear Waste Disposal Technology.

Tel: +27 (0)11 383 9300 www.winder.co.za

CRG orders concentrator circuit

Fax: +27 (0)11 383 9305 email: winder@winder.co.za

March 2017  MODERN MINING  13