Modern Mining Marchh 2017

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March 2017MODERN MINING13
MINING News
Central Rand Gold (CRG) says it has placed
an order, on binding contractual terms, for
the procurement of a concentrator circuit.
It will consists of four centrifugal concentra-
tors, two scrubbers, one high-speed agitator,
one dewatering screen and other ancillary
equipment necessary to process material
prior to thickener underflow processing in
the metallurgical plant.
As announced on 6 October 2016, the
company has executed an agreement to
acquire mine waste dumps – situated 10 km
from its processing plant – that contain
2,3 Mt of gold-bearing materials, with an
average in-situ grade of 0,7 g/t. The con-
tailings. Extensive metallurgical testwork
was completed in China and in South Africa
prior to the commencement of construction
activities.
Cape Lambert will complete a detailed
review of the plant and the metallurgical
testwork that has been completed as part
of its technical due diligence review.
The Kipushi tailings are located 8 km
from the Kipushi processing plant and
immediately adjacent to TSX-listed Ivanhoe
Mines’ Kipushi project.
The tailings extend over an area of more
than 1,2 km in length and over 400 m in
width. They have a maximum depth of
approximately 12 m in the centre of the tail-
ings dam and 5 m at the boundaries, with
average depths of around 8 m.
Paragon has secured the right to mine
the Kipushi tailings under an existing agree-
ment with state-owned copper and cobalt
mining company, Gecamines.
The Kipushi tailings are from Geca­
mines’ nearby flotation plant that treated
ore from the Lwiswishi open-pit cobalt-
copper mine. Lwiswishi, which was
operated under a joint venture between
Forrest International Group, OM Group and
Gecamines, is reported to have produced
4 500 t/a of cobalt in the mid-1990s and
accounted for as much as 10 % of global
supply. Approximately 4,7 Mt of material
was deposited into the Kipushi tails dam.
Cape Lambert is proposing to complete
further confirmatory sampling and met-
allurgical testwork and a shallow auger
drilling programme in order to allow a JORC
2012 compliant resource and reserve to be
determined for Kipushi.
The company will further complete a
detailed technical review of Paragon’s pro-
posed mine plan and scheduling for Kipushi
as part of its current due diligence review.
Upon successful completion of its due
diligence and the establishment of the JV,
the company will allocate its technical and
financial resources to finalise and optimise
the Kipushi mining plan and processing of
the tailings in order to meet the joint ven-
ture objectives of commencing mining
operations within six months.
The Kasombo copper-cobalt project
is part of the Kasombo Complex, a series
of copper-cobalt rich deposits that have
been extensively explored by Gecamines
and developed and mined by various inter-
national companies in joint venture with
Gecamines. Kasombo comprises three proj-
ects across two granted mining licences.
Kasombo 1 was the first operation to
be developed in 1995 and mined and pro-
cessed ore under a joint venture between
Forrest International Group and Gecamines.
The mined copper and cobalt grades were
reportedly 2,7 % to 3,7 % copper and 0,7 to
1,5 % cobalt.
Paragon has secured an option with
Gecamines over Kasombo 6, 7 and 12 which
is required to be exercised as a condition
precedent to the transaction.
Cape Lambert says that – assuming a suc-
cessful completion of its due diligence and
the establishment of the JV – the objective is
to complete further exploration and feasibil-
ity study work on Kasombo in order to meet
the JV objective of completing a feasibility
study within 18 months and starting mining
activities within 24 months. 
CRG orders concentrator circuit
centrator circuit will be used to upgrade the
gold grade of the dump material before fur-
ther metallurgical processing.
The circuit’s nameplate processing
capacity is 60 000 tonnes per month for sand
and slimes materials. The plant includes
a water recycling system to minimise the
usage of clean water. It is anticipated that
the concentrator circuit will arrive and be
assembled in the second quarter of 2017,
with commissioning to take place during
the third quarter of 2017.
CRG’s assets are located within the
Central Rand Goldfield which borders the
southern outskirts of Johannesburg. 