CAMEC and Copper
Copper demand set to fuel expansion
CAMEC’s copper and cobalt processing facility is at Luita, located on the Kakanda/Disele Road in the C19 concession area in the Katanga Province of the DRC. Production at the plant is targeted at 40,000 tonnes of copper by end March 2008. The plant has a targeted template capacity of 100,000 tonnes of copper cathode by the end of 2008. Raw materials are being supplied from deposits situated in concession areas 467 & 469 concession areas.
For the first time in the country’s copper producing history, the SX/EW (solvent extraction/electrowinning) process is being harnessed for integrated copper/cobalt extraction, resulting in the highest value product of its kind in the DRC, at 99% purity. The plant comprises a 100 tonne per hour milling section concentrator and 11,000 m2 of warehousing and is the first private copper plating operation in the DRC. To ensure stable electricity supply a private overhead 26 km 110KV power line has been constructed.
Rapid installation of the metallurgical plant is being achieved through the deployment of modular plant sections which means that circuits can be added easily whilst production is maintained. This approach also accommodates the uncomplicated deployment of additional plant phases.
The Luita metallurgical facility is being fed by mines on the highly prospective 467 & 469 concession areas which Gecamines, the DRC national mining company, estimated to contain circa 1.5 million tonnes copper. These are currently being drilled to JORC status. Multiple quality targets, many of world class super-pit potential, have now been identified following the implementation of an extensive airborne magnetic, radiometric and electromagnetic geophysical survey and are being prioritised for drilling.
Whereas historical mining was based on exposed mineralisation, the new targets are large shallow hidden and previously undiscovered anomalies believed to have potential to host very significant ore bodies. These anomalies are being prioritised for further exploration and evaluation, which will involve the establishment of logistics, geological mapping, soil and stream sediment sampling, and the identification and prioritisation of coincident anomalies for exploration drilling and compliant resource estimations.
In addition to the geophysical surveys, a radar-based Lidar survey has been flown, which produced an accurate digital terrain model that will assist with mine planning and importantly, allow for the rapid estimation of the tonnages contained within the many historical copper bearing ore stockpiles. A JORC or Samrec compliant assessment of the resources and reserves contained in these stockpiles is on-going.
