Modern Mining March 2019

MINING News

Agreement on small-scale manganese project signed Namibia Critical Metals Inc, listed on the TSX-V, has signed – through its wholly-owned subsidiary company, Kunene Resources Namibia – an agreement with a private Namibian group to allow the pegging of a mining claim covering a small manganese occurrence within EPL 4347 which is held by the company. The agreement will allow the private group to develop a small- scale mining operation to produce manganese mineral concentrates in return for a sliding scale royalty payable to Namibia Critical Metals based on the grade of concentrate produced and prevailing com- modity prices. Comments Pine van Wyk, CEO of Namibia Critical Metals: “We are pleased to have reached this agreement which can provide meaning- ful jobs and cash flow to a Namibian company while at the same time monetising a small-scale mining opportunity not of primary interest to the company. With success, the operation will provide Namibia Critical Metals with some modest cash flow which will support our larger scale operations in the area.” The manganese occurrence was discovered by Kunene Resources in 2013 and evaluated over a three-year period as the Olulilwa man- ganese project. A comprehensive exploration programme comprised of detailed surface mapping and diamond drilling was undertaken in 2016 to consider the technical and financial feasibility to mine the occurrence by open-pit methods and to build a pilot plant to produce manganese concentrate. It was concluded that the Olulilwa man- ganese beds had the potential to be developed into a small-scale manganese mine.  Endeavour appoints a new CEO TSX-listedWest African gold miner Endeavour Mining has announced the appointment of Mark Morcombe as Chief Operating Officer, with effect from 6 May 2019. He will take over from Jeremy Langford, who left Endeavour at the end of February this year. Morcombe has more than 25 years of experience in the mining industry with extensive expertise in leading cost and productivity initiatives. Prior to joining Endeavour, he was Chief Operating Officer of Centamin and has previously held senior roles at several Africa- focused mining groups, including Acacia Mining, AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields. He holds a degree in Mining Engineering from the Western Australian School of Mines. Sébastien de Montessus, President and CEO of Endeavour Mining, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Mark to Endeavour as he has a strong operating track record, notably with Tier 1 African mines. “We would like to thank Jeremy for his contribution to Endeavour, notably for leading the design and build of most of our operating assets, and for training and assembling a core construction team. He has played a key role in successfully building Houndé and de-risking the Ity CIL construction with its main milestones now complete and wet commissioning underway. As our near-term construction focus is expected to shift from large builds to asset optimisations, which marks the end of several years of large capital-intensive project builds, we support Jeremy’s decision to pursue other opportunities and wish him success.” 

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