AFRICA SPECIAL — Reunion advances zinc project

London-based Reunion Mining is awaiting the results of a prefeasibility study for the Skorpion zinc deposit in Namibia.

The company, which is listed on the London Exchange, has the right to earn up to a 60% interest in the deposit from a unit of Anglo American. Previous exploration by this unit identified a resource, minable by open-pit methods, of 8.3 million tonnes grading 10.9% zinc.

Reunion recently reported positive results from its initial metallurgical testwork at Skorpion. This work confirmed that zinc may be recovered by leaching with sulphuric acid as silica, which was believed to have been a potential problem, did not enter the leach solution in significant quantities. The company says relatively fast leach kinetics were achieved on finely crushed material with recoveries of about 96%. A flowsheet based on these findings is being designed.

Skorpion’s prefeasibility study is considering a mine capable of producing not less than 75,000 tonnes of zinc per year. Operating costs are expected to be within the lowest quartile for the industry.

Later this year, at the Dunrobin gold mine in Zambia, Reunion plans to start production at an annual rate of 20,000 oz. Reserves are 1.13 million tonnes averaging 2.3 grams gold per tonne. The cost of developing the open-pit, heap-leach operation is estimated at US$4.5 million. In Zimbabwe, the company’s Sanyati copper mine is said to be close to achieving 5,000 tonnes of copper per year at US50 cents per lb.