Modern Mining September 2017

MINING News

resources contained in the copper-rich Série Récurrente Zone, Fault Zone, and Fault Zone Splay total 1,63 Mt at grades of 4,01 % copper, 2,87 % zinc and 22 g/t sil- ver, at a 1,5 % copper cut-off, containing 144 million pounds of copper. The main production shaft for the Kipushi mine, Shaft 5, has been upgraded and re-commissioned. The main per- sonnel and material winder has been upgraded and modernised to meet global industry standards and safety criteria. The Shaft 5 rock-hoisting winder, which had an annual hoisting capacity of 1,8 Mt, is being upgraded and is expected to be fully oper- ational early next year. Underground upgrading work is continuing on the crusher and the rock load-out facilities at the bottom of Shaft 5 and the main haulage way on the 1 150‑metre level between the Big Zinc access decline and Shaft 5. This work is expected to be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2018. The planned primary mining method for the Big Zinc deposit in the PEA and PFS is sublevel long hole, open stoping, with cemented backfill. The crown pillars are expected to be mined once adjacent stopes are backfilled using a pillar-retreat mining method. The deposit is expected to be accessed via the existing decline and without any significant new development. The main levels are planned to be at 60-m vertical intervals, with sublevels at 30-m intervals.

Kipushi teammembers working on the new 1 150-metre level ore conveyor system (photo: Ivanhoe).

Based on recent, additional metal- lurgical test work and trade-off studies, Ivanhoe has revised the planned process- plant design for the PFS. The optimised plant utilises dense media separation (DMS), followed by milling and a flotation recovery plant. The addition of milling and a flotation recovery plant improved the combination of concentrate grades and recoveries from what the recent metallur- gical test work determined was achievable from a DMS plant only. Ivanhoe has initiated a new coopera- tion agreement with SNCC to rehabilitate the inactive spur line that connects the est, Nexus will have the option to acquire the remaining 10 % interest in the property through a cash payment of US$1 million with a 1 % net smelter return royalty remaining with BELEMYIDA. “We are very pleased to add Rakounga to our portfolio, which effectively repre- sents a 700 per cent increase in size to the Bouboulou concession area,” said Nexus President and CEO Peter Berdusco. “With just under 300 km 2 of ground, we can now follow both the already established Bouboulou 2 and Pelatanga-Rawema mineralised trends for several kilometres to the southwest. There is significant arti- sanal activity along these trends and we’re excited to continue our exploration efforts there in the coming months.” ThemainBouboulou concession covers an

Kipushi mine to the Congolese national railway and to the overall north-south rail corridor that links the DRC Copperbelt to Durban in South Africa. “Ivanhoe and SNCC are negotiat- ing details of an infrastructure financing agreement for the railway rehabilitation works and the terms of operation for the spur line,” said Johansson. “This coop- eration on public infrastructure projects mirrors Ivanhoe Mines’successful, ongoing partnership with the DRC’s state-owned power company, La Société Nationale d’Electricité, for the rehabilitation of three hydropower plants.”  area of 38,3 km 2 and is located approximately 100 km north by northwest of the capital city of Ouagadougou. Exploration on the permit area has been conducted by Boliden (1997 to 1999), Riverstone Resources (2005 to 2011) and Roxgold Inc (2011 to 2012). The property is situated at the north end of the Boromo greenstone belt underlain by an alternating sedimentary-basalt-sedi- mentary-volcanic progression which strikes generally northeast-southwest, and is bisected by the Sabce Shear Zone, which hosts numerous artisanal gold zones over its 120-km length plus the Bissa mine oper- ated by Nordgold. Four zones of gold mineralisation were previously identified on the property termed Koala, Rawema, Bouboulou 2 and Pelatanga. A fifth zone, Rawema West, was recently identified by Nexus geologists, as announced in June this year. 

Nexus Gold adds Rakounga property to its portfolio Nexus Gold Corp, listed on the TSX-V, has signed a definitive agreement with BELEMYIDA SA which will give it the right to earn up to a 100 % interest in the Rakounga gold property in Burkina Faso.

The 250-km 2 property is contiguous to Nexus’s Bouboulou gold concession. It borders Bouboulou on the west and south sides and hosts the Bouboulou 1 gold showing, which is the southern extension of the Bouboulou 2 trend. Bouboulou 1 is an active orpaillage with shaft workings that extend down approximately 80 m. Nexus will have an option to acquire a 90 % interest in the property, in consider- ation for cash payments of US$400 000 and the issuance of 575 000 common shares of Nexus, over a period of three years. Following the acquisition of a 90 % inter-

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