Its greenhouse gas emissions are likely to be 60% higher than Eskom’s new Medupi and Kusile coal plants.

This is apparent from the final climate change impact assessment for the proposed Thabametsi coal-fired power station, to be built near Lephalale, Limpopo.

On Monday 31 July 2017, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, with the assistance of the Centre for Environmental Rights, submitted comments on Thabametsi’s climate change impact assessment.

Thabametsi was in the spotlight earlier this year when the North Gauteng High Court – in South Africa’s first climate change court case – ordered the Minister of Environmental Affairs to reconsider Earth Life Africa’s appeal of Thabametsi’s environmental authorisation, but this time with a climate change impact assessment for the power station.

The court confirmed that a climate change impact assessment needed to form part of Thabametsi’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) and should have been considered before a decision was made on whether the power station could go ahead.

Significant greenhouse gas emissions

This climate change impact assessment is the first of its kind for a coal-fired power station in South Africa.

It confirms that Thabametsi’s greenhouse gas emissions are going to be high – it will release 9.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year, and will have a greenhouse gas emission intensity of 1.23 tons of CO2e per megawatt hour, roughly equivalent, if not slightly worse, than Eskom’s oldest coal-fired power plants.

Water risk

The climate change impact assessment also looks at whether the proposed power station will cope with the impacts of climate change.

It shows that water availability and deteriorating water quality in the already water-stressed Lephalale area pose a high risk to the power station’s operation over its intended 30 year lifespan, especially because planned industrial expansion in the area will make water increasingly scarce.

Earth Life Africa's comments on the climate change impact assessment

Earth Life Africa's’s comments state, among other things, that:

• the technology proposed for the Thabametsi plant means that South Africa will be bringing online a new coal plant which will emit the same amount or even more climate-changing greenhouse gas than Eskom’s old coal plants. This means that Thabametsi is clearly not going to be “newer and better” than South Africa’s existing coal fleet; but, in fact, from a greenhouse gas emissions perspective, it is going to be worse;
• the impact assessment has not considered the external costs of the project’s greenhouse gas emissions, such as costs arising from climate change impacts on human health; water availability; and changes in agricultural productivity, which would be required in order to reflect the true costs of building and operating a coal-fired power station, particularly one as emission-intensive as Thabametsi;
• the impact assessment has failed to consider how the power station will exacerbate the vulnerability of the communities and environment in the Lephalale area to the impacts of climate change. This is a fatal flaw;
• the impact assessment fails to propose any measures to substantially and adequately mitigate the plant’s emissions. Short of implementing carbon capture and storage – which is neither technically nor financially feasible – it is not possible meaningfully to mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions of a coal plant – Thabametsi’s assessment says as much. The mitigation measures proposed in the climate impact assessment simply look at maintaining the status quo of the plant’s already high greenhouse gas emissions. The climate impact assessment also has no means of ensuring that the water availability risks to the power station are avoided – this is beyond Thabametsi’s control. Because the significant climate impacts cannot be avoided, the assessment fails to recommend – as it should – that the power station cannot go ahead; and
• in light of the staggering climate impacts of the proposed Thabametsi power station, which will be emitting significant greenhouse gas for at least 30 years (up until 2050 at least), it would be unlawful for the environmental authorisation to remain in place.

Despite this, the climate assessment summary report inexplicably concludes that the power station’s overall impacts are of low to medium significance, and that Thabametsi should go ahead.

Cleaner, more efficient solutions

The findings of the climate change impact assessment are deeply concerning, given South Africa’s extreme vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and the fact that South Africa has made international commitments to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Many countries in the world are not building new coal plants; are decommissioning their own existing plants; and are turning to cleaner and more efficient solutions like renewable energy – from solar and wind. These are very feasible options for South Africa with its abundant solar and wind resources, as research by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has demonstrated.

Earth Life Africa’s Makoma Lekalakala says: “It is not clear why the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) authorised Thabametsi to begin with, as it will have irreversible climate impacts.  We hope that the findings of the climate change impact assessment now make it clear that this power station should not have been given approval.”

In accordance with the High Court order, the Minister, once she has considered the climate impact assessment and comments on it, must make a decision on whether to uphold or (again) dismiss Earth Life Africa’s appeal of the environmental authorisation.

In doing this, the minister can set aside Thabametsi’s environmental authorisation, uphold it (with or without amendments), or refer the application back to DEA for reconsideration.  Until the minister makes her decision, Thabametsi’s environmental authorisation is suspended.

Centre for Environmental Rights attorney Nicole Loser points out: “As with all proposed new coal plants which have not adequately assessed climate change impacts, or which have been authorised to go ahead despite the irreversible climate change impacts, if the minister allows Thabametsi to proceed despite these impacts, our client will consider further legal action.

Either way, it seems imprudent to commit South Africa to a project that will emit greenhouse gas for at least 30 years, in circumstances when the revised Integrated Resource Plan for electricity – expected to be published early in 2018 – may substantially reduce the amount of coal in South Africa’s energy mix.”

Thabametsi, as a preferred bidder under the Coal Baseload Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, is required to reach commercial and financial close by 3 November 2017. As things stand, apart from the suspended environmental authorisation, Thabametsi also does not have a generation licence, an air emission licence, or a water use licence.

Earth Life Africa and the Centre for Environmental Rights, along with environmental justice organisation groundWork, are part of the Life After Coal/Impilo Ngaphandle Kwamalahle campaign.

This is a joint campaign which aims to discourage investment in new coal-fired power stations and mines; accelerate the retirement of South Africa’s coal infrastructure; and enable a just transition to renewable energy systems for the people.

Feature image credit: Eskom

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Eritrea – This is following a comprehensive optimisation programme. The recovery ponds form a key sub-set of the processing plant configuration and allow higher potassium yields by capturing and evaporating waste brines exiting the processing plant.

The reduction in pond area has been achieved despite an increase in the processing plant throughput relative to the definitive feasibility study (DFS) and is the result of design enhancements in the brine circuit configuration.

The pond designs are also underpinned by over four years of comprehensive local weather data collection and evaporation tests.

Processing plant throughput was increased from 425 000tpa to 472 000 tpa following a debottlenecking exercise that was completed in May 2017.

“We are very pleased with the positive outcomes of the optimisation work on the recovery ponds and expect that there will be flow on benefits to the construction earthworks. The Colluli DFS demonstrated evaporation pond sizes significantly smaller than SOP brine projects as a direct consequence of the potassium salts being extracted from the resource in solid form. This benefit is unique to the Colluli resource,” says Danakali MD, Paul Donaldson,

The physical state of the raw feed is a key determinant of pond size

One of the distinguishing features of the Colluli resource is that the potassium salts used for sulphate of potash (SOP) production are present in solid form, allowing immediate processing following extraction from the resource using open cut mining techniques. This eliminates the need for pre-production evaporation ponds, allowing for significant savings in cost and time.

Primary resources for SOP production are typically potassium and sulphur rich brines, the processing of which commences with the generation of a harvest salt. This harvest salt is typically generated as the product of a multi-stage evaporation and precipitation process which progressively concentrates potassium and sulphur by selectively removing calcium, sodium and magnesium salts in early stage pre-production evaporation ponds.

Harvest salt production rates from brines are influenced by local weather conditions and potassium yields decrease with progressively increasing pond sizes (for unlined ponds) and the number of steps required to generate harvest salts.

The final potassium rich harvest salt generated as above is reclaimed and fed into a processing plant for conversion to SOP. Depending on the chemistry of the feed material fed into the processing plant, brines exiting the plant may be captured and directed to a set of recovery ponds to improve the overall potassium yield. These are small relative to pre-production evaporation ponds used in brine extraction.

Smaller pond size for Colluli is a key contributor to industry leading capital intensity

The Colluli DFS demonstrates industry leading capital intensity as a result of both the salts presenting in solid form and the exceptionally high ore grade. Low surface area recovery ponds is a key contributor to lower capital intensity.

