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MODERN MINING
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MINING News
Lifting Solutions That Work.TorreLifting_657_adv_ConstructionWorld_180x55.indd 1
2016/05/20 2:09 PM
ASX-listed Tiger Resources reports it has
achieved production of 23 119 tonnes of
copper cathode at its Kipoi copper project
in the DRC during 2016, within the revised
2016 guidance range of 23 000 to 23 600
tonnes.
Reinforcement of the Intermediate
Leach Solution (ILS) pond has been com-
pleted, allowing production to be resumed
at nameplate operating levels. As previ-
ously reported, the company plans to
construct a new ILS pond after the end of
the wet season.
The debottlenecking capital works
programme to expand the Kipoi plant’s
nameplate production capacity to
32 500 t/a has also now been completed.
The coffer dam, a smaller dam con-
tained within the larger dam which
comprises the newTailings Storage Facility
(TSF-3), has been commissioned. This
provides sufficient capacity to allow full
production through the new tank leach
(TL) facility for the duration of the wet sea-
son. Laying of the HDPE liner to the larger
TSF-3 dam surface has been deferred until
the dry season, says Tiger.
Commissioning of the TL facility is
underway. Sufficient slimes material
– being the copper-bearing residues con-
tained in the existing TSF-1 – have been
recovered to support tank leach produc-
tion through the remainder of the wet
season.
Tiger also reports it has received
approval for and completed the drawdown
of the remaining funds available under the
US$162,5 million facility provided by the
lender group of Taurus Mining Finance
Fund, Resource Capital Fund VI LP and
the International Finance Corporation
(a member of the World Bank).
Tiger meets revised guidance for Kipoi
The Kipoi copper project in Katanga (photo: Tiger Resources).
The Kipoi project is operated by
SEK (Société d’Exploitation de Kipoi), a
95 %-owned subsidiary of Tiger, and is
located 75 km north-west of Lubumbashi,
the capital of Katanga Province, in the
central part of the Katanga Copperbelt.
The Kipoi mining licence covers an area of
55 km
2
and contains a 12 km-long exten-
sively copper-cobalt mineralised segment
(ecaille) of Upper Roan (R2, R4) sediments.
The project hosts five known copper
deposits: Kipoi Central, Kipoi North, Kileba,
Judeira and Kaminafitwe.
Tiger has adopted a staged develop-
ment approach at Kipoi. The high-grade
zone of copper mineralisation at Kipoi
Central was exploited during the
Stage 1 development, in which a heavy
media separation (HMS) plant was in
operation from 2011 to late 2014. Tiger
commenced copper cathode production
at Kipoi via an SX/EW plant in May 2014 as
Stage 2 of operations.