Global news and projects
The scheduled kiln
refractory replacement
has been completed
and regular production
has resumed.
Montero is looking to re-mine the tailings dumps at the historical Uis tin mine in Namibia.
Engineering services company Civmec
was chosen by Albemarle to construct the
lithium hydroxide plant at Kemerton, while
BGC Contracting was hired to provide
earthworks and construction access at the
site.
The USD1-billion Kemerton facility is
expected to become WA’s largest lithium
plant once completed. (Source: Australian
Mining).
Namibia
Montero files resource estimate
Montero Mining and Exploration has
filed its maiden lithium and tin resource
estimate for the Uis tailings project in
Namibia. The project consists of large
coarse sands and fine slimes tailings waste
deposits on surface. The tailings material
represents the waste processed material
derived from the Uis pegmatite tin mine,
the largest tin mine in Africa, prior to its
closure in 1990. The independent estimate
was prepared by Deloitte Technical
Mining Advisory.
The mineral resource estimate is based
on the preliminary drilling programme
of 63 air core drill holes on the waste
material. The quantity and grade of coarse
and fine material for six tailings deposits
(Zones A to E) were estimated by ordinary
kriging. Two commodities were considered
in the estimation of the mineral resources,
namely lithium (LiO 2 ) and tin (SnO 2 ).
Zone A represents the largest tailings
deposit and contains coarse tailings
material, while Zones B to E and Zone A
fines represents the fine tailings material.
A total inferred mineral resource of 14.4
million tonnes at 0.37% LiO 2 and 17.1
million tonnes at 0.05% SnO 2 is estimated.
Insufficient test work on lithium extraction
has been completed on the 2.71 million
tonnes of fine tailings material (Zones A4,
[12] MINING MIRROR JUNE 2019
B, C, D, and E) to include this lithium in
the resource estimate at this time.
According to Dr Tony Harwood,
president and CEO of Montero, further in-
fill drilling and metallurgical test work will
be required to upgrade the inferred resource
to an indicated resource. “Montero is
evaluating early production scenarios with
potential partners in order to meet expected
demand with the growth of electric vehicles
and battery metals requirements,” says
Harwood.
Brazil
Production resumes at Maracás
Menchen
Toronto based Largo Resources
announced in their first quarter 2019 results
that the company’s Maracás Menchen mine
in Brazil has produced 2 099 tonnes of
vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) at an average
global recovery rate of 80%. According to
Largo, the scheduled kiln refractory
replacement has been completed and
regular production has resumed.
According to the company, production
in January 2019 and February 2019 was
affected by maintenance in the fusion
section of the plant, and unanticipated
power outages, which mostly occurred
in February. Production in March of
548 tonnes of V 2 O 5 was, as anticipated,
significantly impacted by the scheduled
kiln refractory replacement which
resulted in 11 days of production
downtime, being two days less than the
expected.
A complete replacement of the kiln
refractory occurs every two years as a
consequence of the high temperatures
utilised inside the kiln, which weakens
the kiln's durability over time and causes
stability issues with recoveries. Largo
expects that the replacement of the kiln
refractory will help to minimise the need
for minor repairs that were performed to
the kiln throughout 2018.
Global V 2 O 5 recovery rates averaged
80% during the quarter representing an
increase of 5% compared to quarter one
in 2018. This can be mostly attributed to
improved recoveries in the leaching and
precipitation sections of the plant during
January and February.
Largo Resources
Largo Resources’ Maracás Menchen vanadium mine in Brazil.
www.miningmirror.co.za