Overview
Status | Care and Maintenance |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Heap leach
- Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
|
Mine Life | 2024 |
Construction commenced at the Tschudi Copper Mine in January 2014, open pit mining started in August 2014, first ore was agglomerated and stacked in January 2015 and first copper cathode was produced in February 2015. Total capital expenditure to date is in excess of NAD1 billion. |
Summary:
The Tschudi Project area is located within the Otavi Mountainland of northern Namibia, which forms part of the Northern Carbonate Platform of the Pan African Damaran orogen. The Damara Supergroup is an orogenic belt that was deposited on a pre-1.0 Ga granitoid basement, the Grootfontein Basement Complex. It is composed of a 400km wide north-east trending arm, as well as two coastal arms, that all join in the region of Swakopmund, on the western coast of Namibia.
The Tschudi orebody is hosted within the basal arenite of the Mulden Group, the Tschudi Formation, unconformably overlying the Otavi dolomites. The orebody transgresses from the Huttenberg dolomites, through the basal conglomerate, and up into the clean arenites
for approximately 15 - 20m.
The Tschudi Deposit hosts various different mineralization facies, separated out into oxide, transitional and sulphide zones. The copper mineralization is preferentially developed in the base of the arenite sequence on the southern limb of the syncline, as a disseminated, continuously distributed roughly planar sheet, varying from two metres to at least 40m thick. There is a continuous basal mineralized zone termed the Lower Zone lying on the dolomite surface, with occasional lenses/pods of mineralization occurring several metres above constituting the Upper Zone. These lenses plunge downdip, towards the base of the syncline. The mineralization is best developed within the medium to fine grained feldspathic arenites and sub-greywackes. Pyrite often occurs in the fine grained argillites near the base of the arenites, but these seldom contain copper mineralization. At surface outcrop the oxide mineralization occurs over a strike length of approximately 2.5km, and continues down to approximately 55m vertical depth. There is then a transitional zone of mixed sulphid oxide mineralization to a vertical depth of approximately 75m, followed by a dominantly sulphide zone. The mineralization does locally transgress into the dolomites, as void fillings, in joints, fractures and shear zones. The mineralization is open ended to depth, but is not present to any great degree in the opposite limb of the syncline. There are sporadic soil anomaly indications of copper further along the dolomite-sandstone contact, as well as in the nose of the fold.
Summary:
Mining is currently underway in smaller starter pits which will ultimately merge into a single larger open pit via a series of pushbacks. The mining activities follow a conventional drill/blast and load/haul operation. All mining activities, including supply of explosives, blasting and hauling operations, is undertaken by a specialised mining contractor (Basil Read Mining Namibia). Ore is delivered to the ROM pad, located to the north of the open pit, and waste is delivered to the waste rock facility to the south of the open pit.
Processing
- Heap leach
- Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
Source:
Summary:
Ore from the ROM pad is crushed by a three stage crushing plant consisting of a jaw crusher and secondary and tertiary cone crushers. Agglomerated ore is then trucked to the heap leach pad and stacked in 4m to 6m lifts. The ore is then leached, using dripper lines, and the solution is collected on the impermeable liner, drains into the W-drain, and stored in copper inventory ponds. The Pregnant Leach Solution (PLS) is then pumped to the SX/EW plant for processing into cathode copper of at least 99.99% purity.
Production:
Commodity | Units | 2017 | 2016 |
Copper
|
t
| 14,759 | 15,884 |
All production numbers are expressed as cathode.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2017 | 2016 |
Total tonnes mined
| ......  | 25,688 kt |
Ore tonnes mined
| ......  | 2,732 kt |
Plant annual capacity
| ......  | 17,000 t of cathode |
Reserves at December 31, 2017:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
6.2 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.93 %
|
57.1 kt
|
Probable
|
9.4 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.86 %
|
81.1 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
15.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.89 %
|
138.2 kt
|
Measured
|
6.4 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.95 %
|
61.2 kt
|
Indicated
|
23.2 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.84 %
|
195.4 kt
|
Measured & Indicated
|
29.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.87 %
|
256.6 kt
|
Inferred
|
21.4 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.61 %
|
131.1 kt
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | 2017 | 2016 |
C1 cash costs
|
Copper
|
USD
|
5,288 / t
|
4,603 / t
|
Financials:
| Units | 2017 | 2016 |
Revenue
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  |
Operating Income
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  |
Gross profit
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  |
Pre-tax Income
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  |
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