IAMGold seeks new deposits

WANETSHA MOSINYI
Correspondent | Thursday November 1, 2007 00:00

This emerged at the ongoing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) stakeholders' consultations regarding mining deposits at Signal Hill, 15 kilometres south-east of Mupane.

The Country Manager of IAMGold in Botswana, Isaac Mangole, said Monday at Tati River Lodge that Mupane is running out of gold and has about three years left in its lifespan. 

Mangole said IAMGold is aiming to start mining the deposits at Signal Hill immediately with other possible complementary mining deposits at Golden Eagle and Molomolo, which are both adjacent to Mupane Mine.

He said the Canadian-based IAMGold has to recover its investment after purchasing Mupane from Gallery Gold. 'The mining at these satellite mines will not bring any significant increase in the lifespan of Mupane, but will help. 'At Signal Hill, we are looking at about 10 months of mining and that will add at least another year to Mupane's lifespan.'

Mupane Mine is one of the smallest entities in the IAMGold stable. Feasibility studies at Signal Hill were conducted in 1994 when the area was leased to then owners Gallery Gold. The EIA is being re-done to conform to the current requirements and procedures. 

Mining in the area will be by open pit with trucks hauling the ore to the plant at Mupane for processing. The viability of mining at Signal Hill has been boosted mainly by soaring gold prices and new technologies.

This week, gold was trading at around $800 an ounce, its highest in 28 years. Mining at Signal Hill is scheduled to start in a matter of weeks, according to the General Manager of Mupane Mine, Andy Thomson. The mine will haul at least 25, 000 tonnes of ore sample to the Mupane plant for further testing. Thomson said when operational, the project will produce about one million tonnes of ore altogether.

However, farmers in the area are reportedly opposed to the use of the road linking Mupane Mine and Signal Hill. The farmers say they had a verbal agreement with Gallery Gold that the road would not be used for mining purposes so as to avoid environmental and noise pollution.

Thomson says the mine will negotiate with the farmers for use of the road, or go to an alternative route currently used by the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) to connect a power line from Phokoje near Selebi-Phikwe to the Botswana Metal Refinery (BMR) Activox project near Matsiloje. 'Mupane needs that ore,' Thomson says, 'so we have to find an alternative because we have an obligation to our investors that runs into hundreds of millions of pula. I can assure you that in case we touch your land, we will have to buy it. We want to do this with minimum impact.' The EIA consultations are also scheduled for Matshelagabedi and Matsiloje to brief people there on the environmental and socio-economic impact the project could cause.