Cut, fill and surface preparation volumes under evaluation

The cut, fill and surface preparation evaluation for the recovery ponds and overall site is currently underway. Results are expected shortly for direct comparison with the DFS.

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“Drilling companies in the mining areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo still have capacity and are looking for work, and even the assay laboratories are not too busy,” he says.

In fact, says Maleba, for explorers wanting to initiate drilling programmes, time is running out.

“When the tide turns and the rush begins, however, it will become more difficult to find contractors and everything will take much longer.”

Susa Maleba, country manager at SRK Consulting for Democratic Republic of Congo.

Maleba has already seen some up-tick in activity, and SRK is active with resource estimations and audits as well as environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) and a hydrogeological study to investigate aspects of groundwater on a local mine.

ESIAs are necessary for all new projects, and the Democratic Republic of Congo regulations require mining companies to review their ESIA studies every five years, or when there is any major change on the project.

SRK Consulting opened its Lubumbashi office in May 2010, and it now has nine technical and four support staff. Drawing in independent scientists on an associate basis, as well as specialist expertise from SRK’s global network, the office conducts environmental, social, geological and mining studies.

Its geological services include mineral exploration, resource estimation and mining geology, as well as geotechnical work (civil and mining) and water management.

“Current points of interest in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining development include those companies whose plants were designed to treat oxide ore, and who are now looking to the future when their production from oxide deposits can be replaced with production from new sulphide reserves,” explains Maleba.

“At MMG’s Kinsevere mine, for example, they have been mining copper oxide ore, and are currently busy with exploring their sulphide options. While oxide reserves are expected to sustain Kinsevere’s life-of-mine until 2024, the primary sulphide resources underlying the oxide resources at Kinsevere have the potential to extend the mine life to 2033.”

What is stalling the sector’s progress at this stage is political uncertainty, he said; once this can be resolved, a number of newcomers are expected to enter this market.

There are hopes that once elections take place and the political outlook is more certain, there will be scope for certain companies to seek the finance required to return operations to previous levels.

To raise such funding, an independent assessment of mineral reserve holdings will be required, and SRK has already been contracted to undertake this resource estimate for one important Democratic Republic of Congo -based miner.

Maleba highlights the ongoing disagreements over the proposed new mining code, on which mining companies were engaging with government.

He says while there was a Chamber of Mines that existed as part of the National Chamber of Commerce, it had been not been able to reach agreement with government on the intention to increase tax rates for mining companies.

A further complication was that government had not been able to pay mining companies the VAT that they are owed.

In terms of the industry’s capacity to grow, a factor that needed to be addressed urgently was the shortage of mid-level skills in the mining sector – despite the sector’s growth over the past decade or more.

“The training of artisans and technicians could be a valuable area of collaboration between the private sector and government,” states Maleba.

“In the past, Gecamines had sponsored technical schools but this has not been sustained since Gecamines ran into financial difficulties.”

He highlighted another important opportunity for mining companies to contribute more directly to share the benefits of mining at local level: through supplier development.

“A new law signed in February 2017 requires mining companies to deal with Democratic Republic of Congo companies when sub-contracting,” explains Maleba.

“This is one way that government is trying to promote local development around the existing mining projects.”

The challenge, he says, is that Democratic Republic of Congo companies – potential sub-contractors – do not have capital or access to funding so that they can strengthen their capacity to do business with mines.

Also, many of these businesses are not equipped with the necessary skills to win those contracts.

“There is an opportunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo for mining companies to empower local businesses – especially with managerial and technical skills – so that they can become competent sub-contractors, and can start to share in the benefits that mining brings,” he concludes.

Photograph of Susa Maleba courtesy of SRK Consulting

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Democratic Republic of Congo – The cobalt offtake agreements and commodity-linked debt funding relate to Cape Lambert Resources’ planned production of cobalt and copper concentrates from its Kipushi cobalt tailings projects, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This follows the engagement of UK-based Metals Risk Management (MRM) by Cape Lambert Resources as its strategic adviser in June 2017 to review, assess and advise on the existing offers of concentrate offtake and commodity linked funding that have already been received by Cape Lambert Resources from a number of major international trading groups; in a bid to enable it to quickly finalise a binding offtake agreement and committed funding package.

Since the appointment of MRM, discussions with several major international trading groups based in Switzerland, the United States and Europe have progressed.

These groups include those that had previously submitted indicative and non-binding offers of concentrate offtake and commodity-linked funding to the company and also a number of new trading groups identified by MRM that are seeking to secure the strategic supply of cobalt concentrates in the short term and have also indicated a willingness to support Cape Lambert Resource with a commodity linked debt funding structure.

This will allow Cape Lambert Resources to accelerate its advanced cobalt projects in Africa, including its joint venture interests in the Kipushi Cobalt Tailings and Kasombo Cobalt-Copper Projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the recently acquired Kitwe Cobalt-Copper Tailings Project in Zambia.

Under the terms of the engagement with MRM, the Cape Lambert Resources will pay a success fee in cash to MRM on first shipment under the proposed offtake agreement and on drawdown of any funding package secured by MRM. No equity is to be issued under the engagement to MRM.

MRM as the company’s strategic adviser has over the past several weeks worked with these groups on the proposed offtake agreement structure and commodity-linked debt funding structure and provided them with detailed indicative concentrate production schedules and concentrate specifications in order for these groups to provide detailed pricing and payment terms for the cobalt concentrate.

Concurrent with these discussions, Cape Lambert Resources has continued metallurgical test work in South Africa aimed at optimising the recovery and grades of the cobalt and copper concentrate from the Kipushi tailings.

As part of this process Cape Lambert Resources has agreed to provide a number of samples of the optimised bulk concentrate to the trading groups to allow them to finalise binding and firm commitments of cobalt offtake and related commodity-linked debt funding.

Potential construction partnership

Following a meeting of Cape Lambert Resources Chairman Tony Sage with senior executives of a major Chinese industrial group in Shanghai in

July 2017, representatives of the Chinese group will be visiting the company’s Kipushi cobalt project in August.

The group are reviewing the potential construction and funding of leaching technology to treat the Kipushi tailings in order to produce a high value cobalt hydroxide product and copper cathode that will be acquired for sale into the Chinese market.

Members of the board and Cape Lambert Resources technical team will join the representatives of the Chinese group on site in the DRC shortly.

“The progress that has been made by the company and our strategic advisers with these major international trading groups has been very pleasing, as has been the demand from these groups to receive samples of our proposed concentrate production,” says Sage.

“Finalisation of the offtake agreement and associated commodity-linked debt funding is a critical milestone for us and we need to ensure that we are securing the best possible terms for the company and its shareholders.

“Demand for cobalt continues to rise and pricing remains extremely robust and with our very advanced Kipushi cobalt project we are well placed to benefit both in the short and long term,” Sage concludes.

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South Africa - SRK Consulting (South Africa) conducted the estimate which includes a total measured and indicated mineral resource of approximately 13.7 Mt containing 535 520 oz of combined platinum group elements (platinum, palladium and rhodium) at an average grade of 1.218 g/t, 3 404 oz of gold at an average grade of 0.008g/t and 2.8 Mt of chromium oxide at an average grade of 20.72%.

The resource estimate for the TSF has a high level of confidence, with 91.3% of the estimate falling into the measured category and 8.7 % falling in the indicated category.

In the opinion of SRK, the resource evaluation is a reasonable representation of the in-situ 3E PGEs, gold and chromium oxide mineral resources found in the TSF at the current level of sampling and validation.

The model validations included visual validations of the estimates and global statistical comparisons of the data in the tailings volume occurring in TSF.

Within the tailings volume, the general trend of the 1.5 m samples in each vertical layer (interval) is honoured by the estimates. SRK finds that overall the estimates are consistent with the source data and adequately model the grade distributions.

The confidence in the Zandfontein TSF mineral resource estimate by SRK indicates that it can be used for a pre-feasibility study or feasibility study.

