Name of the Project
Zanaga iron-ore project.

Location
The Zanaga project is located 30 km west of Zanaga, a regional centre of the Lekoumou department of Congo-Brazzaville.

Project Owner/s
Jumelle, a joint venture (JV) between Glencore (50% plus one share) and the Zanaga Iron Ore Company (ZIOC).

Project Description
The project has probable ore reserves of 2.5-billion tons grading at 34% iron. A feasibility study completed on the project envisages a multistage development of the mine.

Stage 1 involves development to an initial 12-million tonnes a year of high-quality iron-ore product, while Stage 2 will entail an 18-million-tonne-a-year expansion to 30-million tonnes a year of total product.

Stage 1 has been designed as a standalone business case and does not rely on or require the Stage 2 expansion. The Stage 1 operation will mine the higher-grade upper hematite ores over a 30-year mine life, producing a 66% iron content and a premium-quality iron-ore pellet feed product with low impurities.

The initial openpit mining operation will use contractor mining to exploit free-dig material with a very low strip ratio, with simpler processing requirements resulting in low initial power demand. The ore will be upgraded into a high-grade pellet feed using conventional gravity and flotation concentration methods before being pumped to the port through a slurry pipeline. The project's onshore port facilities and infrastructure will include a filter plant to dewater the concentrate, and a covered ore-storage facility, located at a proposed new third-party port that will be built 9 km north of the existing Port of Pointe-Noire.

Stage 2 will involve the openpit mining of the magnetite orebody. The strip ratio will be lower than that of Stage 1, as the upper hematite cap will have been mined. The processing plant will be expanded, with a second concentrator using magnetic separation to produce a blended 67.5% iron content, premium-quality iron-ore pellet feed product. The increased power requirements will be supplied by planned power-generation expansion projects in Congo-Brazzaville. A second slurry pipeline will be constructed to transport the ore to port, where the port facilities will be expanded as part of the proposed deep-water port development.

The staged development approach adopted by Glencore in the feasibility study has demonstrated significant advantages over the prefeasibility study announced in November 2012, which considered a single-stage 30-million-tonne-a-year development at a capital cost of $7.5-billion.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Stage 1 is expected to cost $2.2-billion, including contingency, and Stage 2 $2.5-billion.

The first-stage operation could potentially finance the second-stage expansion through project cashflows, limiting the level of additional equity required for the operation.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Following an approach by a leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company specialising in the development of floating mooring and operating facilities in 2019, the Zanaga project team has been actively investigating the potential to use an offshore floating port instead of the transshipping solution envisaged by the 2014 feasibility study.

The solution of the 2014 feasibility study involved Zanaga's slurry pipeline terminating at the coast of Congo-Brazzaville, whereby the slurry material would be dewatered in a coastal-based location north of Pointe Noire. The rationale for selecting this location was based on its flat land terrain, which is conducive to the construction of a necessary dewatering process plant and stockpiling facility, and its proximity to 25-m-deep water required for loading large cape-size vessels. The transshipping solution, while preferable to a large deep-water port, required five materials handling phases and capital investment for the construction of a breakwater.

The floating port solution could provide several advantages technically and economically. The solution involves extending Zanaga's slurry pipeline out into the ocean, with significantly reduced land-based facilities. The pipeline would run along the ocean floor to a fixed mooring point, where the pipeline would connect to the floating dewatering, storage and offloading vessel (FDSO). The slurry would be processed on board by a dewatering plant and the pellet feed concentrate would be stored within the vessel. Offloading facilities would be built into the vessel to enable the FDSO to load cape-size vessels directly. Using Zanaga's FDSO would reduce the materials handling steps to only three phases, providing significant efficiencies and a more seamless operation.

The FDSO evaluation process has been led by Paterson & Cooke (P&C). P&C has completed a concept-level report involving a comparison of the port solutions – transshipping, a deep-water port or the new floating port – available for the Zanaga project.

A possible reduction in total capital costs of $184-million has been indicated for the 12-million-tonne-a-year Stage 1 project, resulting in a reduction from $2.22-million to $2.04m in total capital costs.

Operating costs are expected to be maintained at about $6.5/t, owing to previously high transshipping costs being substituted by a lease cost to the EPC contractor providing the solution. The net impact on economics shows the potential for the floating port to produce a significant improvement in the net present value and internal rate of return.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
DRA (process plant study) and P&C (FDSO evaluation process).

Contact Details for Project Information
ZIOC, email info@zanagairon.com.
DRA, tel +27 11 202 8600 or email info@DRAglobal.com.