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MODERN MINING
July 2016
MINING News
Nevsun, listed on the TSX and NYSE MKT,
has announced the completion of the new
zinc flotation plant at its 60 %-owned Bisha
mine in Eritrea. The new zinc flotation
plant adds to the existing copper flotation
and Bisha will continue to produce both
copper and zinc for the remaining current
nine-year primary reserve life. The com-
pany initiated ore commissioning of the
combined plant on June 6, 2016.
Nevsun CEO Cliff Davis commented,
“We are again very pleased with how the
zinc plant expansion has progressed, on
time and under budget. We look forward
to reaching commercial production before
the end of Q3. In themeantime, we will con-
tinue to accelerate the monetisation of the
Zinc flotation plant at Bisha completed on schedule
DSO high grade gold equivalent stockpiles
so as to augment cashflow during 2016.”
The Bisha zinc expansion project will
average over 100 000 tonnes of zinc and
20 000 tonnes of copper per year for the
next nine years from mid-2016 and has
excess capacity to absorb additional feed
that might come from additional deposits
without yet defined mineral reserves.
Construction of the zinc expansion proj-
ect is now complete. The project included
replacement of the copper regrind mills
with a new, more efficient IsaMill™, identi-
cal to the regrind mill in the zinc plant. Wet
commissioning tests utilising air, water
and slurry are now finished and Bisha has
started hot commissioning using lower
The new zinc flotation plant at Bisha (photo: Nevsun).
quality boundary material ore.
The commissioning process is antici-
pated to take no more than three months
to complete and will allow Nevsun to
optimise the efficiency of the plant and
maximise recoveries of copper and zinc.
As the total tonnage of copper and
zinc concentrate produced going forward
is expected to be similar to total copper
concentrate quantities in 2015, there is
no need for additional transport or ship-
ping infrastructure upgrades. The existing
Rotainer trucking and loading system
used to load, transport and unload con-
centrate materials for shipping continues
to operate safely, efficiently and in an envi-
ronmentally sound manner.