SRK has recommended that a pre-feasibility or feasibility study be undertaken to determine whether the mineral resource can be mined economically in the current market environment. The mineral resource estimate conforms to the requirements of NI 43-101 standards of disclosure for mineral projects.

Eastplats is currently investigating various areas of the tailings project at CRM and has advanced significant work in preparing a feasibility study. Once completed, the company will announce its assessment in a NI 43-101 compliant technical report.

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These products from Structa Technology includes the 40 year proprietary Prestank which has proven to be a hygienically safe, cost-effective, and reliable water-storage solution for mines, communities, commercial sectors, private sectors and even for personalised storage.

The Prestank is designed to hold water volumes above 10 000 ℓ and can be used for various water storage applications including temporary or permanent installations at mines, power stations, building sites, hospitals, water utilities, municipalities, rural communities, and farms.

Structa Technology has supplied Prestanks to mines in South Africa which include:

• Styldrift Marengski mine in Rustenburg: 1 Mℓ
• Northam Platinum Booysendsdal UG2 mine in Steelpoort: 100 000 ℓ elevated on 12m tower
• De Beers Venetia mine in Limpopo: 200 000 ℓ
• Coal of Africa Vele mine in Mussina: 560 000 ℓ; and
• Royal Bafokeng Platinum Bafokeng Rasimone mine in Rustenburg: 500 000 ℓ

Prestanks have also been supplied to mines in Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique (for the Sasol Timane gas pipeline project.

Another product offering Structa Technology specialises in is the Roddy Tank, which is ideally suited to smaller villages, schools and clinics in rural areas.

It is therefore also well suited to mining exploration projects.

The Roddy Tank is a sectional, round, galvanised water storage tank that offers 3 900 ℓ, 7 200 ℓ and 10 000 ℓ capacities.

Structa Technology’s customisable, high-quality pressed-steel sectional tanks are hot-dip galvanised for corrosion control in accordance with SANS 121 (or ISO 1461) galvanising standards.

The thickness of the hot-dip galvanised coat is applied within a range of 80 μm to 100 μm – more than five times that of zinc on pre-galvanised corrugated steel cylindrical tanks.

This ensures an extended maintenance-free life when water with aggressively corrosive properties needs to be stored.

Feature image credit: Structa Technology

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Senegal – The pre-construction activities at the Makabingui gold project include the update of 2014 Feasibility Study operating costs by Australian mining consultants, Mincore, and improvements to the accommodation camp and access /haul roads.

Bassari Resources will also commence tendering and awarding engineering and construction contracts for Makabiungui with immediate effect – aiming to deliver first ore to the plant by mid-2018.

The results to date of the Mincore study have confirmed the profitable high-grade production from the four high grade open pits in Phase 1 of the Makabingui gold project. Bassari Resources released the details of the project development in the original feasibility study results in June 2014.

Latest drilling results

A total of 4 534 m of reverse circulation drilling has been completed to date (4 107 m in Pit 1 and 4 27 m in Pit 2) at the Makabingui gold deposit. An additional 1 480 samples were sent to Actlabs in Burkina Faso for gold analysis and have returned encouraging results.

Assay results received from the expanded infill/grade control drilling confirm the quantity and high grade of pit 1, (110 000 oz grading  7.6g/t) and confirm that the deposit extends to the north and at depth.

The mineralised lodes are controlled by shear faults defined by tectonic and hydrothermal breccia structures highlighted in the main geological contact between metagabbro and metagreywacke. These shear faults are cross-cut by NNW faults, which increases dilation and fracturing for localising gold mineralisation.

“To date, a number of key milestone activities at the project have been met, most notably the finalisation of the Government Approvals, completion of funding terms and a successful confirmation and update of the 2014 feasibility study.

“All these achievements combined with the successful drilling programme will allow the company to continue pre-construction activities and tendering with immediate effect which is a significant step in delivering shareholder value,” says Bassari Resources executive chairman Alex Mackenzie.

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Financial provisioning laws require mining and petroleum companies to set aside an amount of money for the management, remediation and rehabilitation of environmental aspects arising from mining and petroleum operations.

By Hillary Botha (candidate attorney), Tamzyn Cooper (associate) and settled by Garyn Rapson (partner) of Webber Wentzel

Analysis of proposed change to financial provisioning laws

Financial provisioning is a legislative attempt to promote a greener and healthier environment by holding mining and petroleum companies responsible for the rehabilitation of the environment impacted by their operations.

For example, when applying for a mining right, a mining company is required to indicate the manner in which they are going to rehabilitate their mining area after the mine is closed and set aside an amount of money for this rehabilitation, before the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) will grant a mining right.

History of financial provisioning

Financial provisioning and rehabilitation was initially regulated under section 41 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act, 2002 (MPRDA) which required an applicant for a right or permit to make prescribed financial provision for the rehabilitation or management of negative environmental impacts associated with the operation.

Hillary Botha, candidate attorney at Webber Wentzel

The quantum of the financial provision was determined in accordance with Regulation 53 and 54 of the MPRDA Regulations, 2004 (MPRDA Regulations) and the guideline document provided by the DMR.

These provisions have now been superseded by the Financial Provisioning Regulations published under Government Notice Regulation 1147 in Government Gazette 39425 on 20 November 2015 (Financial Provisioning Regulations), in terms of section 24P of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (NEMA).

The NEMA provisions and Financial Provisioning Regulations are in line with the move towards the 'One Environmental System' which looks to transfer environmental governance of the mining and petroleum industries from the MPRDA to the NEMA.

The Financial Provisioning Regulations are more onerous than the previous financial provisions under the MPRDA.

The Financial Provisioning Regulations came into effect on 20 November 2015, but the transitional provisions (as amended) indicate that existing holders of mining rights will only need to comply with the Financial Provisioning Regulations by 19 February 2019.

Under the MPRDA, financial provisioning was required to take the following into account: costs for the rehabilitation of the surface area of operations; costs for the decommissioning and final closure of the operation and post-closure management of residual and latent environmental impacts.

These requirements provided for a broad description of the types of rehabilitation and remediation that were to take place. However, no detail was provided as to exactly what this would entail or what closure standards should be achieved.

Tamzyn Cooper, associate at Webber Wentzel

Under the Financial Provisioning Regulations, there is more certainty surrounding what should be considered as part of a mines financial provisioning.

The Financial Provisioning Regulations now require the holder of a right / permit to ensure that an annual rehabilitation plan, an environmental risk assessment report and a final rehabilitation, decommissioning and mine closure plan, as set out in the financial provisioning regulations, are undertaken and submitted prior to the right being granted.

The three plans require specific actions for annual and progressive concurrent rehabilitation to take place.

NEMA Bill, 2017 and financial provisioning

Similar to the provisions of the MPRDA, section 24P(3)(a) of NEMA requires the holder of a right / permit to perform an annual review of their environmental liabilities and increase their financial provisioning accordingly.

The National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 was published under Government Notice 245 in Government Gazette 40733 on 31 March 2017 (the NEMLA Bill) and was tabled in Parliament on 24 May 2017.

The NEMLA Bill introduces a significant proposed change in relation to financial provisioning and the required annual assessments of same.

The NEMLA Bill looks to amend section 24P(3)(a) of NEMA to read that the holders must "… annually assess his or her environmental liability in a prescribed manner and must adjust his or her financial provision accordingly…"

This change brings section 24P(3)(a) in line with Regulation 11(2) of the Financial Provisioning Regulations which already provides for an annual adjustment of financial provisioning as opposed to a forced increase, which has previously been required under the MPRDA and NEMA.

This change from "increase" to "adjust" is very significant for the mining and petroleum industries and may present a number of opportunities that allow for operations to decrease their financial provisioning over the life of the operation, instead of unnecessarily having to increase it for no reason other than avoiding contravening the financial provisioning legislation.

