JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Cupric Canyon Capital’s wholly owned subsidiary, Khoemacau Copper Mining (KCM), has entered into a $50-million, term loan facility agreement with Red Kite Mine Finance to provide funding for KCM's Khoemacau copper-silver project, in Botswana.

Proceeds from the loan will be used to fund project development costs and front-end engineering and design in advance of commencing full-scale construction in the second half of the year.

KCM will build an underground mine at its high-grade Zone 5 deposit, which contains 100-million tonnes of ore, grading 2% copper and 20 g/t silver, with a minimum life of 25 years and average C1 cash cost of $1/lb.

The Zone 5 mine will initially feed the nearby Boseto copper concentrator, which was acquired as part of Cupric's acquisition of Discovery Copper Botswana (DCB) and will be accessed with three declines, using a highly mechanised, low-cost sublevel open stoping mining method.

The Boseto concentrator will be upgraded from its current three-million tonne-a-year nameplate capacity to 3.6-million tonnes a year. Metal production from the Starter project will average 50 000 t/y of copper and 1.4-million ounces of silver a year.

The total cost to develop KCM's Starter project will be $350-million, with underground mine development being the largest single cost component. Efforts are under way to optimise both ore grade and capital expenditures.

Within the next few months, the Botswana Environmental Ministry is expected to approve modifications to KCM's environmental permits to facilitate processing Zone 5 ore at the upgraded Boseto plant.

The Botswana Power Company is also progressing development of the high-tension power line that will provide commercial power to the northwest region of Botswana. This power line project includes a spur line to Boseto and Zone 5, providing low-cost commercial power when KCM starts production in 2019.