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8
MODERN MINING
November 2016
MINING News
ASX-listed Mustang Resources says in
its latest quarterly report (for the period
ended 30 September 2016) that the bulk
sampling plant at its Montepuez ruby
project was fully commissioned during the
quarter, in the process recovering approxi-
mately 460 carats of high quality rubies.
The project is located within the
Montepuez Complex in the Cabo Delgado
The Montepuez plant is equipped with two 16 ft rotary pans (photo: Mustang).
Bulk sampling plant at Montepuez commissioned
Province of Northern Mozambique.
Mustang’s licences lie along the estab-
lished NW-SE ruby mineralisation trend
which also transects licences of AIM-listed
Gemfields.
The two 16-ft rotary pans of the plant
processed 2 683 tonnes during the com-
missioning phase up to 24 October 2016.
Mustang says it should be noted that the
sample processed to date is not yet rep-
resentative of the entire deposit and that
current grade estimations are therefore
only indicative of the overall deposit’s
grade.
It adds that further mining optimisation
is ongoing (thereby increasing the grade)
given the high percentage of dilutive sand
and gangue material that was fed to the
plant during this initial commissioning
phase.
Work is continuing to process the maxi-
mum volume of gravel from the Alpha
deposit stockpile by the end of Q4 2016
with the plant ramping up to treat up to
350 m
3
per day (approximately 525 tonnes
per day at a specific gravity (SG) of 1,5).
The Alpha deposit, discovered through
initial reconnaissance sampling in July
2016, is the current focus of bulk sample
mining operations with 8 385 m
3
(approxi-
mately 12 997 tonnes) of gravels already
mined and transported to the plant for
stockpiling. The first phase of the pit has
reached bedrock at 9,2 m with an average
gravel package of 1,8 m. The pit is currently
being extended to the south-west.
The company is currently planning
a full auger drilling campaign, starting
from the Alpha deposit and extending
outwards. The purpose of this drilling
campaign will be to map the extension of
the Alpha deposit and thereafter to also
map all the gravel beds within all three of
Rukwa resource can support a 300 MW power plant
Edenville Energy, the company develop-
ing an integrated coal to power project
in western Tanzania, has announced the
results of a technical assessment car-
ried out by Sound Mining Solution (SMS)
of Johannesburg. This follows on from
the updated project financial model
announced in September 2016.
The analysis by SMS confirms there are
sufficient resources at Edenville’s Rukwa
coal to power project for a power plant size
of 300 MW, an increase from the previously
modelled 120 MW power plant.
Edenville, in conjunction with SMS, has
looked at several different scenarios for
the project with the focus being on the
provision of fuel of suitable energy value;
the targeting of near surface coal to keep
mining costs low; andmaximising the yield
from any washing of the raw coal.
The results indicate that the Mkomolo
and Namwele deposits can provide a
mineable resource of approximately 90 Mt
based on an overall strip ratio of 4:1. This
resource could provide enough fuel to sup-
ply a 300 MW power plant for a period of
approximately 30 years.
The company is looking at suitable min-
ing options to maximise the recoverable
tonnage from the deposit with the aim of
keeping coal extraction and processing
costs below US$30 per tonne.
Washing the coal to a moderate degree
could provide a product with an energy
value of approximately 14,5 MJ/kg, the
raw coal yielding a high recovery of
approximately 74 %. Recent independent
feasibility work on the project by a major
EPC group has confirmed this grade of fuel
product as being suitable for power gen-
eration utilising recognised Circulating
Fluidised Bed (CFB) technology.
Edenville says that while it is continu-
ing to focus on completing the Phase One
feasibility requirements for a 120 MW
project, it can now move forward with
the knowledge that the project has suffi-
cient mineable coal resources to support
a potential phased expansion for an
increase in size of the power plant up to
300 MW.
As mining progresses along the strike
of the deposit, there is also the possibility
of selectively targeting coal through high-
wall or auger methods to extract tonnages
without the need to mine overburden. The
company says it will look at the potential of
this in more detail as part of an overall life
of mine plan.