Marampa study reveals potential 40-year, 6Mt/y mine
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A recently completed life-of-mine study, based on probable reserves of over 500-million tonnes, at London Mining’s flagship Marampa mine, in Sierra Leone, has indicated that a $240-million processing plant upgrade would extend the operation’s life to over 40 years.
“The study shows that Marampa can be extended through a simple upgrade of the processing plant based on proof of concept from the existing flowsheet and logistics, while the investment in a plant that can process all ore types has enabled us to reduce the life-of-mine strip ratio by half,” COO Jim North said on Wednesday.
The study further revealed that production at the iron-ore operation could be increased through the optimisation of the existing plant to a rate of six-million tonnes a year by 2014 at an estimated additional cost of $40-million, which North described as a “low-risk exercise.”
The iron-ore miner’s production guidance for this year was set at between 3.5-million and 3.9-million tonnes.
CEO Graeme Hossie added that the incremental expansion and other initiatives identified by the feasibility study would reduce average operating costs to between $42/t and $45/t over the life of the mine.
He believed this reduction in the operating cost base, coupled with a drop in overhead costs and a move to larger vessels, would enable the company to be profitable in most long-term downside pricing scenarios.
“We expect to be able to fund our capital programme through the reinvestment of cash flows from the expanded operation, requiring no significant increase to our total debt facility position.
“We are now focused on reducing unit costs through economies of scale and a move to activity-based contracts where possible,” he asserted.
London Mining was, meanwhile, commissioning its second self-propelled barge, which would upgrade barging capacity in line with the expected production upswing.
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