New opportunities for the mining industry

The Financial Provisioning Regulations are more onerous than previous financial provisioning requirements, because they stipulate a comprehensive minimum content for each of the Three Plans to inform the quantum of financial provisioning.

Garyn Rapson, partner at Webber Wentzel

This itemised and detailed approach to financial provisioning presents as an extra cost for the mining and petroleum industries, however, it also allows for adjustments to the mine's financial provisioning to be made based on the mine's actual operational requirements.

Furthermore, it ensures that the on-going annual rehabilitation that is required to take place as per the annual rehabilitation plan will be taken into account and the financial provisioning can be adjusted and decreased accordingly.

The change proposed to be implemented by the NEMLA Bill presents an opportunity for mining and petroleum companies to decrease their rehabilitation liability by implementing effective and innovative mechanisms that promote rehabilitation and remediation throughout the life of operations and not only at the closure of the operation.

This on-going remediation and rehabilitation will result in a reduced financial provision being required at the closure of the operation. Initiatives such as captive power and captive water should accordingly become more appealing to mining and petroleum operations.

A captive power plant is a power generation facility that allows for an industrial or commercial energy user to produce its own electricity.

Captive power presents an opportunity to the mining and petroleum industries by putting them in a position to produce their own power.

Electricity generally amounts to up to 40% of a mines annual budget.

A captive power facility would alleviate the dependence on the grid and studies show that over time, the cost of captive power will be at parity with grid power.

In addition to this commercial benefit, laying out the capital cost for such a plant during the operational phase of an operation will reduce the liability of the closure phase as the plant can continue to supply power to the operation well into the closure and post-closure stages.

It is believed that by establishing a captive power plant, an operation could adjust and decrease its rehabilitation provisioning over time.

Captive water is a similar concept to captive power, in that it presents an opportunity to create a cost-effective, reliable and high quality supply of water to an operation.

Captive water introduces the idea of an operation constructing an internal treatment facility. This entails dirty water produced during operations being recycled and treated on-site to be re-used by the operation.

For operations which anticipate having to pump and treat water well into the closure phases of their life, a captive water solution will be particularly attracted to reduce the rehabilitation costs associated with this latent or residual environmental risk.

Both captive power and captive water solutions could be pursued on either an EPC or an independent power/water producer basis.

Conclusion

Initiatives such as captive power and captive water are not only beneficial for the environment, but they are also perfectly positioned to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the proposed amendment in the NEMLA Bill, which provides operations with the ability to decrease financial provisioning, as they assist in necessitating lower rehabilitation costs for a mine.

This proposed amendment should be welcomed by the mining and petroleum industries as it presents an opportunity to implement numerous initiatives that may reduce their financial provisioning over time.

Feature image credit: Wikimedia

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Many governments in Africa have made major progress over recent years – we now see mining companies working hard to ‘put back’ in to society through skills development and environmental protection policies. The African mining industry has matured.

Author: Soraya Narfeldt, CEO of RA International

Kenya’s 2016 mining act, which forms part of its 20-year mining strategy, specifically sets out the country’s aim of attracting up to 20 new mining companies.

The act provides simplified permits for small-scale operations and simplified licenses for larger companies.

And, on the other side of the continent, we are seeing similar moves to incentivise investment - the Angolan government is currently working on a new special tax regime for the sector, which may include new incentives concerning tax deductible costs and losses.

Commodity prices are an important factor today.  After several years of unstable, low prices, the World Bank forecasts a $5 increase in the PPB in 2018. Its April 2017 Commodity Markets Outlook report also forecasts that metal prices will rise by 16% by the end of 2017.

We are also now seeing opportunities to invest increase right across the continent, including in Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania and Senegal.

The Angolan Ministry of Geology and Mining confirmed in February 2017 that it had secured funding for the Angolan National Geology Plan (Planageo), which is described by the Minister of Geology and Mining, Francisco Queiroz, as “The main instrument of the government’s strategy for protecting the geology and mining sector.”

The plan has already identified over 200 priority targets for the prospecting of iron, base metals, copper, manganese, titanium, gold, lead and aluminium (amongst others).

Despite the positive news, challenges remain. Illegal mining is one of them. In 2016, Ghana lost $2.3 billion in revenue due to illegal mining and it continues to be a major issue in South Africa.

And, as commodity prices rise, the problem will worsen – unless governments and other stakeholders address the problem head-on.

The South African government has identified illegal mining as a national threat, with illegal syndicates employing around 30 000 people many of whom are illegal immigrants.

The issue is not only a threat to the industry and national economies but to the health, safety and well-being of those working in unsafe mines with poor access to basic services – even clean drinking water.

Infrastructure is often poor, working conditions usually dangerous and salaries are low. Women can earn as little as R100 per day in South Africa by grinding up a 20-litre bucketful of rock. Often, workers are paid in kind, taking a tiny percentage of the takings or leftover soil.

In addition to the need for greater levels of policing and law enforcement, is the need for sustainable mining practices, right across the value chain.

Support services are a crucial element – access roads, potable water services and operation and maintenance facilities provide for resource optimisation, a better quality of life for workers and safer working conditions.

Of these, health and safety is one of the most important day-to-day operational objectives, which is why third-party companies such as RA International are increasingly becoming important logistical partners.

RA International provides life support, facilities management and health and safety services to mining companies in some of the most challenging terrains, including right in the heart of the desert.

The company’s expertise includes the delivery of fully functional, remote and self-sufficient prefab camps in the middle of the desert to the north of Khartoum – these mega-projects require the laying out of roads and waypoints, life-support facilities, accommodation and maintenance for hundreds of people.

Creating safe, comfortable camps that place health and safety at the core of every logistical decision taken is also important in meeting the various legal and regulatory HSE requirements.

Kenya’s 2016 Mining Act spells out important sustainability and environmental policies; which include technology transfer, local equity participation, labour laws and incentives on local investments.

This is an attempt to strike the right balance between deregulation and environmental and social protections.

If mining in Africa is to grow responsibly – and if all Africans are to benefit from the wealth generated from the continent’s natural resources – mining companies must adopt and enforce sustainable practices.

Companies must take personal responsibility for the natural environment they operate in, and respect the health and well-being of those working for them – often in very difficult conditions.

Mining companies can also benefit from partnering with specialised logistics, life support and maintenance companies that are able to rapidly deploy teams of experts that understand the local communities.

Such companies can set the highest standards of excellence – including in compliance, industry best practice and social responsibility.

Responsible energy and water management, innovative approaches to community engagement and compliance with health and safety regulations are crucial in commercial success and the development of a sustainable mining sector.

The journey towards achieving environmental accountability, social responsibility and commercial success will help to prevent illegal mining and inevitably lead to more foreign investments.

Sustainable practices through investment in on-site facilities, infrastructure, training, safety and the environment will raise standards across the value chain in Africa – which is good for the industry, for economic growth, sustainable jobs and the millions of people working to build a better future for their families and communities.

Feature image credit: Wikimedia

The post A road map for a sustainable mining industry in Africa appeared first on Miningreview.com.

Gabon - Plymouth Minerals has intersected shallow, high-grade sylvinite and carnallitite potash mineralisation in the final hole in its Phase 1 drilling programme, including:

Sylvinite

• 7 m at 30.0% KCl (Potassium chloride) (18.92% K₂O – Potassium oxide) from 237.8 m
• 0 m at 29.7% KCl (18.72% K₂O) from 264.6 m

Carnallitite

• 9 m at 21.2% KCl (13.4% K₂O) from 430.26 m
• 8 m at 16.0% KCl (10.08% K₂O) from 456.98 m
• 3 m at 18.2% KCl (11.5% K₂O) from 471.15 m, and
• 4 m at 16.0% KCl (10.1% K₂O) from 500.61 m

The previous drill hole also intersected wide zones of mineralisation including multiple seams of high-grade potash (sylvinite).

