MINING IN AFRICA SPECIAL — Mincor in production at

Management of Mincor Resources of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., is hoping this year to boost the annual rate of production at its Monarch gold mine in Mozambique to 25,000 oz.

The company, created recently through the amalgamation of Consolidated Bonanza Metals (ASE) and private British company Mincor International, is in the process of raising funds to undertake an exploration and development program.

Output in 1994 from Monarch, currently a small open-pit and underground operation, totalled 3,000 oz. The operating cost is US$175 per ton. Proven and probable reserves stand at 170,620 tons grading 0.19 oz. gold per ton. On site is a 250-ton-per-day treatment plant. Processing is by way of a combination gravity and carbon-in-leach method.

The property lies about 12 miles northwest of Manica, near the border with Zimbabwe. Initial development at Monarch by J. Meikle involved the driving of two adits into the hillside. In 1930, Rezende Mines undertook development work on the west and east portions of the deposit. By the time the mine closed in 1951, 90,000 tons of ore had been extracted at a grade of 0.29 oz. gold per ton.

In the late 1980s, Lonrho’s Minas Auriferas de Manica opened up 25 adits and conducted a surface exploration and drilling program. Based on the results, Lonrho deemed Monarch to be too small.

Private Mincor became involved with Monarch in 1992 and decided to install a carbon-in-leach processing plant. The project re-entered production in September, 1993.

The main Monarch deposit consists of a brecciated banded iron formation within a sequence of highly sheared talc and talc-chlorite schists. A dolerite dyke has created two sections. To the north lies a chromate reef structure and, north again, the Clark’s Reef structure.

The company lists seven directors: Eduardo Mondlane (chairman), Anthony Kates (deputy chairman), Gilles Fiset (president), Andy Chakrabarti (chief executive officer), James Stephenson (vice-president), Rocco Guarnaccia and Claude Veillette.