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Base metals to see growth in Africa

15th August 2014

  

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Africa, and Southern Africa in particular, is contributing significantly to the increase in global copper supply, says mining consultancy The MSA Group GM Dr Ian Haddon tells Mining Weekly that, in addition to copper, mining projects in Africa promise to yield increased amounts of other base metals, including nickel, zinc, lead, aluminium and tin.

“Zambian copper production has seen a marked improvement from a low of 226 000 t in 2000, to over 900 000 t in 2013, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) achieving similar production levels and increased output,” he explains.

New projects due to come on stream in Zambia include mining and metals company First Quantum Mineral’s Trident project, which is due to come on stream towards the end of 2014, and resources company Blackthorn Resource’s Kitumba project, where a recent optimised prefeasibility study produced positive results.

The Trident project, located 150 km west of Solwezi in north-west Zambia, comprises the Sentinel copper mine development and the Enterprise nickel mine development.

The Sentinel deposit holds 476 - million tonnes of ore in proven reserves and 298-million tonnes of ore in probable reserves. The measured and indicated resources are estimated to be 1 027-million tonnes grading 0.51 % copper, while the inferred resources are estimated to be 166-million tonnes grading 0.42 % copper.

The Enterprise deposit was designed to produce an average of 38 000 t of nickel in concentrate per year, with scope to increase to 60 000 t when nickel market conditions allow. The Enterprise circuit will also be able to process additional copper ore as part of Sentinel during those periods when it is not being used to process nickel.

The Kitumba deposit is part of Blackthorn’s Mumbwa project, which comprises five contiguous prospecting licences with a total area exceeding 1 000 km2 in west-central Zambia, 200 km west of the capital, Lusaka. A mineral resource estimate in 2013 showed a 25% increase in contained copper over the previous estimate for 34.7-million tonnes at 2.29% copper using a 1% cutoff for a total of 795 000 contained copper tonnes. This update includes material in the measured category at Kitumba for the first time – 10.4-million tonnes at 2.93% copper using a 1% cutoff. Kitumba contains proved and probable mineral reserves of 31.5-million tonnes at 2.04% copper for a total of 641 000 t contained copper.

The Kitumba deposit is recognised as having iron oxide/copper/gold- (IOCG-) type affinities. Typical characteristics include copper/gold mineralisation accompanied by large-scale partial to pervasive iron alteration and brecciation.

The MSA Group principal consultant Mike Robertson highlights exploration successes in Zambia and the DRC, which have resulted in increased exploration interest in central and north-western Zambia – particularly in deposits with an IOCG affinity.

Investors are also turning their attention to exploring similar geological environments elsewhere in Africa, says Robertson. He cites mineral exploration company Handa Copper Corporation, which is exploring the West Congolian Belt in the DRC – a geological correlative of the sequence hosting the deposits of the Central African Copperbelt, and which has known copper occurrences and past mines, but has not yet seen modern systematic exploration.

“Further, the Kalahari Copper Belt, in western Botswana, which extends to the west into Namibia, is currently the focus of intense copper exploration by several companies, including copper and silver concentrate producer Discovery Metals, which commissioned its Boseto copper mine in 2012,” he adds.

Robertson points out that Africa hosts several high-grade zinc deposits, which MSA is currently working on, such as mining and exploration company Ivanhoe Mines’ Big Zinc deposit, in Kipushi, in the Haut-Katanga district of the DRC. The deposit is currently the subject of an extensive underground drilling programme and an updated mineral resource estimate, to be undertaken by MSA.

Further copper/zinc potential exists in defined volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in north-east Africa, where gold-rich caps overlie copper/zinc rich zones in Eritrea and Ethiopia.

MSA further mentions that opportunities still exist for greenfield base metal exploration in South Africa. The company is currently providing competent person oversight for a client involved in two polymetallic IOCG-type projects associated with granites of the Bushveld Complex.

Several similar deposits and occurrences are known from the Bushveld granites, but remain largely underexplored and, in some cases, have been misinterpreted in terms of previous geological understanding, says Robertson.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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