Plymouth is extremely pleased with the Phase 1 drilling results which have confirmed the presence of a large, high-grade potash footprint at the Alpha Target - mineralisation is indicated to be continuous between drill holes BA-002 and BA-003 more than 2.15 km away, and mineralisation remains open laterally in all directions.

An additional potash seam was intercepted in BA-003 which is highly positive and important as it enhances the potential to exceed the top end of the Alpha Target’s 262 Mt – 415 Mt @ 28.5% - 34.8% KCl and 18% - 22% K₂O Exploration Target.

 The Phase 1 drilling supports the Exploration Target and increases the potential to convert the Target to Resources, and also highlights the project’s potential to replicate proven high-grade deposits in the Congo Basin including Kore Potash’s Kola deposit 70 km to the south. Kore’s current market capitalisation is ~$130m.

Planning for Phase 2 drilling is nearing completion which is aimed at delivering results to support a maiden JORC Resource estimate.

“This latest set of results and data retrieved from drill hole BA-003 has confirmed our belief that laterally extensive high-grade potash mineralisation would be present on the Alpha Target and in addition, this success so early on in the exploration programme, is extremely encouraging for Plymouth Minerals,” says MD Adrian Byass.

“Our intention now is to expand the mineralised footprint and deliver a mineral resource that we hope will exceed our expectations. Re-supply of consumables including drill casing and field preparation is currently underway for Phase 2 and the location of finalised new drill collars will be announced in the near term.”

About Plymouth Minerals’ potash projects

Plymouth Minerals owns 100% of the Banio and Mamana potash projects in Gabon, a politically stable and resource experienced country in West Africa. Both projects are drill proven, high-grade, shallow potash deposits and have good access to infrastructure with direct access to export ports.

Banio has a total Exploration Target of 6 Bt - 10.4 Bt @ 19.4%-22.7% KCl. Plymouth is focused on drill testing this Exploration Target. Brazil is a major consumer of potash and South America is the largest consumer of sea-borne potash (MOP) in the world. The West African coast and its potash deposits enjoy a significant shipping advantage over other major potash producing regions.

The post Plymouth Minerals reveals high grade potash assay results for Gabon project appeared first on Miningreview.com.

"Nigeria Mining Week demonstrates how committed the country is to the future of mining"

Let’s start with some background on Mantrac Nigeria and your work in the mining sector?

•    Mantrac has been in Nigeria close to 70 years.
•    Working across all sectors, agriculture, construction, oil & gas, marine, mining etc.
•    Good relationship with National Iron Ore Mining (Itapke), Dangote (Obajana, Ibese & Gboko) and Zuma Mining (Ankpa)
•    As Mantrac (International) working with many international and national mining corporations across our six African countries and Russia
•    Working in the mining industry across our dealerships for close to 70 years – large wealth of knowledge and experience

Any projects that you are involved in Nigeria that you are particularly excited about at the moment?
•    As above, Dangote, Zuma and several new up-and-coming mining opportunities

What in your view are the challenges to taking the mining sector in Nigeria to the next level?
•    Infrastructure
•    Financial constraints as most financial institutions in Nigeria are yet to understand the nature of the business and how to structure the right finance package
•    Lack of industry capacity in terms of knowledge and experience.
•    Lack of mining policies to protect investors and potential investors (international and local companies)
•    Political (not really much focus until recent years on mining and diversification away from oil
•    Lack of mining/geological data (no previous large scale surveys conducted)

What is your vision for the mining sector in Nigeria?
•    We would love to see Nigeria make the most of its natural resources
•    In the short term, better policies and agendas in place to encourage investment into the industry
•    Government full term commitment, “putting their money where their mouth is”
•    Reduce governmental interference
•    Ultimately, once one large scale mine starts up and shows viability, the mining sector will surely take off

You are a sponsor for Nigeria Mining Week. How important is this even to showcase the country’s mining potential?
•    Very important, it is a chance to demonstrate how committed the country is to the future of mining.
•    It helps all potential companies working in the mining world to come together and share ideas, meet and work together.

What will be your message at the event?
•    Mantrac Nigeria is here to help the mining companies in whatever way possible providing the required expertise and knowledge : from site studies, recommendations, fleet optimisation, aftersales support, financial services.

Anything you would like to add?
•    Buy Caterpillar Equipment !

The post Exclusive interview with Mr. Ahmed Ragab, Managing Director, Mantrac Nigeria appeared first on Miningreview.com.

“Our vision is to help miners to bring down the cost per ton of material movement by providing the right equipment and support, making the industry more profitable thereby encourage more investments”

1) Let’s start with some background on Pan African Group and your work in the mining sector?
Panafrican Group is a recognized leader in providing Komatsu, Wirtgen and AGCO equipment and aftersales support solution in the markets we operate. With particular expertise in the large mining, light and alluvial mining, cement and aggregates, agriculture and forestry, civil and infrastructure and power and energy sectors. We strive to understand our customers’ needs and deliver fit-for-purpose, tailored solutions that focus on higher productivity and performance, improved reliability and machine availability, and reducing life of asset cost and cost per material movement.

2) Any projects that you are involved in in Nigeria that you are particularly excited about at the moment?
Delivery of over $100m worth of mining equipment to Dangote group last year is worth mentioning. We also work with BUA, AMAPOB, and many small and medium mining firms.

3) What in your view are the challenges to taking the mining sector in Nigeria to the next level?
Lack of bankable geological data is a major challenge, we need to focus more on exploration to determine the quantity and quality of what we claim to have. The other problem is the capital-intensive nature of mining startups.

4) What is your vision for the mining sector in Nigeria?
Cost per ton of material movement is important, our vision is to help miners to bring this down by providing the right equipment and support, making the industry more profitable thereby encourage more investors.

5) You are an exhibitor at Nigeria Mining Week. How important is this even to showcase the country’s mining potential?
An event like this are good for stakeholders to interact and share ideas where possible.

6) What will be your message at the event?
We are Panafrican Equipment setting a new standard for equipment and product support in Nigeria.

7) Anything you would like to add?
There is an equipment combination that will deliver the best cost per ton in any mining operation, we have the experience and tools to plan along with you. Talk to us.

The post Interview with Panafrican Group appeared first on Miningreview.com.

He is a featured speaker at Nigeria Mining Week in October on “Establishing a strong  foundation for mining sector development: Enhancing competitiveness and fostering domestic investment in Nigeria.”

“In Nigeria we have managed to develop a real 'partnership' with the Federal Government of Nigeria and we are still working along with some of the States that have higher mining potentials.”

1)     Let’s start with some background on your work at the World Bank?
It is important to note that the Extractives Industries and Energy Department at the World Bank form a single Global Practice and we are driven by a strategy that is designed to reach four sets of outcomes, which, if achieved, should contribute to attaining the World Bank Group’s twin goals. Those WB goals are 1) End Extreme Poverty and 2) Promote shared Prosperity. Therefore our work at the WB is very broad and we try to focus it around revenue maximization & governance, Local content and shared infrastructure and skills, social and environmental sustainability and finally how we may contribute to conflict prevention by improving economic conditions.

Clearly all these aspects are directly linked to a sound and efficient way to develop the mining sector in Nigeria or in any other country that we are requested to support through loans. These loans are the vehicles for sustaining the country’s development as we are aiming at having fair conditions of repayment as well as to ensure that the right pace of legal, regulatory and economic reforms are creating the right environment ensuring transparency and good environmental and social practices. This sounds very good and interesting but we should not forget that each country has its specificities and the different mechanisms should adapt to those conditions as for instance we cannot start from the same premises in DRC, Guinea or Nigeria. However, and above all, one of our main concerns, besides technical aspects is to make sure that institutions are fully capable and governance issues are not going to affect the loan in a negative way.

