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January 2015
MODERN MINING
7
MINING News
Weatherly International, whose shares
are quoted on London’s AIM, says its
Tschudi copper mining project in north-
ern Namibia is continuing to make good
progress. Comments company Chairman
John Bryant: “Tschudi is on track to com-
mence production in the second quarter of
this year. I must congratulate our UK and
Namibia teams on the progress they have
made.”
Tschudi is an open-pit mine which will
use heap leaching, solvent extraction and
electro-winning to produce high quality
copper cathodes. The mining reserve is
22,7 Mt at 0,86 % Cu, sufficient to support
an annual production of 17 000 t Cu over a
mine life of 11 years.
Mining at Tschudi has been underway
since July 2014 and ore continues to be
stockpiled in readiness for the crushing
plant to come on line.
On 19 December, 2 000 tonnes of
ore were run through the crushing and
agglomeration plant as a pre-commis-
sioning test with the plant achieving the
desired throughput rates. A second 2 500
tonnes was crushed and agglomerated on
2 January this year, this time focusing on
achieving the required agglomerate qual-
ity under full throughput. This resulted in
some minor modifications that have now
been completed.
Leach Panels One and Two are close to
completion (as of early January) and will
be ready to receive ore once the crushing
(Proprietary) Ltd, a Namibian empower-
ment group.
For 2015, Otjikoto is expected to pro-
duce between 140 000 and 150 000
ounces of gold at a cash operating cost of
approximately US$500 per ounce and all in
sustaining costs of approximately US$700
per ounce.
Once the plannedmill expansion is com-
pleted in the third quarter of 2015, B2Gold
expects annual gold production to increase
to approximately 200 000 ounces in 2016
and 2017. Otjikoto’s gold production will
also be enhanced by the development of
its Wolfshag zone, located adjacent to the
main Otjikoto pit. The company expects to
complete an updated indicated resource
study in the first quarter of 2015 along with
an updated mine plan by the end of 2015
which will evaluate open-pit and under-
ground mining at Wolfshag.
Namibia is not known as a significant
gold producer, with – for many years – only
one active gold mine, Navachab, in the
country. Navachab, which produced just
over 60 000 ounces of gold in 2013, was
originally owned by AngloGold Ashanti but
was acquired by QKR Corporation last year.
Otjikoto is a much bigger operation and
will result in Namibia’s total annual gold
production being substantially increased.
B2Gold is a Vancouver-based gold pro-
ducer with four mines around the world:
El Limon and La Libertad in Nicaragua,
the Masbate mine in the Philippines and,
of course, Otjikoto. The company is pro-
jecting to produce approximately 540 000
ounces of gold in 2015 and approximately
610 000 ounces of gold in 2017.
anticipated to be finalised in the first
quarter of 2015, to allow for the seam-
less development of the joint operation.
The equity component of the mine
financing was successfully raised as
part of the A$25,5 million capital rais-
ing undertaken with Ichor Coal and Coal
Development Holding during October
2014.
Universal Coal remains on track to
deliver this operation to the market dur-
ing 2015, having successfully developed
and commissioned the Kangala colliery
during the 2013/2014 year. The com-
bined operations will have an installed
capacity in excess of 6,25 Mt/a of pro-
cessing capacity, with expected ROM of
5 Mt/a.
Tschudi enters the final straight
Heap leach pad construction at Tschudi in November last year.
plant is in operation. The raw water and
raffinate ponds have been completed and
were filled with water over the Christmas
break.
On 17 December, the first acid road
tankers arrived from the Rössing uranium
mine and began unloading into the newly
commissioned acid storage tank, with
approximately 650 tonnes delivered.
Originally, acid was to be sourced from
the nearby Tsumeb smelter but construc-
tion of the smelter’s acid plant has been
delayed. As an interimmove,Weatherly has
signed a one-year contract with Rössing
Uranium to import acid through the port
ofWalvis Bay. Imported prices are currently
lower than those offered by the smelter
and, as a result, the contract (with Dundee
Precious Metals) is being renegotiated.
On 14 December, Nampower (the
Namibian power utility) signed off on the
high voltage installation, enabling the site
to switch to the main grid supply when
ready and replacing the temporary gener-
ating sets that have been used for much of
the commissioning work.
Recruitment of theWeatherly workforce
is complete and operators are currently
undergoing training under the supervision
of the specialist commissioning group,
PPM Global.
Commissioning of the SX-EW will com-
mence as soon as there are sufficient
stocks of pregnant leach solution available
at the required grade.