PROJECTS AND EXPLORATION
EBOLA NO THREAT TO
BISIE YET
only infectious when they have a high fever. Alphamin has
temperature monitoring stations at the entrance to all areas,
messes, accommodation areas and other working areas.
Meanwhile Boris Kamstra stepped down as CEO of Alphamin
in August, and Maritz Smith was appointed as new CEO.
• Location: DRC
• Phase: Operational
• Resource: Tin
Operations at Alphamin’s Bisie tin project in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) has continued its excellent safety
record with zero lost-time injuries recorded during the three and
six months ended June 30, 2019.
Plant construction at Bisie was completed during quarter
two in 2019. According to the company’s operational update,
the overall processing recoveries increased signifi cantly
post quarter-end due to improved equipment availabilities,
operator upskilling and consistency of feed material to the
plant. Tin losses in the circuit have been identifi ed and process
fl ow changes made to reduce the losses of tin to the fi ne and
ultrafi ne fl ow streams. As a result, the company achieved an
overall recovery of 65% during the month of August 2019
(compared to design levels of ~72%). Alphamin expects to
achieve commercial production during quarter three in 2019.
AMANI STARTS DIAMOND
DRILLING
• Location: DRC
• Phase: Exploration
• Resource: Gold
Diamond core drilling operations have commenced at Amani
Gold’s Kebigada gold deposit at the Giro project in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Drilling will target deeper high-grade primary gold
mineralisation within the central core of Kebigada deposit. The
planned drilling may involve 6 core holes, each nominally 500m
in length for a total of approximately 3 000m. Phase 1 drilling
operations will comprise an initial two core holes each 500m in
length. If signifi cant gold mineralisation is intersected in priority
one holes, phase 2 drilling will comprise a further four core
holes, each 500m in length.
The initial drilling programme of two holes is anticipated to
take up to four weeks to complete, with fi nal multi-element
laboratory assay results available shortly thereafter. All drilled
intervals will initially be analysed on site using portable XRF to
guide ongoing drilling operations.
MKANGO’S SAMPLES IN AUS
• Location: Malawi
• Phase: Exploration
• Resource: Rare Earth Elements
Boris Kamstra, who has been CEO at Alphamin since the inception of
Bisie, has stepped down.
Alphamin states that the grade and tonnages from
underground mining have shown a strong correlation to the
mineral resource model. However, maintaining the volume
of material mined remains under pressure as the operation
awaits delivery of its third drill rig and underground loader
towards the end of 2019.
The feasibility study at Mkango Resources’ Songwe Hill
project in Malawi is progressing according to plan. Mkango
recently shipped 60 tonnes of bulk rock sample from their
Songwe Hill Rare Earth deposit in Malawi to Fremantle in
Western Australia for mineral processing and metallurgical
pilot test work studies.
According to Alexander Lemon, president of Mkango, the
feasibility study for Songwe Hill continues to progress and is
fully funded by strategic partner, Talaxis, a subsidiary of
Noble Group.
The operational team is focusing on maintaining the capital
development required to establish the next set of stopes on
levels 5 and 7. The level 5 elevation has been reached and
ventilation ways and services must be established in order
for stoping to commence in late 2019. Stoping operations
on level 7 are required to commence in early in 2020 and the
decline is advancing towards level 6. At Mkango’s other project in Malawi, Thambani, the company’s
chief geologist Dr Paul Armitage, and a team of fi ve geologists
are carrying out a detailed exploration work programme. The
Thambani license area features multiple zones of nepheline-
syenite-hosted uranium, tantalum and niobium mineralisation,
with a number of extensive uranium radiometric anomalies.
The Ebola epidemic has spread geographically to South Kivu
and Goma, which is close to the Bisie operation. However, the
company states that to-date there have been no instances
near Bisie itself. Alphamin has strict Ebola control measures
in place to enable resident health workers to identify and
treat potential and real Ebola cases. A person with Ebola is The programme is following up on the previous Mkango
exploration results and includes further ground truthing
of radiometric anomalies, rock sampling on outcrop, and
collection of samples from new trenches. Lemon says that
Mkango continues evaluating partnership opportunities for the
project.
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African Mining
African Mining November 2019
9