Mabiza Resources and its major investor Consolidated Nickel Mines (CNM) have restarted mining operations at the Munali nickel mine, in Zambia.
The refurbished mine was officially opened on Tuesday by Zambia President Edgar Lungu and key dignitaries from the Zambian government.
CNM has, since 2014, invested around $50-million to restart the mine, which included a complete reassessment of the project – all technical aspects have been reviewed and re-engineered, from reinterpreting the orebody, changing the mining method, to revising the metallurgical process, with the introduction of dense media separation technology and differential flotation.
The Munali mine is expected to produce a nickel concentrate of between 10% and 12% and to ramp-up production to steady-state levels of 60 000 t/y by the fourth quarter of this year.
The mine currently employs 380 people and has an inferred mineral resource of 360 000 t, grading 0.84% nickel, and a measured and indicated resource of 5.65-million tonnes grading 1.01% nickel.