Operations resume at Zim gold mine after extended re-equipping period
miningweekly.co.za
By: Olivia Spadavecchia
Published: 15 Aug 07 - 10:11
Mining, exploration and development company Caledonia Mining Corporation resumed underground operations at its Blanket mine, in Zimbabwe, last month.
The mine planned a shutdown of 90% of its underground operations on February 15 to allow for stripping and re-equipping of its main production shaft, the No 4 shaft, in order to complete the shaft re-equipment from the six level down to the 24 level.
Caledonia acquired the Blanket mine from Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corporation last year. The mine has mineral reserves of 3,4-million tons, with an average grade of 4,1 g/t, and contains 449 500 oz of gold. Gold prospects in the general vicinity are also being explored.
The recommissioning was expected to take place in June. However, owing to the "challenging operating environment in Zimbabwe" the programme was delayed, the company said.
During the shutdown phase tailings sands were transported to the mine for further gold recovery. This project was stopped in late June as the high grade tailings had been exhausted and recoveries from other lower grade tailings had become marginal, owing to the high costs of transport caused by excessive inflation in the country, Caledonia explained.
It added that ceasing production at the Blanket mine reduced the operational losses incurred during this period of low production.
Caledonia has two South African mines, namely the Barbrook mine and Eersteling gold mine, which were put up for sale in December 2006 and are currently on care-and-maintenance. Additional local interests include ongoing exploration on the Rooipoort platinum project.
Facilities at the Blanket mine have a capacity of 600 tons a day, however, only 380 t/d to 400 t/d are being produced owing to power outages and shortages. Zimbabwe has been plagued by power shortages, and in recent months intensified load shedding has resulted in households and businesses only having power for about five hours a day.
By the end of June, the shaft equipping at the mine had reached the 18 level and a decision was taken to reactivate the 14 level loading chute in order to get back on track with the targeted production of 600 t/d .
Further shaft equipping, down to the 24 level, is ongoing and should enable Blanket mine to reach its production goal of 1 000 t/d by the end of the year, the company noted.
Caledonia is also involved in diamond exploration and in joint ventures with major mining companies in both Zambia and Canada. It holds a large land position on and around the Zambia Copperbelt on which copper and cobalt exploration is currently under way. The company has identified an indicated resource of 122-million tons of pittable, low-grade mineralisation at the Nama cobalt prospect.
Edited by: Liezel Hill |
