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MODERN MINING
March 2017
MINING News
Maiden resource declared for Acacia prospect
LSE-listed Acacia Mining has announced a
maiden NI 43-101 compliant inferred min-
eral resource estimate of 1,31 Moz of gold
at 12,1 g/t on the Liranda Corridor within
the company’s West Kenya project.
All inferred material is located on the
Acacia prospect with multiple lodes open
laterally and at depth. There is also near
term upside from the Bushiangala pros-
pect which has known mineralisation
which has not yet been incorporated into
the maiden resource.
A 45 000 m drilling programme has
been budgeted for 2017 with six rigs active
on site, targeting an increase in resource to
over 2 Moz in H2 2017.
Acacia says that a scoping study on
a potential underground operation is
planned to commence in H2 2017.
Commenting on the maiden resource,
Acacia’s Chief Executive Officer, Brad
Gordon, described the West Kenya proj-
ect as one of the highest grade projects in
Africa today and said the initial resource
was a first step in the delineation of a multi-
million ounce high-grade corridor.
“In addition to the Acacia prospect,
which hosts all of this maiden resource,
we have known mineralisation on the
Bushiangala prospect, one kilometre away
to the west, with a further three prospec-
tive lodes in early stage testing,” he said.
“Whilst Kenya is a relatively new mining
destination, we are very pleased with the
relationships we have built and the sup-
port we have received and look forward to
working closely with all stakeholders as we
progress this highly promising project.”
ASX-listed Cape Lambert Resources has
entered into a binding Heads of Agreement
with Congolese company, Paragon Mining
SARL, to form a 50/50 Joint Venture (JV)
to develop the Kipushi cobalt tailings
project and the Kasombo copper-cobalt
project and operate the Kipushi processing
plant in the DRC. The projects are located
approximately 25 km from Lubumbashi in
Katanga Province.
Commenting on the agreement, Cape
Lambert’s Executive Chairman, Tony Sage,
said: “Cape Lambert has built a successful
track record of identifying commodities
and projects at the right time. By apply-
ing our technical, financial and marketing
support, we can add immediate value to
these projects and return significant value
to the company, its shareholders and all
stakeholders.
“We believe cobalt, as a commodity,
has an extremely positive future and with
this transaction and the proposed joint
venture, we believe we are well placed to
benefit from significant demand and price
increases in this commodity sector.”
Construction of the
Kipushi processing
plant
commenced in July 2014, with final
mechanical and power installation testing
completed in March 2016. Total construc-
tion costs of approximately US$20 million
have been incurred on the establishment
of the plant and mining equipment.
The facility comprises a fully permit-
ted, conventional flotation plant with a
throughput of 150 t/h (annual throughput
of plus 1,0 Mt) and has a design capacity
of 4 000 t/a of cobalt, 10 000 t/a of copper
and 2 000 t/a of zinc in concentrate.
The processing plant has been designed
and constructed to treat the Kipushi cobalt
The Kipushi plant has a capacity of 150 t/h (photo: Cape Lambert).
Joint Venture to develop copper/cobalt projects in DRC
The Kipushi tailings extend over an area of more than 1,2 km in length and 400 m in width (photo: Cape Lambert).