GLOBAL NEWS
MONGOLIA:
MILESTONE AT OYU TOLGOI
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MONGOLIA:
ASPIRE UPDATES OVOOT
Australian coal developer Aspire Mining has provided a mine
plan and cost updates for the Ovoot Early Development Plan
(OEDP) Extended Case. Aspire is a metallurgical coal and rail
company focused on developing world-class premium coking
coal deposits in Mongolia.
Mongolia is a resource-rich country, with a rapidly developing
coal mining industry expected to become a key global supplier
given Mongolia’s close position to some of the largest steel
making producers worldwide – China, Japan, Korea and Russia.
Aspire’s flagship Ovoot project hosts 255 million tonnes (Mt)
JORC coal reserves and could sustain full scale production of up
to 10 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of saleable coking coal
over a long mine life.
Aspire is now advancing a definitive feasibility study for a
decision-to-mine on the Ovoot Early Development Plan (OEDP)
4Mtpa medium term truck/rail mining solution – having
completed two pre-feasibility studies, received a mining licence,
and approval by the Mineral Resource Authority of Mongolia.
(Subsequent expansion to more than the 4Mtpa saleable output
rate will require construction of the Erdenet – Ovoot railway to
link Ovoot with Mongolia’s existing rail system.)
A consortium is currently progressing the development of the
Erdenet – Ovoot rail section under a 30-year exclusive ‘build and
operate’ concession granted by the government of Mongolia.
The consortium consists of Northern Railways, a Mongolian
infrastructure company, owned 80% by Aspire and backed
by subsidiaries of Fortune 500 listed China Gezhouba Group
Corporation and China Railways Corporation.
The Erdenet – Ovoot railway represents one section of a new
Northern Rail Corridor that would link China to Russia through
Mongolia. This is part of Mongolia’s national rail policy, China’s
One Belt One Road Policy and Russia’s Eurasian Economic
Development Policy.
14
African Mining January 2020
Global mining company Rio Tinto has achieved a significant
milestone at the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia
with the completion of Shaft 2, which enables the acceleration
of work on the underground development. Shaft 2, a 10m
diameter shaft sunk to about 1.3km below the surface, has now
entered into the final stages of commissioning.
This is a critical piece of infrastructure and will enable a step
change in terms of delivering the underground mine. Shaft 2
can carry 300 people per cage cycle versus a maximum of
60 people per cage cycle through Shaft 1. The 48-tonne capacity
cage can now be used to support logistics, transporting supplies
and components for development of the mine.
According to Stephen McIntosh, group executive, Growth &
Innovation, this is an important milestone. “Shaft 2 significantly
improves overall productivity of the underground development
and allows us to move more material, equipment and people
between the surface and underground. We have made very
good progress in the past few months and completing Shaft 2
provides additional momentum as we move towards a definitive
estimate for the development of this world-class ore-body in the
second half of 2020," says McIntosh.
MEXICO:
WEALTH AWARDED RIGHTS
Wealth Minerals has successfully negotiated surface access
rights to the Valsequillo silver project in the southern Chihuahua
state of Mexico. The mine is about 40km southeast of the city
of Hidalgo Del Parral within the Altiplano Polymetallic Belt of
north-central Mexico.
According to Henk van Alphen, Wealth’s CEO, Valsequillo has
been an asset on the company’s books for some time, although
they were only recently able to agree on terms with the surface
rights owners to allow access to the property and carry on
exploration where they left off in 2012.
“It is a highly prospective silver target and in a geological setting
similar to other familiar Mexican silver occurrences. While we
remain focused on lithium and battery metals, the potential to
add value at Valsequillo is great, says van Alphen.
PANAMA:
WORKHORSES DRIVE MINA
DE COBRE
Technology company ABB has commissioned six gearless mill
drives at First Quantum’s Mina de Cobre’s open pit copper
mine in Panama. First ore extraction at the mine is one month
ahead of schedule.
Mina de Cobre, spans 13 600 hectares and is located about
120km west of Panama City in the Donoso district, Colon
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