BASE METALS — Katanga projects proceed in Congo

The newly formed government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) has ratified an agreement to develop the Kambove and Kakanda tailings projects, which are held by Gecamines and International Panorama Resource (ILP-V).

Gecamines, or Generale des Carrieres et des Mines, is owned by the state.

The tailings recovery operation is projected to produce 3,500 tonnes of cobalt and 45,000 tonnes of copper annually over a projected life of 15 to 18 years.

Kakanda is estimated to contain 34 million tonnes, including an 18.4-Million-Tonne proven and probable reserve in the Kakanda tailings disposal areas, where the grade averages 1.22% copper and 0.14% cobalt. An additional 12.9-Million-Tonne inferred resource in two open-pit deposits at Kakanda grades 3.4% copper and 0.19% cobalt.

It is estimated that a capital cost of US$240 million is required to build a tailings recovery plant that would use agitated-Vat leaching, solvent extraction and electrowinning to recover the metals. The estimate includes US$25 million for housing, schools and medical facilities, and US$10 million to upgrade the power supply.

The operating cost of reprocessing the tailings are expected to be around US$23 per tonne at the start, rising to US$40-50 per tonne as open-pit material comes on-stream.

The feasibility study assumed US$1 per lb. for copper and US$11 per lb. for cobalt, recognizing that current cobalt prices (around US$24 to $25 per lb.) are likely to fall once the Voisey’s Bay nickel project enters production.

In other developments, Tenke Mining (TNK-T) has already inked an agreement with the new Congolese government, cementing the terms of its earlier deal with state-owned Gecamines to develop the Tenke and Fungurume deposits in south-Central Katanga (formerly Shaba) province.

Exploration on Tenke’s concession in the Dipeta syncline, which joins the two mining areas, has encountered more of the same copper-Cobalt mineralization found at the two development projects.

Four holes, each drilled at separate, widely spaced targets, all intersected “oxide” (malachite-Azurite) and sulphide (bornite-Chalcopyrite) mineralization in strata that correlate with the host rocks at Fungurume and Tenke.

In the Mambilima area, on the southern limb of the syncline, two drill holes encountered both oxide and sulphide mineralization. One drill hole on the northern limb, at Mwadinkomba near the Tenke mining concession, intersected oxide mineralization; another at Shadziranzoro, near the midpoint of the northern limb, intersected disseminated bornite and chalcopyrite.