JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Tshipi Borwa, an opencast manganese mine in the Kalahari manganese field of the Northern Cape, will be able to commence operations at  100% levels from May 1, Jupiter Minerals has noted.

During a briefing hosted on Saturday April 25, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel provided an initial list of activities that could begin to resume, in phases, from May 1, which is when South Africa’s lockdown officially transitions from Level 5 to Level 4.

On the list was mining, which had already started to resume after being declared an essential service, and which Patel said could continue to ramp-up, with opencast mines entitled to resume full production, while underground mines remained limited to 50% output levels.

ASX-listed Jupiter stated in a release to Mining Weekly that Tshipi management would continue to coordinate with all parties to bring its operations back on line in full and to commence exports.

The company said that Tshipi was also complying with all South African government directives and had set in place rigorous screening and testing processes as well as updated standard operating procedures relating to the  Covid-19 pandemic and the mine, Jupiter CEO Priyank Thapliyal stated.

Earlier approval to restart Tshipi Borwa partially had been granted to Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Tshipi é Ntle said last week that it would be donating R5-million to the Solidarity Fund set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa in response to the devastating effects of the coronavirus.

Tshipi é Ntle chairperson Saki Macozoma drew attention to the considerable impact on all sectors of society, including mining, of the pandemic and applauded the work of government leadership.

Tshipi management has been working with contractors, suppliers and Transnet to coordinate the partial recommencement of production and exports.

Jupiter last month placed its Tshipi Borwa manganese mine on lockdown, while suspending manganese ore exports for a three-week period, ending on April 16.

Critical maintenance, security and dewatering of the pit, costing an estimated R25-million, continued throughout the Covid-19 lockdown to ensure that the mine could be expeditiously brought back into production once the lockdown was lifted.

In the 12 months to February 29, the Tshipi mine produced and exported 3.4-million tonnes of manganese.

Tshipi é Ntle recorded a net profit after tax of A$203-million, with A$109-million in cash in the bank at the end of the financial year.

The Tshipi board declared a final dividend of R265-million to be distributed to shareholders.

Last year, Tshipi é Ntle signed an agreement with ASX-listed South32 to mine, over an expected 24-month ore-extraction period, the barrier pillar between the Tshipi Borwa mine and South32’s Mamatwan manganese mine.

The low-cost Tshipi is one of the newest mines in the 35-km-long and 15-km-wide manganese belt of the Kalahari, which hosts 20-billion tons of manganese ore at grades of 20% to 48% manganese.