Structural steel fabricator Cosira Group says the opening of its Namibian and Mozambican offices forms part of its bid to tap into the opportunities offered by the rapidly expanding African mining sector.
Cosira CEO John da Silva tells Mining Weekly the company opened its Swakopmund and Maputo offices in November last year and that there are potential plans to establish further investments in both countries.

Cosira will be one of the exhibitors at this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, where it will focus on increasing its footprint throughout the African mining, petrochemicals, infrastructure and power-generation industries.

“We will showcase our expertise and experience in fabricating and executing structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, piping and platework projects throughout Africa,” Da Silva states.

He says the new offices were motivated by the rising awarenss of Africa’s unexploited commodities, especially in countries such as Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe and those further north, such as Tanzania, Ghana, Mauritania and Sierra Leone.

Mozambique holds coal and gas potential, while Botswana offers opportunities in coal and diamonds. In Namibia, significant uranium and diamond opportunities exist, with Zambia and the DRC yielding lucrative copper and gold opportunities and the Zimbabwe platinum industry proving to be promising for investors.

“Cosira is optimistic about the opportunities the continent holds for the growth of its business, as the company believes that Africa will be the next frontier for significant growth. Cosira is transforming into a proudly African company,” Da Silva enthuses.

However, he says the African mining industry is burdened by challenges, such as fluctuating exchange rates, unstable steel prices, changing socioeconomic and political landscapes, skills shortages and the need for significant investment in training and improvement programmes.

“Cosira will be focusing on initiating training programmes and partnering with both technical colleges and government in the countries in which we operate to stimulate skills training and upliftment programmes,” Da Silva adds.

Projects

Cosira is supplying over 2 800 t of structural steel and platework, with added mechanical equipment installations, such as carbon steel and high-density polyethylene piping for Phase 2 of mining for exploration company Kenmare Resources’ Moma titanium minerals mine, in Mozambique.

The mine is in the northern coastal district of Moma, in Nampula province, about 280 km west of Nampula city.

Da Silva says the company has started installing its products and that Phase 2 is expected to reach completion by the middle of this year.

Cosira is responsible for the workshop detailing, procurement, fabrication, corrosion protec- tion and logistics of Phase 2, which started in April last year. It entails the construction of the mineral separation plant, the product warehouse, mineral export facilities and all related infrastructure.

“The nature of logistics requires that the shipping schedule is met, which demands that Cosira strictly sticks to the approved work programme to meet the dock and stack dates of shipping from Mozambique.

“Materials control is strictly managed to ensure that materials and goods are delivered according to priority listing to prevent site-based delays in the installation phase of the project,” Da Silva explains.

Further, Cosira is also involved in diamond miner Boteti Mining’s AK6 diamond project, in Botswana.

The company started work on the detail, supply, fabrication, corrosion protection and delivery of the steel structures for the project by engineering firm DRA Mineral Projects, which was appointed as the engineering, procurement, construction and management contractor for the AK6 project.

The additional contract specifies that Cosira supplies a total of 1 200 t of steelwork, as well as applies a corrosion protection coating to all structures prior to site delivery.

Earlier this year, Creamer Media’s Research Channel Africa stated that an updated feasibility study on the project proposed a process plant designed at an initial throughput rate of 2.5-million tons a year, increasing to four-million tons a year after four years.

The revised mining plan called for a reduced number of carats being produced at a higher diamond value. The indicated resource at a 1.5 mm bottom cutoff has an average grade of 16 ct/100 t and an average diamond price of $243/ct from 0 m to 400 m from an indicated resource of 51-million tons, containing 8.2-million carats of diamonds.

Further, the mine design delineates probable reserves of 36.2-million tons of ore, containing 6.3-million carats of diamonds in an openpit to a depth of 324 m.

The first phase of the AK6 project requires a capital expenditure of $120-million, which includes the construction of the process plant, all mine sites and off-site infrastructure, as well as a 13% contingency.

This is a significant increase over the concep- tual estimate, with the major changes being a 25% increase in throughput (accounting for 26%, or $14-million), foreign exchange movement and escalation (accounting for 37% of the increase, or $20-million) and scope changes (accounting for 37% of the increase, or $20-million).

The first structural steel was delivered to site in mid-June last year, with the first steel erected for the primary crusher structure in June 2011.
The mine is expected to ramp up to full production early this year to deliver over 400 000 ct of high-quality diamonds in its first year of operation.

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