Modern Mining September 2018

MINING News

93 000 tonnes of rutile, 420 000 to 450 000 tonnes of ilmenite and 32 000 to 37 000 tonnes of zircon from its Kwale Operation in FY19. Kwale, which commenced produc- tion in late 2013, is located 10 km inland from the Kenyan coast and 50 km south of Mombasa. The mining operations at Kwale are based on a conventional dozer trap mining unit (DMU), using Caterpillar D11T dozers to feed the DMU. The DMU is a cost effective method of mining, which is particularly well suited to the type of ore at Kwale. Ore is received at the wet concentra- tor plant (WCP) from the DMU via a slurry pipeline. The WCP removes slimes, con- centrates the valuable heavy minerals (ilmenite, rutile and zircon) and rejects most of the non-valuable, lighter gangue minerals. The WCP incorporates a number of gravity separation steps using spiral con- centrators. The heavy mineral concentrate (HMC), containing 90 % heavy minerals, is then processed in the mineral separation plant (MSP). 

SSC Group plans re-opening of Lily and Barbrook The Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation (SSC Group) recently held a media briefing to introduce themselves as the new owners of Vantage Goldfields and to provide an overview of the Vantage Goldfields operations. SSC Group now has a 74 % stake in Vantage.

the priorities were to get the Barbrook mine back into operation and recommis- sion Vantage’s metallurgical plant before the end of the year and appoint a contrac- tor to develop the new Lily mine access decline. He said the first blast on the Lily decline was planned for February next year and that it was hoped to have the mine back in production by 2020. He said Lily had the ability to produce 30 000 oz of gold per annum for at least 10 years from cur- rently defined ore reserves. “Vantage Goldfields is a very strategic asset for the SSC Group and will be the cat- alyst and platform in achieving our dream of building our black Anglo American,” he said. “We are a credible company with a reputable track record, requisite skills, partnerships, courage and vision to build a diversified company and legacy that will challenge the current negative narra- tive of companies born from the womb of empowerment.” 

Vantage is the owner of the Lily and Barbrook gold mines near Barberton. Lily has been in business rescue since the col- lapse of a crown pillar in February 2016, which led to three workers tragically losing their lives when the lamproom container they were in fell into the ‘sinkhole’ created by the collapse of the pillar. The con- tainer and their bodies have not yet been recovered. S i yak hu l a Sonke Empowe rment Corporation is a Level 1 Black owned and controlled organisation, founded in 2005 by Fred Arendse, former Head of Transformation at Anglo Platinum Limited. Speaking at the briefing, Arendse said

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