JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mineral processing company Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR) on Tuesday reported that the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (Zema) had issued it a written approval for the environmental-impact statement (EIS) related to proposed lead/zinc recovery and copper processing at the Kabwe mine.
The EIS had been submitted by BMR’s subsidiary Enviro Processing, which would operate the project.
"We are delighted to receive approval from Zema for our plans following [its] full review. From now on, our focus will be on starting production. We will also be concluding offtake agreements for sales of the metals into world markets,” BMR chairperson Masoud Alikhani commented.
BMR noted that the approval of the EIS was subject to normal conditions relating to monitoring of protection for matters such as water and air quality, noise levels, dust suppression and employee health, and was also subject to Enviro Processing implementing the project within three years.
The project’s Phase 1 processing of lead and zinc would be done through gravity and magnetic separation, while copper concentrates would be produced through a cementation process with ores to be secured from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo through Enviro Processing’s trading connections.
BMR would now carry out final metallurgical studies to determine the optimal process route for treating the lead and zinc tailings so that pilot production could start as soon as possible.
In the meantime, Enviro Processing would start with the small-scale processing of copper ore secured locally.