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January 2017
MODERN MINING
25
Top projects
TOP PROJECTS
O
ur graphite project is
Balama
in
northern Mozambique, now at an
advanced stage of construction.
The new mine is being developed
by Australia’s Syrah Resources
at a cost of US$185 million and will have the
capacity to produce 350 000 tonnes of concen-
trate a year at 98 % Total Graphitic Content
(TGC), with the reserves being sufficient for
over 40 years of operation.
Africa is awash with graphite projects,
primarily in Mozambique and Tanzania, but
Balama is the front-runner as it is just months
away from first production. It is also notable
inasmuch as it will exploit the world’s largest
flake graphite resource and will rank as the
world’s biggest graphite mine.
Balama will employ traditional open-pit
bench mining methods, with the mining opera-
tion projected to be 100 % free dig for the first
five years. The process route is conventional
and will include crushing, grinding, flotation,
filtration, drying, screening and bagging. The
final concentrate will be packed into bags and
trucked to the Port of Nacala, some 490 km to
the south-east.
The second project we cover in our Top
Mining Projects feature is the
Bisie
tin project
in the relatively remote North Kivu Province
of the DRC. Bisie has some real challenges to
overcome including the legendary instability
of the Congo as well as difficult logistics but
the rewards should be significant if the devel-
oper, TSX-V-listed Alphamin Resources, can
successfully get the deposit into commercial
production. Bisie is, after all, one of the big-
gest – and highest grade – tin deposits in the
world and is just crying out to be mined.
With a Feasibility Study in place and DRA
named as the preferred EPCM contractor, Bisie
is – as they say – ready to roll and Alphamin
is hoping that it will enter construction later
this year. If this is achieved, first production
can be expected in 2019. Once at steady-state,
the mine will produce 10 750 tonnes of tin in
concentrate on average per year, accounting for
roughly 3 % of world tin production.
No feature on Africa’s Top Mining Projects
would be complete without at least one gold
mine, as gold is arguably Africa’s signature
metal. There are a number of gold mines either
in development or just commissioned on the
continent, particularly in the West African
region, but the standout is undoubtedly
Asanko
in Ghana. Phase 1 of Asanko was com-
missioned early last year and is now producing
well above its nameplate capacity.
With Phase 1 of Asanko shooting the lights
out, developer Asanko Gold – run inciden-
tally by mining entrepreneur Peter Breese who
is well known in Southern African mining
circles – has made the decision to now pro-
ceed to Phase 2A of the project, which will
see the Esaase deposit, 25 km to the north of
the Phase 1 mine, being brought to account.
Phase2A is a major project in its own right and
has a capex of US$125 million. It will include
the construction of a 27 km long single-flight
overland conveyor, which will be one of the
longest in the world.
Phase 2A will eventually be complemented
by Phase 2B and once both these phases are in
place, Asanko will rank as the seventh largest
gold mine in Africa, with an annual gold pro-
duction of up to 470 000 ounces a year.
Our final project –
Gamsberg
– is located
in the arid Northern Cape of South Africa
near the town of Aggeneys. The developer
is Vedanta Zinc International, which is
investing US$400 million in the construc-
tion of a new open-pit zinc mine which will
supplement its current underground min-
ing operations at Black Mountain, just a few
kilometres away.
The ground-breaking ceremony for
Gamsberg was held in the middle of 2015 but
development is now entering its peak phase
with the appointment, late in 2016, of the bulk
mining contractor and the EPCM contractor for
the plant and related infrastructure.
Gamsberg is notable not only because
Vedanta has managed to cut capex by a full
US$200 million over original estimates but
also because it is located in an area identi-
fied as a biodiversity hotspot. Vedanta has
responded to the challenge of building a
mine in an environmentally sensitive area
by launching an environmental programme
which it believes will provide a new bench-
mark for the mining industry.
AFRICA’S
TOP MINING PROJECTS
In our regular Top Mining Projects feature we look at projects distinguished by
their size, innovation or pioneering spirit. This year we have identified four that
meet these criteria, three of them in the Southern African region and one in West
Africa. The commodities covered are graphite, tin, gold and zinc.
Africa is awash
with graphite
projects, primarily
in Mozambique
and Tanzania,
but Balama is the
front-runner as
it is just months
away from first
production.