The Kinsenda deposit is more typical of the Zambian Copperbelt deposits and is geologically similar to the Mufulira, Chambishi and Chibuluma South mines in Zambia. The Kinsenda deposit marks the transition between the two sub-types of the Copperbelt, with deposits to the north of the Luina dome showing a strong dolomitic character with associated HG oxides close to surface.

The Kinsenda ore body is hosted in a thick sequence of coarse to fine-grained sandstones, siltstones and shales of the Lower Roan Group in the footwall of the Ore Shale Member, and is generically referred to as a “footwall orebody”.

Sub parallel horst (highs) and graben (depressions) features in the pre-deposition basement are suggested by rapid variations in the thickness of the basal units of the Lower Roan both along strike and down dip. There is a strong correlation between the position of the Kinsenda deposit and the basement granite paleotopography, very similar to that of the Chibuluma South deposit. The host rocks occur as valley fill sediments in the down-faulted graben structures adjacent to growth faults that were active during sedimentation. The basement growth faults are oriented in a roughly ENE alignment and have a well-defined magnetic signature that can be traced into the basement rocks of the Luina Dome to the north of the Kinsenda deposit.

Kinsenda is a copper-only sulphide orebody consisting of predominantly chalcocite, bornite and chalcopyrite mineralisation hosted in detrital conglomerates, sandstones and argillaceous siltstones of the Lower Roan Group. The orebody consists of a number of vertically stacked, tabular mineralised zones varying in width from 1 m to 20 m, and generally occurring in the more porous, conglomerate rich zones directly below thick, less permeable siltstone rich zones.

The combined orebody occurs over a strike of approximately 2 000 m, dipping moderately at 25° to 30°. In plan view, the mineralised lenses form a series of partially overlapping, wedge shaped tabular bodies with a northwest-southeast strike orientation, which form laterally continuous lenses referred to as the upper upper ore zone (“UUOZ”), upper ore zone (“UOZ”), middle ore zone (MOZ”), lower ore zone (“LOZ”) and the basal lower lower ore zone (“LLOZ”).

The UUOZ and UOZ occur above the 285mL (285 m below surface) and have been largely mined out. The UOZ is separated from the MOZ by a low grade (less than 2% Cu) zone of approximately 40 m thickness. The waste separation between the other lenses is generally in the order of only a few metres. The LOZ is laterally discontinuous and is divided into multiple zones which can split and coalesce over relatively short distances, with two main components termed LOZA and LOZB.

The MOZ is the most extensively developed and has a maximum strike length of approximately 2 000 m, while the UUOZ has the shortest strike length of 250 m. On dip, the maximum length of the ore bodies can be up to 800 m, with ore thickness ranging from 1 m in peripheral areas to 22 m in the central portions. At least 60% of the mineralisation occurs in zones between 4 m and 12 m wide with an average width of all lenses of 5.9 m. The LOZA and LOZB zones have the highest grade and also constitute 64% of total mineral resource tonnage.

The mineralisation occurs predominantly as interstitial sulphides filling pore spaces in the coarse sediments. Copper oxides represent a maximum of 20% of the mineralisation with the proportion of oxides decreasing with depth. Cobalt minerals are rare and largely restricted to cobaltiferous pyrite.

Mined from underground using a mechanised longitudinal drift and fill, and long-hole stoping with fill mining method.

The Kinsenda concentrator is designed to recover copper from a Cu sulphide/oxide ore body at a treatment rate of 50 ktpm at an average feed grade of 4.5% Cu over the LoM. The proposed Kinsenda concentrator design is based on well understood and proven technology. The process plant design criteria are based on the results of the suite of metallurgical tests carried out at Mintek. MDM did the plant design and it was completed in March 2011. Subsequently DRA was requested to finalize and optimize the design.

The process plant comprises three-stage crushing (primary jaw crusher, semi autogenous (“SAG”) mill and pebble cone crusher), flash flotation, thickener, filter press and tailings backfill cyclone and plant.

The RoM stockpile will have a capacity of 100 kt. This will be utilized at the beginning of the operation before the concentrator is commissioned. The intention is to keep the ore in this stockpile at a minimum once the whole operation is commissioned i ........