2)     Any specific projects in the mining sector that the World Bank is involved in that you are particularly excited about?
The World Bank follows a kind of value chain that bring those countries we support from Non-renewable resources to a stage in which sustainable development may take place. Each country, as I said, has its own idiosyncrasy and characteristics. I am particularly excited about two projects; our critical involvement in DRC in support of the rationalization of the sector through nearly five years as well as my responsibility in managing our recently approved 150 million loan project (MinDiver) for developing the Nigerian mineral sector and diversifying it from its dependency on other sectors like Oil & Gas as H.E. President Buhari has clearly indicated in his inaugural speech; two sectors need continuous development in Nigeria, that are agriculture and mining. This is the reason why the Honourable Minister Dr. Kayode Fayemi with his drive and strong determination has led the initiative to put Nigeria “on the African mining map again” as, from my opinion, the country deserves.

From the Bank's side, I am really looking forward to contribute to transforming their potential resources into some tangible exploration and exploitation mineral projects bringing economic prosperity and jobs. Nigeria is the first African economy and really needs the employment that mining and all types of value-chain including local content can bring.

In addition we have another very interesting initiative called the Billion dollar map of Africa or AMGI (African Mineral Geoscience Initiative) in which we are developing some pilot projects, supported by the Korean international cooperation and this project is having difficulties in taking off and having some shape reason why we need as well some donor support to start.

3)     What in your view are the main challenges to the African mining sector? And Nigeria in particular?
The challenges are often well known though the solutions can vary from country to country and they constitute the main barriers such as financing since investors lack access to exploration and capital financing and are consequently unable to carry out preliminary work that would attract foreign companies and different types of investors working along the value-chain of the sector. Do not forget that mining is not like other sectors: it is very capital intensive and the lead times are very long from discovery to exploitation. Very often the lack of reliable geoscience data or (geo-data) is another blocking factor. There is a need to have access to pre-competitive geoscience knowledge and geological mapping suitable to identify prospective areas for attracting investor interest and to facilitate the targeting as well as encourage the development of pre-feasibility studies.

This is very important as many junior and mid-tier mining companies are unaware of the full mineral prospectivity potential of a country, as a result of incomplete coverage of geological mapping, at the required scale, and associated geochemical and geophysical surveys. In Nigeria we have managed to develop a real “partnership” with the Federal Government of Nigeria and we are still working along with some of the States that have higher mining potentials. I would like to mention that we have a long history of consultative processes and direct engagement starting in 2005 with the SMMRP WB-funded project that establish the frameworks such as legal, fiscal, mining cadaster basic geodata collection, ASM issues and formalization and also important we continue to strengthen the inspection functions among a large number of other activities. It is important to underline that, in Nigeria, the process has been fully inclusive with the participation of all key actors PS, MMSD DGs, States representatives and civil society.

As mentioned, our Bank's involvement in the country benefits from a broad partnership with other Nigerian and international counterparts. In addition, our engagement in Nigeria has been designed based on the “Roadmap for the Growth and Development of the Nigerian Mining Industry” and previous WB analytical work. Our current engagement in the country with the “MinDiver” project that is a lending operation, it can be considered as a “revitalizing program” to meet short (quick wins) and long-term objectives in a technically consistent and sustained way. I would also like to mention other important challenges such as infrastructure as in most African countries where infrastructure such as roads, rails, and electric power supply is fully inadequate for multi-sector planning to support exploration, mining, and mineral processing activities is a key blocking factor or challenge for developing the sector.  Moreover, investors also mention the inadequate master plans for water resource management, and this has become a limiting factor as well.  In Nigeria, it is clear that power supply to meet the increasing demands for mineral processing facilities is going to become an “important factor” impacting the sector. This means that in taking the decision to exploit or not an ore deposit; and such situation needs to be solved in a way that takes into account the interests and expectations of all stakeholders in a balanced and logical way.

Even if Nigeria was a country with a developed mining sector in the 70s and 80s, skills are very reduced -in the full range of disciplines related to the mining cycle-. Note that his aspect is certainly a common denominator to most African countries. Thus, we also see the need to improve human resources skills and adequate geological, geophysical, geochemical as well as mining & metallurgy training. There is a shared need as well to enhance the Regulatory aspects that are often complex and cumbersome, related to land acquisition, community relations, equipment importation and various types of issues affecting expatriates. Not less important are the challenges affecting mining sites -and Nigeria has a number of abandoned old mining sites- in Environmental, social and Health related matters. The aspects related to use of land by artisanal and small scale miners (ASM) are very critical in order to avoid social and health problems. In summary, Africa and Nigeria in particular, are facing similar challenges though its intensity and preponderance show varying levels as each country is certainly different in such a complex sector with such a number of different types of mineral deposits and social issues.

4)      What is your vision for the sector?
The mining sector as you know is composed from a large number of sub-sectors, even each commodity and type of mineral deposit could conform a sub-classification therefore it is very difficult to generalize looking into a uniform sector called just mining. However, I would say that Nigeria has a dormant mineral sector that needs to wake up, in other words ore deposits, old mines and infrastructures are there but, there is a need to boost the situation now. It is not useful to wait to a higher commodity prices cycle as Nigeria, let’s not forget, will be competing with neighboring countries in west Africa which are already mining destinations per-se, thus we need to get ready before such a time comes. I have some degree of confidence that the commodity cycle will change its current trend, perhaps, in a couple of years from now. The mineral sector continues to present important levels of volatility non predictability (if I may use this word) not only linked to commodity prices but also related to geopolitical factors in a number of African countries. It is impossible to make some reliable predictions on how the sector will behave in the coming years. However, from my own perspective, I see some signs of “slow recovery” that will be impregnating some specific commodities as some of them are starting to recover its cyclical trend. As far as, other aspects of the sector, it is showing some gains in terms of legal or regulatory enhancements bringing more transparency, as well as more pre-competitive geological knowledge. Even if there is a difficult substitution/ replacement in mine sites as no new large mines are in the pipeline so far. I wish I would have a crystal ball…Finally, I would like to mention that Nigeria has an important industrial minerals sub-sector and this is one of the quick wins that we are attempting to develop and where there is room for rapid improvements as Nigeria has already attracted some manufactures and the linkages downstream could become a key success factor.

5)      Which African countries are doing the right things in your opinion?
It is interesting to note the example of Botswana, Namibia, Kenya and Morocco and of course the decisive efforts started by Nigeria in recent times. It is rather difficult to make comparisons as the situation evolves and often there is not much political continuity. Therefore, again, predictability is a “risk-minimizing factor” like socio-political issues. And we should not forget that the mining sector in Africa pays strong attention to “risk levels” and, of course, the grade and tonnage of deposits because without such conditions it would be totally impossible to move ahead.

6)      You are a featured speaker at Nigeria Mining Week in October on “Establishing a strong foundation for mining sector development: Enhancing competitiveness and fostering domestic investment in Nigeria” - What will be your message at the event?
The initial message is rather straightforward “we need to get it right” once for all and this means that a “strong sector foundation” is a must. Afterwards facilitating downstream sector developments and the enhancement of competitiveness need to happen as a logical result. This cannot and should not be improvised and built on a piece-meal basis. Consequently, the only way to bring competitiveness….that obviously comes from competing with our external environment- is by building an integrated approach that would facilitate sharing information and resources with other development donors that are betting on Nigeria as well.  Competing should be both internal and external even if nowadays such distinction is a bit blurred due to globalisation of economies.

Mining without sub-surface knowledge cannot be sustained, thus boosting precompetitive geoscience data and sound deposit valuations is key to attract serious investors in Nigeria where geological & mining potentialities are known to exist but no large corporations are present only junior exploration companies

In my opinion, the extractive sector is a good example of such global reach. Clearly, domestic investment becomes key for building something consistently that will not drive Nigeria to an external dependency.  I believe that this requires good planning, good decisions and more importantly, timely actions. I am really confident that the government is making the right decisions in fully supporting the sector so decisively. My end message is: we need to be able to work, work and work… together to consolidate day-by-day all those small steps achieved so far, in sector development. It is important not to be complacent but very demanding in all aspects especially quality of project outputs.

