Name of the Project
RHA tungsten project.

Location
The project is located near Hwange, in Zimbabwe.

Client
Premier African Minerals holds 49% of RHA Tungsten, with the remaining 51% held by Zimbabwe’s National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund.

Project Description
The 1 800 ha project is divided into 50 mineable mineral blocks, of which Premier African Minerals owns ten.

The preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the project was completed in August 2013.

The mine plan presented in the PEA consists of an openpit, followed by an underground operation, with a combined life-of-mine (LoM) of six years at a run-of-mine production rate of 192 000 t/y, or 16 000 t/m.

The underground mine produces a wolframite concentrate that is measured in metric ton units (mtu); wolframite consists primarily of ferberite, with a smaller quantity of hubnerite.

Every mtu of concentrate is equivalent to 10 kg of tungsten trioxide contained in a concentrate at about 60%.

Premier Mining has since the completion of the PEA commissioned Bara Consulting to update the financial model of the project to demonstrate the effect of the additional work that has been completed since the publication of the PEA on the product valuation. The financial model outlines a low-capital implementation strategy.

Jobs to be Created
The project boasts entirely local skills, with no expatriates employed at the mine.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Bara’s financial model reflects a pretax net present value of $15.8-million and an annualised internal rate of return of 286%, calculated on a quarterly basis.

Value
The project preproduction capital has been reduced from $4.77-million to $4.15-million.

Duration
Operations at the mine started in August 2016.

Latest Developments
Premier African Minerals has said that the results of a review of the immediately available underground resources at its RHA tungsten project will be released before the end of September.

The mining and exploration company is developing a revised resource for RHA to support its underground mining activities, with the final decisions over the re-establishment of openpit operations and the further development of the X-ray transmission upgrade to be based on the update.

Detailed additional sampling and validating past results from historical reporting and its more recent work in the openpit have been undertaken.

Meanwhile, the company has also noted that the new mesh inserts for the crushing screens have been installed and commissioned.

In August, Premier announced that the original 6 mm screen did not pass material of more than 4 mm on average, necessitating the replacement of the panels with larger 10 mm panels.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Bara Consulting (updated financial model).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Premier African Minerals, tel +27 100 201 281 or email info@premierafricanminerals.com.