Modern Mining November 2017

MINING News

Banro provides update on Twangiza and Namoya

Banro Corporation, listed on the TSX and NYSE American, has reported that its Twangiza and Namoya gold mines in the DRC produced 30 297 ounces of gold and 18 533 ounces of gold, respectively, in Q3 2017. Year-to-date combined total production for the two mines is 133 783 ounces of gold. Twangiza’s gold production in Q3 2017 increased by 55 % com- pared to Q2 2017, due to having access to enough oxide feed material to blend with the upper transition (soft non-oxide) material in the pit. As a result of adopting the recommendations from a process review, all lower transition and fresh ores were stockpiled to be treated after the installation of the appropriate size reduction processing route. The process recoveries at Twangiza improved by 11 % over Q2 2017 due to better blend proportions of oxide and upper transition ores being received by the plant. Process engineering studies are currently in progress to design the appropriate Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG) mill to efficiently treat both the lower transition and fresh ores, whose hardness is beyond the capabilities of the current mills. The benefits of the injection of new and matching fleet at Twangiza during the first half of 2017 into the production line has demonstrated Twangiza’s ability to expose more ore faces for the efficient supply of the proportions of feed required for blending, says Banro. Following the installation of additional primary fleet at Namoya during the latter part of Q2 2017, Namoya was able to move more material out of the pits in the middle of Q3 2017. Namoya experienced a production shortfall in Q3 2017. This relates to the temporary shutdown and evacuation of staff during the first week of July (as a result of security issues) and a shortage of major supplies while the company concluded its latest financing. As well, the ongoing closure of road access to Namoya (again, as a result of secu- rity concerns) continues to impact Namoya with mining operations still being suspended. Spraying at the heap leach section of the mine is continuing, to recover gold from the processed ore stacked before mining operations were suspended.  Drilling contractor appointed Australia’s AVZ Minerals says it has entered into an agreement with Equity Drilling Limited for the completion of an initial drill- ing programme at the Manono lithium project in the DRC. The contract covers the initial 20 000 m phase of a planned 40 000 m drill programme to test, define and report mineral resources at the Kitotolo and Manono sectors of the project. The 20 000 m programme – using one multipurpose and three diamond drill rigs – should take an estimated three months to complete. Drilling is planned to commence in December. Equity Drilling was formed in 2016 by Mike Warren and Marc Olyott. Previously Warren founded Geosearch. This was a 147-rig operation that operated in most African countries, south of the Sahara. Geosearch was sold in 2006. Equity currently has 16 rigs and its aim is to increase this to a maximum of 20 rigs in order to provide critical mass, but at the same time still be able to provide a personalised service to those clients operating in remote or dif- ficult environs. 

November 2017  MODERN MINING  11