7)      What are you most looking forward to at the event?
I really like to see a wide and serious audience of companies and mineral operators committed to the sustainable development of the sector in Nigeria to establish more and more partnerships among donors and financers and finally I would also like to see the social and economic development value for the Nigerian population. Finally I would like to better understand how we, together, may improve our support actions within the sector.

8)      Anything you would like to add?
I am sure the conference will be a success and I am really looking forward to the opening day for the benefit of Nigeria.

The post Exclusive interview with Francisco Igualada, Senior Mining Specialist, Energy and Extractive Industries appeared first on Miningreview.com.

Fraser Alexander’s minerals processing business, which focuses primarily on coal washing, has become a significant market leader in the South African coal mining industry since its formal establishment in 2005.

Looking to the future, the company intends to further enhance this position by doubling its revenue within the next three to five years, minerals processing general manager Jaco Scholtz tells Laura Cornish.

AUTHOR: Editor of Mining Review Africa, Laura Cornish.

“Thanks to our unique service offering and highly skilled workforce, we have grown significantly over the last 12 years, an achievement we are particularly proud of considering the industry has been in recession for a number of years. And we are bullish for the future,” Scholtz notes.

In addition to expanding its business in South Africa, the company has significant appetite to build its presence in Botswana (where it operates a local company) which has added at least four potential opportunities to the project pipeline.

Fraser Alexander is specifically focused on washing coal on a contract basis for coal mining clients.

It has the capacity to provide the operation and maintenance (O&M) of existing wash plants; or to build, own, operate and maintain (BOOM) or build, own, operate, maintain and transfer (BOOT) the wash plants.

The company’s service offering covers the entire coal processing value chain; which includes crushing and screening, heavy media separation, fine coal treatment, flotation and filtration, as well as briquetting.

It operates and maintains its own filter presses (as opposed to outsourcing) and impressively operates the only fine coal dense medium plant in the world.

“We are able to accept run-of-mine coal as well as discard dump coal, for re-washing, as feed to the plants, in this way extracting further value out of discard dumps.

“Through washing of the coal we provide clean product for our clients who sell to different low and high grade export markets, including the domestic thermal market (Eskom) and metallurgical markets.”

In support of its O&M/BOOM/BOOT service offering (which covers all maintenance, spare parts and capital items replacement over the contract period), Fraser Alexander is able to de-risk new projects further by providing upfront finance to cover the design and construction costs as well.

“This is an attractive model for small-scale miners and will ensure our business grows in line with this emerging market sector,” Scholtz highlights.

Fraser Alexander’s wash plants range in size from 200 tph to as much as 600 tph although Scholtz notes the company’s plant capacity capabilities are not size constrained – due to their modular construction.

This has the added benefits of reducing the time to manufacture plants and reducing the cost of engineering design while providing the flexibility to add additional modules as production increases.

“Civil work and structural work can also be conducted simultaneously, which equates to significant time saving on the overall construction period.”

Expanding track record in 2017

In January this year Fraser Alexander was awarded a new R1 billion BOOT coal washing plant contract for one of South Africa’s major coal miners.

It will be the company’s largest project to date and will see the total number of plants it operates on a BOOM/BOOT model increase to six.

“This contract will also increase our monthly processing capacity from approximately 1,1 Mt of coal per month to nearly 1.5 Mtpm and the number of employees from 234 to over 300.”

The new project specifically entails the construction of a 2 x 300 tph modules dense media separation (DMS) coal washing plant in Mpumalanga.

The envisaged plant will wash discard dump coal at a rate of 3,96 Mtpa with the potential to increase to almost  8 Mtpa spanning its seven years of planned operation.

The output coal will be sold to the export market and to the local thermal coal market.

Construction of the plant commenced in January 2017 and is scheduled to be completed just 10 months later in October 2017.

Key strengths

The 100% black owned, Level 3 BEE-compliant company is dedicated to building and delivering a diversified workforce.

“We have excelled on this front,” Scholtz exclaims.

Three of the company’s five operations are supervised by young, highly skilled black women process managers.

“We focus on recruiting and retaining the best people in the industry and this gives us a competitive edge.”

Monthly management committee audits are also conducted to measure all key areas of plant operation – safety, operations, maintenance, finance and human resources - to ensure they are delivering a consistently optimal performance.

“Our operations regularly achieve benchmark up-time on-coal hours, with more than 92% availability and more than 600 running hours per month. This level of up-time is unparalleled in our industry,” Scholtz notes.

“We also pride ourselves on instilling a culture of operational excellence which boasts world-class systems to protect the integrity of our assets.

"The correct systems are paramount in maintaining assets and ensuring they operate according to world-class, benchmark standards.”

Fraser Alexander uses the Pragma On-key enterprise asset management system for all maintenance monitoring procedures and Sage ERP for all procurement activities.

Besides mineral processing/coal washing, Fraser Alexander also offers various other, outsourced services across the mining value chain including construction and bulk engineered earthworks, mining and re-mining, materials handling, tailings and discard deposition, water treatment and rehabilitation.

Feature image credit: Fraser Alexander

The post EXCLUSIVE: Fraser Alexander dominates coal washing in Southern Africa appeared first on Miningreview.com.

The record blast was completed by BME at  the Kansanshi operation in North-Western Zambia. The operation is 80% owned by First Quantum Minerals.

The blast was conducted on 29 September 2017 in the main pit of Kansanshi mine, which is the largest copper mine in Africa by copper production, and involved 6 690 electronic delay detonators (EDDs) – successfully initiated using BME’s AXXIS digital initiation system.

AXXIS Record blast for most electronic detonators fired in a single blast in conjunction with its client Kansanshi Mining.

According to Wayde De Bruin, area manager for BME Zambia, all the holes were single-primed, with a set-up that included nine different shots, 18 slave blasting boxes and one master box.

“The blast moved approximately 455 000 bank cubic metres and consumed a total of 400 tonnes of emulsion explosives – yielding an overall average powder factor of 0,9 kilograms per cubic metre,” says De Bruin.

“The blasts were offset to keep the mass charge per delay to a minimum; the highest timing recorded on this blast was 6,520 milliseconds.”

BME’s AXXIS global product manager, Tinus Brits, highlights the company’s technical ability to continually push the boundaries through its innovations and in-house research capacity.

“This blast follows previous records that BME has achieved in the past with our EDDs,” said Brits.

“Just two years ago at Kansanshi, we set an in-house record with 4 141 EDDs in a single blast.”

In the latest blast, a seven-member crew logged and tested the blocks over a period of two days – pre-charging the shots on 20 September 2017 and completing on 28 September 2017.

Electronic initiation is becoming increasingly popular due to the reliability, accuracy and timing-flexibility of these devices, making blasting practice more predictable and allowing for larger and more cost-effective blasts.

Feature image credit: BME

The post BME breaks world record for most electronic detonators fired in a single blast appeared first on Miningreview.com.

The following is a quote from the latest news released by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, ranked by the University of Pennsylvania as one of the world’s Top 25 Environmental think-tanks.

AUTHOR: Xavier Marcel Prévost, senior coal analyst at XMP Consulting.

“Scientists have changed their minds about the rate of climate change — saying the Earth is not heating up as rapidly as feared.

"A study in Nature Geoscience says that the computer models used by governments to predict climate change exaggerated the impact of man-made emissions.

"If the world had followed the original predictions, only 70 billion tons of carbon could be emitted after 2015, to save the planet.

"But new predictions suggest we can emit an extra 240 billion tons.”

This is good news for us, depending so much on coal for energy.

One of the new study’s authors, Oxford’s Prof Allen, said: “We haven’t seen the rapid acceleration in warming after 2000 that we see in the models.”

Many of the predictions “were on the hot side”, he added.

With that in mind, we expect that the South African coal industry will, for many years to come, still be a reliable supplier of cheap inland energy and a source of profit for big and small producers.

