Name: Kapulo mine.

Location: The Kapulo mine project is located in the south-eastern corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the Haut Katanga district, Katanga province, between Lake Mweru and Lake Tanganyika, about 15 km from the Zambian border.

Controlling Company: Mawson West.

Brief History: Mawson started its activities in the DRC in April 2006 when it entered into a farm-in agreement on the Kapulo project with Anvil Mining, the previous owner of AMC, which gave Mawson the right to earn a 65% interest in the project by spending $4-million on exploration within four years. The company’s subsequent exploration work on the Kapulo project in 2006, 2007 and the first half of 2008 resulted in Mawson defining more than 200 000 t of contained copper. By October 2008, the company had completed its required expenditure and earned a 65% interest in the Kapulo project.

In April 2010, the company acquired Anvil’s 90% interest in AMC, being the registered owner of the tenements governed by the Dikulushi Mining Convention (DMC), as well as 100% of Anvil Mining Zambia. As AMC is also the owner of the Kapulo project, the acquisition of AMC also resulted in Mawson West increasing its interest in the Kapulo Project from 65% to 90%.

The DMC is a mining concession which was granted by the government of the DRC on January 31, 1998, and ratified by Presidential decree issued on February 27, 1998, which sets out the regulatory and fiscal regime applicable to the Kapulo and Dikulushi tenements, as well as multiple exploration targets. Under the DMC, AMC is guaranteed sole and exclusive rights for exploitation of projects governed by the convention.

In July 2011, Mawson committed to the development of the Kapulo project and started site earthworks and camp construction shortly thereafter.

Brief Description: The Kapulo mine project comprises the Shaba, Safari North and Safari South deposits. The mine has a 7.5-year mine life and is designed to produce and process copper concentrate and sulphide ore.

Geology/Mineralisation: Kapulo comprises two known orebodies, Shaba and Safari, which are separated by a sequent of the Kapulo fault about 2 km long, which is only weakly mineralised. The deposits are each about 20 m wide and 200 m long. Shaba extends down-plunge for at least 370 m, whereas Safari pinches and narrows below an estimated 100 m. They occur at places where the Kapulo fault strikes north-northwest, in contrast to its overall north-northeast orientation.

At surface, the Kapulo orebodies comprise wide clay-altered zones containing abundant copper carbonates (malachite and azurite) and oxides (cuprite). This oxidised zone passes abruptly downwards into primary mineralisation dominated by copper and iron sulphides (bornite and chalcopyrite), with little or no transition zone. The sulphide minerals occur as massive to semimassive stratiform replacements of the greywacke and occasionally as breccia cements and veinlet networks in greywacke and granite.
The hanging wall to the Kapulo deposits is quartz sandstone. This is separated from mineralised carbonaceous, laminated greywacke by the main strand of the Kapulo fault. The footwall of the deposits is marked by a subordinate fault strand, along which the sedimentary rocks have been juxtaposed against massive syenogranite. The hanging wall fault marks a knife-edge boundary of the mineralisation, whereas the lower fault strand commonly hosts or is cut by copper mineralisation.
Reserves: Total proven and probable mineral reserves as at June 30, 2014, were 3.6-million tonnes at 3.6% copper and 8.3 g/t silver (Shaba openpit only).

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources as at January 22, 2014, were 6.23-million tonnes at 3.02% copper. Inferred resources were 2.9-million tonnes at 2% copper.

Products: Copper and silver.

Mining Method: Openpit.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The mining schedule is based on the utilisation of 60 t to 100 t excavators and articulated trucks, with a payload of between 40 t and 60 t.

The process plant has been designed by resource sector services company Sedgman.

The comminution circuit is two-stage crushing, followed by ball milling and conventional rougher/cleaner flotation. The concentrate is then dewatered by filter pressing, after which it is placed in one- to two-tonne bulka-bags for transport to the smelter.

Prospects: Kapulo is undergoing commissioning, with the first ball mill completing its initial run. Ramp-up to nameplate capacity is expected to be reached in the first quarter of 2015, targeting a production rate of about 20 000 t/y of copper in concentrate.

Contact Person: CEO and MD Bruce McFadzean.

Contact Details:
Mawson West,
tel +61 8 9485 9800,
fax +61 8 9486 8857,
email info@mawsonwest.com.au, and
website http://www.mawsonwest.com.