JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Savannah Resources is making “steady progress” in being granted mining licences for the first two of a planned series of copper mine developments in Oman.
To date, the company has received regulatory approval from five Ministries for the Maqail South licence application, targeting opencut development, and regulatory approval from four Ministries for the Mahab 4 licence application, targeting underground development.
Savannah expects the mining licences to be awarded by the end of the year, CEO David Archer said on Monday, adding that the licence for a proposed tailings storage facility (TSF), which would support the development of both mines, should be granted soon thereafter.
“We have largely completed the economic scoping study for the initial mine developments; this is based on two run-of-mine ore streams being treated at a common, centrally located copper concentration plant with an associated TSF,” he reported.
Archer added that the study could be converted into a detailed design with relative ease and speed to meet the development timeline of starting production in the first half of 2018.
The proposed plant and TSF have been designed to treat ores from both Maqail South and Mahab 4, but also offer the potential to treat ore from other high-grade copper deposits, located in Oman.