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MODERN MINING
September 2015
MINING News
Vast Resources plc, the AIM-listed resource
and development company with gold proj-
ects in Zimbabwe and Romania, reports it
has commissioned the ball mill and the
carbon in leach (CIL) plant at the Pickstone-
Peerless gold mine in Zimbabwe, thus
facilitating the start of gold adsorption
and marking a further milestone in its
transition into a cash generative mining
company.
The mine is being commissioned with
a targeted initial annualised gold produc-
tion of circa 10 000 oz Au – from an initial
mining rate of 10 000 tonnes of ore per
month – from the project’s opencast oxide
gold cap.
Roy Pitchford, Chief Executive Officer,
commented:“The commencement of gold
production at Pickstone-Peerless gold
mine in Zimbabwe, following the com-
mencement of production at the Manaila
polymetallic mine in Romania, will be a
further step in the process of transitioning
Vast into an operating mining entity.”
Pickstone-Peerless is located 120 km
south-west of Harare and 20 km from
Chegutu. The project has an open-pit
mineral reserve of approximately 1,0 Moz
and approximately 2,2 Moz of under-
ground potential. The Pickstone oxide pit
is expected to be mined to a maximum
depth of 80 m and the Peerless oxide pit
to 40 m.
Duwi Scoping Study results “highly encouraging”
Australian explorer Sovereign Metals has
released the results of a Scoping Study on
its Duwi flake graphite project located in
central Malawi, 15 km east of the capital,
Lilongwe. It says the project economics and
technical viability are highly encouraging,
highlighting its potential to become a low
cost/high margin flake graphite producer.
The Base Case involves processing 30 Mt
of indicated and inferred material at a rate
of 1,5 Mt/a over a 20-year life to produce
approximately 110 000 t/a of flake graphite
concentrate (>95% Total Graphitic Content
or TGC). The life of mine throughput of 30
Mt comprises 77 % in the indicated mineral
resource category and 23 % in the inferred
category.
The study estimates a life of mine
operating cost of US$498 per tonne of
concentrate (including transport costs
FOB Nacala Port). It puts the initial capital
investment at US$112 million (before con-
tingency) with a 1,7 year payback.
The proposedmethod of mining is by an
open pit located on the Duwi Main deposit
and a shallow satellite pit on the Duwi Bend
deposit. A contract mining strategy was
selected to mitigate project risk, although
operational management will be retained
by Sovereign personnel. Many of the design
criteria inputs have been derived from
earlier Malawian projects or studies with
adjustments for time and the specifics of
the Duwi project.
The Duwi Main open pit will be mined
in several stages and will have eventual
dimensions of approximately 1 500 m
(length) and 240 m (depth).
All processing will take place in a dedi-
cated, purpose-built processing plant
located close to the deposit. The flake
graphite product will be packed and con-
tainerised on site and transported via road/
rail and ship to the end-users.
The process flowsheet is based on flota-
tion test-work carried out at SGS Canada
(Lakefield). This constitutes a conventional
flotation concentrator plant incorporating
crushing, screening, flash flotation, milling,
de-sanding and graphite flotation/polish-
ing to recover commercial grade graphite
flake. The estimated installed power for the
process plant and services is 5,29 MW with
annual power consumption of 29 235 MWh.
Power will be supplied from a combination
of grid power and on-site generation.
Vast commissions CIL plant at Pickstone-Peerless
Mining operations underway at Pickstone-Peerless. The initial mining rate is 10 000 tonnes of ore per month (photo: Vast Resources).