Observing current coal prices, sizes and qualities available in the inland market, we seek to provide a picture of the status of inland coal supply and a glimpse of future developments.

It is true that the further a mine is from its buyer, the lower the price at the mine gate.

This trend has slightly changed and mines are now pricing coal relative to production costs and not only according to the distance to the market.

Without an inland price index, mines selling to this market have taken their lead from each other to set prices, with the main traders controlling the price setting.

Before 2009, inland market prices increased at approximately 10% per annum using a bi-annual escalation (March and October).

Between 2005 and 2008 coal prices rose by an average of 15%. From 2011 to 2015 coal prices increased by 8% and then again by 5% during 2016.

An average A/B grade Duff price is currently R606/t and the same grade Pea is R788/t, that is, R182.00/t higher than Duff.

As transport still plays a role, with logistics and fuel costs ever-growing, mines closer to users have had a slight advantage when determining delivered price to end-users.

Duff was sold into the local market at a lower price than the bigger size fractions (Peas and unsized coal).

Now we find that large quantities of Duff are also being exported.

Current prices show a healthy growth and as local demand increases, prices will follow suit.

In the global, seaborne market, steam coal prices fluctuated extensively in the last half of 2016, mainly due to China’s influence on the coal market.

Steam spot prices increased from $66/t in 2016 to $80/t in 2017, but are predicted to decrease to $73/t in 2018.

From 2018, low gas prices in the EU will produce an increase in coal-to-gas displacement.

Low gas prices will displace 10 Mtpa of import demand by the end of 2019. South African exports to Europe are decreasing from 31% in 2015 to 21% in 2016 and 12% in 2017.

Exports will be dominated by low-cost mined coal.

Minimum contractual tonnages and sunk costs in rail, barge and terminal will promote exports at very marginal profit levels.

Are there other markets for displaced tons?

We expect that growth elsewhere will provide markets for some volumes.

Exports to the Pacific, eastern Mediterranean and Indian Ocean will grow, while exports to Europe will be replaced by growth in exports to India, Latin America and other small markets.

Price impact is almost neutral.

A slight downward revision on price forecasts is expected, as well as a general tightening of supply and growth in India and Asia.

Price-controlling regulations in China should support prices should they fall.

The overall picture shows substantial growth in prices and tonnages for the inland market, while seaborne coal prices could remain static or decrease.

This will generate an almost parity between inland and export prices, resulting in an accelerated growth to the local market at the expense of dwindling exports.

The message for the South African industry is that, to cope with an expanding demand and higher future prices, the coal production, stagnant since 2013, necessitates the implementation of additional projects and mines as soon as possible.

The dreaded date of the coal cliff (drop in coal production) is only two years away.

Feature image credit: Wikimedia

The post EXCLUSIVE: Steam coal in the South African inland and global markets appeared first on Miningreview.com.

The post Exclusive Interview with Chrysanthus Ugwuezumba, Engine/NRP – Nigeria, Africa and Middle East ABO at Cummins Nigeria appeared first on Miningreview.com.

1)      Let’s start with some background on 3MGeo Resources and your work in the mining sector?
3MGeo Resources was founded to be a leader in mining, metals and mineral assets development in Nigeria.

We work on creating beneficial value for private and public clients from mines to market on a sustainable basis. Our key objective is growing small scale players to become big scale players.

2)      Any projects that you are involved in in Nigeria that you are particularly excited about at the moment?
We are especially interested in our Molybdenum and Niobium project in Bauchi State area that has just recently been granted a licence by the MCO. We also have a Nickel development coming up soon in Taraba.

3)      What in your view are the challenges to taking the mining sector in Nigeria to the next level?
PPP collaboration with private players, State Government mining companies and the communities is key for rapid and sustainable development of the sector. It has to be a "win-win-win" for true and mutual progress in the mining sector.

4)      What is your vision for the mining sector in Nigeria?
The Nigerian mining sector has the capacity to propel sub Saharan Africa to global leadership in key mineral production like iron ore, manganese, copper, nickel, gold and limestone.

5)      You are a sponsor at Nigeria Mining Week. How important is this event to showcase the country’s mining potential?
When I saw the quality and potential of the 2016 maiden event, I had no doubt in my mind this event going fur

ther would be the event to put Nigeria on the global mining pedestal. Naturally 3MGeo had to take a decision to be here in 2017 as a potentially great player.

6)      What will be your message at the event?
My message to participants would be: "Listen, Learn, Engage and Dare."

7)      Anything you would like to add?
Spintelligent should continue the good mining business development work for Nigeria in tandem with the excellent vision of Minister Fayemi and Miners President Mailalle.

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Tanzania – Strandline Resources, the Tanzania-focused mineral sands developer, believes that the outstanding exploration results to date have the potential to establish Bagamoyo as a new mineral sands province, expanding the company’s pipeline of projects.

Strandline Resources already has the Fungoni project, for which it has just released a definitive feasibility study (DFS); the Tanga South Project (Tajiri), where it is in the process of updating the mineral resource estimate; and the joint venture with Rio Tinto in southern Tanzania, where aircore drilling is underway.

At Bagamoyo, Strandline Resources has received the soil sampling results from its first exploration programme over the eastern Bagamoyo tenements. The programme was designed to demonstrate sufficient scale, grade, continuity and mineral assemblage and focussing on the mapped radiometric anomalies associated with topographic ridges (20 and 30 m above sea level).

The discoveries at Bagamoyo comprise a series of +1.5% total heavy mineral (THM) anomalies associated with topographic ridges, up to 11 km long and up to 1 km wide

Higher grade THM results within the 4 km long +3% THM anomalies include 14.2%, 12.5%, 12.0%, 7.1%, and 6.6% THM with low slimes <15%.

The value assemblage is also high, averaging 74.5% of the THM comprising 9.1% zircon, 4.2% rutile, 0.8% leucoxene and 60.4% ilmenite.

The exploration results have exceeded the company’s expectation with the identification of significant zones of anomalism with surface footprints showing both size and grade potential. The company believes the area is highly-prospective and represents a major new mineral sands target in the Bagamoyo province.

Strandline Resources is now undertaking additional mapping and shallow auger drilling ahead of planning a future aircore drill programme at Bagamoyo.

“These results show we have made a series of exciting mineral sands discoveries at Bagamoyo. These discoveries have size at surface, grade and comprise a high-value mineral assemblage, exceeding our expectations,” says Strandline Resources MD Luke Graham.

“They also show that Strandline’s strategy of establishing a pipeline of mineral sands projects at various stages of advancement is well on track. This pipeline ranges from the Fungoni project, where the DFS has just been completed, through to large-scale exploration and now these new discoveries in a new region,” he adds.

Feature image credit: Strandline Resources

A pan sample from the Bagamoyo project that contained 14% total heavy mineral.

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Mali – The contract, which specifically includes the supply of aircore, reverse circulation and diamond core drilling, was entered into via its wholly owned subsidiary, Cora Gold Mali SARL.

The drilling programme is expected to commence at the end of November 2017 with a total of 15 000 m, made up of aircore, reverse circulation and up to a further 1 000 m of diamond core.

The use of a "multipurpose" drill rig provides flexibility, enabling the geological team to switch from aircore and reverse circulation to diamond core, as and when required.

The programme will have a phased approach, allowing assay results to be received and evaluated, before progressing to the next stage. Drilling is expected to conclude towards the end of Q2, 2018.

Target is a Mali-based contractor, founded by Australians with a focus on safety and productivity. It has operated drilling campaigns for a number of international companies in Mali, including mid-tier producer Resolute Mining.

"I am delighted that we have been able to progress the appointment of our drilling contractor ahead of schedule and so rapidly after our admission to AIM earlier this month,” says Jon Forster, CEO of Cora Gold.

“Target Drilling has a track record of working in partnership with exploration teams and we look forward to a productive relationship.  We are eager to commence exploration at the exciting Sanankoro gold discovery as soon as is practical as we believe it has the potential for a standalone mine development."

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