Summary

Mine Type	Underground
Stage	Restarting
Commodities	Copper Silver Gold
Mining Method	Room-and-pillar
Backfill type	...
Snapshot	Otjihase mine is part of the Central Operation, currently on care and maintenance. Consolidated Copper has hired a former underground mining expert from Glencore to develop a 10-year mine plan for the Central Operations, which include the Matchless and Otjihase mines. The company holds valid mining licenses, environmental clearances, and all necessary permits to restart operations at these sites. Otjihase was active until September 2015, when it was placed on care and maintenance. Currently, Consolidated Copper is assessing the capital required to restart Otjihase and is exploring the potential to produce 10–12 ktpa of copper concentrate over the next decade. The company is also planning fresh exploration at both sites, targeting new ore blocks with a goal of extracting 5 million tonnes. At Otjihase, drilling efforts are focused on the western margin of the Tigerschulcht orebody.

Deposit type

• VMS

Summary:

The Otjihase deposit comprises five sub parallel, spatula-shaped, mineralised zones namely Shoot A, Shoot B, Shoot 2, Shoot 3 and Shoot 4. Shoots A and B are known collectively as the Main Shoot in mine terminology because of their close proximity, but geologically they are separate entities. The shoots consist of massive sulphides composed primarily of chalcopyrite and pyrite, hosted in a magnetite rich quartzite. Of the five, only Shoot A is consistently mineralised and forms the bulk of the mineral resources.

With the exception of Shoot B, which is slightly elevated above the southern margin of Shoot A, the westerly-plunging mineralised shoots occur at approximately the same stratigraphic level and are separated by more than 150m of barren or weakly mineralised quartz-mica schists that dip north westerly at 16°.

The northern margins of the shoots are abrupt, whereas the southern margins are gradational, consisting of thin bands and lenses of mineralisation, or disseminated mineralisation, in the quartz-mica schist country rocks. The footwall contact between the lowermost mineralised band and the underlying quartz-mica schists is usually sharp. The hangingwall contact is often gradational due to the presence of zones of disseminated mineralisation.

Each of the shoots has a gossanous outcrop and extends down plunge for more than eight kilometres. The mineralised shoots are cut by a series of sub-vertical northerly trending normal faults that down-throw the shoots progressively deeper towards the west. The faults separate the deposit into a number of blocks (or compartments) named after the faults that occur along the western margin of each block.

The Otjihase deposit lies in quartz-biotite chlorite and quartz-biotite schists and consists of a shoot of massive and disseminated sulphides about 200m wide plunging to the west at about 6°. The deposit dips to the northwest at about 16°. The shoot thickness varies between 4m and 12m with an average between 6m and 8m. The hanging wall is a quartzbiotite chlorite schist with distinct schistosity which sometimes spalls. It is competent if supported. The declines and other development are usually excavated in competent quartzmica schists.

The mineralisation stretches from near surface to depths of 800m and more and is divided into compartments by north-south trending faults. These faults are water bearing and contain flowing material and are thus difficult to traverse.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Commodity Production

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
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