Building of new copper mine on course
Staff Writer | Wednesday June 7, 2017 17:55
Promoters of the Khoemacau project, Cupric Canyon Capital yesterday announced the appointment of Johan Ferreira as Head of African operations and managing director of Khoemacau Copper Mining (KCM).
“Ferreira will lead the development of the Khoemacau copper/silver project in Botswana with construction beginning towards the end of this year,” said Cupric.
Initial production from the new mine will average 50,000 tonnes of copper and 1.4 million ounces of silver per year over a mine life that exceeds 25 years. Future expansions are expected to increase annual production to over 100,000 tonnes of copper and three million ounces of silver.
According to Cupric, Ferreira began his mining career with Anglo American in 1986, and from 2005 to 2011 he was general manager of the Moab Khotsong and Great Noligwa Gold Mines. Subsequently, he was appointed senior vice president, South Africa Operations for AngloGold Ashanti. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) degree from the University of Pretoria and several other professional certifications and diplomas.
Dennis Bartlett, Cupric’s chief executive officer, said: “We are excited to welcome Johan to the Cupric team. He is a highly experienced and accomplished mining executive who brings the underground mining expertise necessary to transition the project from studies to mine development and operations. Johan is assuming the role previously held by Sam Rasmussen, who completed his three-year contract in December.”
Cupric’s Botswana subsidiary, Khoemacau, is developing the starter project at its Khoemacau copper/silver project in the Kalahari Copper Belt of northwest Botswana. The starter project involves the development of a new large scale mechanised underground mine at the company’s flagship Zone 5 deposit.
Ore will be treated at the existing Boseto process plant, which is located 35 kilometres to the North West. The company said medium-term development strategy envisages that the Expansion Phase on Zone 5, along with the development of other resources nearby, would increase production to over 100,000 tonnes per annum of copper in concentrate.
Early this year, KCM announced it had entered into a $50 million term loan agreement with Red Kite Mine Finance to provide funding for its copper-silver project.
Proceeds from the loan will be used by KCM to fund project development costs and front end engineering in advance of starting full-scale construction in the second half of 2017.
The Zone 5 resource contains 100 million tonnes of ore grading two percent copper and 20 grammes/tonne silver as reported in November 2015. The total cost to develop KCM’s project is about $350 million, with underground mine development being the largest single cost component. The company controls 4,040 square kilometres of mining and prospecting licences which host total mineral resources in excess of 6.5 million tonnes of copper.
Cupric was formed in 2010 with a goal to acquire undeveloped copper assets with a known resource.