Modern Mining May 2017

MINING News

Alphamin appoints contractors for its Bisie tin project in the DRC

VRSC has worked on the construction of Banro Corporation’s gold mines in South Kivu Province and the Kibali gold mine in the north-eastern corner of the DRC. Reliant operates in the DRC and Zambia and reportedly has a strong track record of safety and production. It has worked for Glencore in the DRC and continues to mine for Glencore in Zambia and Vedanta Resources in India. The company is in the process of mobilising its equipment to begin developing the decline in early July 2017 in accordance with the project imple- mentation schedule. “It is very encouraging that work has commenced, and subject to finalisation of the full funding solution, the project is expected to be completed on time, and within budget, by the end of Q1 of 2019,” says Boris Kamstra, CEO of Alphamin Resources Corp. “A total of 22 heavy earthmoving machines, their operators, management, and support have been deployed for work at the Mpama North site and on the access road. The work on the boxcut and the con- tinued upgrading of the 34 km access road have already commenced, following the completion of the initial 9 km of the access road upgrade to enable the carrying of normal traffic. The access road is expected to be completed by December 2017.” In addition, the return airway has advanced to 97 m, and the orebody is expected to be intersected at 120 m. Alphamin says that significant prog- ress has been made towards finalising the funding package for the project. Funding will include a combination of debt, equity and an equity standby facility.  commence shortly with completion esti- mated in late Q3 2017. The Namdini deposit comprises aminer- alised system of up to 300 m in width and extending over 1 km. Gold mineralisation is characterised by disseminated sulphides in sheared Birimian greenstones (metavol- canics intruded by granite and diorite). In November last year Cardinal declared a 4 Moz maiden JORC resource at Namdini. 

Alphamin Resources Corp, listed on the TSX-V, reports that construction of the mine boxcut and upgrade of the access road at its Bisie tin project in the DRC’s North Kivu Province has started following the mobilisation of two earthworks con- tractors to site and the appointment of the mining contractor. The recent completion of the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) programme and associated Control Budget Estimate (CBE) by DRA Projects, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project, confirmed the robust eco- nomic metrics and potential of the project, which will rank as North Kivu’s first com- mercial mine. The completed FEED and CBE increase proven and probable reserves to 4,67 Mt at 3,58 % Sn containing 16,3 kt of tin. The optimised process flow sheet resulted in 6 % higher annual average plant through- put rates and an increase in tin recoveries to 73 %. The borehole drilling to prove the cur- rent reserves and provide mine planning has been carried out to a depth of 550 m below surface and 720 m down plunge. This results in a current planned life of mine of 12,5 years producing an average of 373 800 tonnes of ROM per annum. Alphamin has appointed Kongo River SA and VRSC SARL as the project’s earthworks contractors and Reliant Congo SARL as the project’s Phase I mining contractor. The appointment of these contractors followed a stringent due diligence process and evalu- ation of each potential contractor’s safety records, submitted schedules, DRC experi- ence, technical capacity and price. ASX-listed Cardinal Resources has engaged LycopodiumMinerals and Golder Associates to complete the next study phase at its Namdini gold project in the far north of Ghana. Lycopodium will deliver a process pre- feasibility study comprising the process, associated infrastructure and tailings facil- ities while Golder will undertake a mine scoping study. The studies are expected to

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Consultants selected for Namdini

May 2017  MODERN MINING  7