South Africa’s Deputy Mineral Resources Minister, Godfrey Oliphant, last week undertook a two-and-a-half day visit to Vedanta Zinc International’s Black Mountain complex, in the Northern Cape, where he was able to take a detailed look at the developmental, operational and social components of the mine’s activities.
The Black Mountain mine, which produces zinc, lead, silver and copper, comprises the Deeps and Swartberg shafts and a processing plant, with the development of the new Gamsberg project well under way.
The Deputy Minister, who officiated at the Gamsberg project's sod turning ceremony in July 2015, was accompanied by Vedanta Zinc International CEO Deshnee Naidoo during his visit.
London-listed and India-rooted Vedanta said, in presenting its financial results for the 12 months to March 31, that it was continuing to invest in projects and assets in both India and Africa and was preparing to mine zinc at Gamsberg, which it described as one of the world’s largest zinc deposits.
“Given strong zinc market fundamentals, this venture looks increasingly well timed and we look forward to production going live in 2018,” the company said in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weeky.
It was also looking to extend the life of the Black Mountain and Skorpion zinc mines, in sharp contrast to a few years ago, when Skorpion was being considered for closure.
The Deputy Minister, who hails from the Northern Cape, was impressed by the progress made since his last visit and by the safety record of one-million fatality-free shifts.