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South Africa
Gamsberg Mine

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 Location:
113 km NE from Springbok, South Africa

  Address:
1 Penge Road
Private Bag X01
Aggeneys
South Africa
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Fax+27-54-983-9244
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  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Costs & Financials
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

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Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeOpen Pit
Commodities
  • Zinc
  • Lead
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Processing
  • Crush & Screen plant
  • Flotation
Mine Life30 years (as of Jan 1, 2020)
Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) has restarted operations at its Gamsberg Open Pit Mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province.

All mining activities at the mine have been suspended since 17 November 2020 following a geotechnical failure, which trapped 10 employees.
Latest NewsVedanta board approves R7 billion towards Gamsberg expansion     April 1, 2022


Owners

Source:
CompanyInterestOwnership
Employee Share Ownership Plan (the ‘ESOP’) 6 % Indirect
Exxaro Resources Ltd. 24.4 % Indirect
Vedanta Resources plc. 69.6 % Indirect
Black Mountain Mining Pty Ltd (operator) 100 % Direct
Vedanta holds 69.6%. Exxaro Resources, a leading South African BEE company owns 24.4% and ESOP holds 6%.

Deposit Type

  • Broken Hill-type (BHT)


Summary:

The Broken Hill deposits form part of the Bushmanland Group which is a volcano- sedimentary sequence that hosts ore deposits (Reid et al., 1997). This group has metapelitic rocks that are CaNa-Mg depleted. The group’s ore body is divided into two types: a pyrrhotite-galena-sphaleritechalcopyrite ore hosted by quartz-garnet-rich gangue (Black Mountain and Broken Hill) and a pyrite-pyrrhotite-sphalerite ore hosted by quartz- biotite-sillimanite gangue (Big Syncline and Gamsberg). The principal ore minerals are sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite with garnet and apatite being minor constituents. Barite horizons occur as lateral equivalents of the sulphide ores at Black Mountain and Gamsberg and calcitic marble bands are associated with the Big Syncline and Gamsberg (Moore et al., 1990).

Despite the discovery of Gamsberg zinc deposit in 1972, the ore body continues to be South Africa’s greatest unexploited base metal resource. Regardless of its size, the low zinc and high manganese content of the sphalerite combined with the low zinc price prohibits the development of the deposit. The high manganese content of the sphalerite makes it unsuitable for processing by conventional methods i.e. roasting, leaching/ solvent extraction and/or electrowinning (McClung & Viljoen, 2011). The ore body has two distinct ore types, namely pelitic and garnetmagnetite ore. The pelitic ore is characterized by a high Fe-suphide content whilst the garnet-magnetite ore have higher levels of garnet, FeMn-silicates and magnetite (Schouwstra et al., 2010).

The economic value of the deposit is dependent on the mineralogical characteristics and associations present in the ore assemblage, i.e. the loss of sphalerite to tailings in flotation circuits due to inadequate particle separation reduces the economic viability of the process option. Given the low grade of the ore and the sensitivity to manganese level in concentrates, the pelitic ore is the more attractive option to process hence this ore type is discussed in detail below.

Mineralization for this ore reserves occurs within the Gams formation and is hosted by a thin, less than 1 km thick deformed and metamorphosed, continental margin volcano-sedimentary rocks (McClung & Viljoen, 2011). According to Porter GeoConsultancy (2001), the Gams ore comprises three units, namely:

- A lower member composed of a diverse suite of quartz-felspar-garnet-clinopyroxene rock, garnet- clinopyroxene-feldspar marble and garnet-clinopyroxene-quartz-magnetite rocks.
- A middle sulphide zone with quartz-garnet-amphibole rocks and graphitic quartzsillimanite- muscovite-feldspar containing major amounts of pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite and galena.
- An upper unit of diverse garnet, pyroxenoid, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, amphibole, quartz, apatite, carbonate, magnetite, hematite and barite bearing rocks.

The Gams ore is underlain by white quartzite with minor schists and conglomerate which succeeds the Hoogoor Suite leuco-gneisses. The deposit is located at the contact between the underlying quartzite and overlying Koeris formation (Porter GeoConsultancy, 2001). It is confined to a single, large sheath-fold that forms a steep-sided inselberg measuring 7 km by 5 km (McClung & Viljoen, 2011). Zinc is only found in sulphides in the Gams ore body; hence, the middle zone is discussed in detail.

The sulphide zone is irregularly present within the shear fold structure and is weakly mineralized containing 1 to 4 % Zn. The intervals of weaker mineralization include a number of higher grade cores with 7 % Zn embracing smaller cores containing of above 10 % Zn. The sphalerite ore rich in pyrrhotite and pyrite is located near the centre of the Gams ore Formation, flanked by iron sulphides, predominantly pyrite below and pyrrhotite above. These iron sulphides are in turn sandwiched by magnetite and hematite rich zones towards the outer margins of Gams Formation (Porter GeoConsultancy, 2001). There are six sphalerite populations in the Gams ore: zinc-, cobalt-, iron- and manganese-rich, as well as manganese-enriched and manganese-poor. The zinc- and cobalt-rich populations display high zinc contents and low concentrations of iron and manganese, while the iron-rich population displays higher iron contents. Dominating the sphalerites of the mineralized pelitic schist is the manganese-enriched population (McClung & Viljoen, 2011).


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

Gamsberg is one of the largest known, undeveloped zinc orebodies in the world and comprises an open pit mine and a dedicated processing plant.

54MT reserves have been added post completion of Feasibility study for expansion which can result in additional 200ktpa MIC production over and above current production. The mine design and the new reserve statement was completed with the Resource to Reserve conversion as scheduled. The project is currently split into two distinctive sections, one focused on increasing the mining to 9 MTPA and second focused on construction of a duplicate concentrator plant, effectively doubling the capacity.


Crushing and Grinding


Processing

  • Crush & Screen plant
  • Flotation

Flow Sheet: Subscription required

Summary:

During Phase 1, at full production capacity Gamsberg will produce 4 000,000 tonnes of ore from its open pit mine and 250,000 tonnes per annum of zinc-in-concentrate.

Studies into Gamsberg Phase 2 and 3 are underway which will see ore mined increase to 8 million tonnes per annum and production of zinc-in-concentrate to 450,000 tonnes, and, in a modular fashion, ultimately to 600,000 tonnes per annum. It will reflect an additional investment of US$350 to US$400 million.


Production:

CommodityProductUnits202120202019
Zinc Metal in concentrate kt  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
Zinc Concentrate kt  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics202120202019
Ore tonnes mined  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required1.55 Mt
Annual production capacity  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required250,000 t of zinc concentrate
Total tonnes mined  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required41 Mt
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Reserves at March 31, 2021:

CategoryTonnage CommodityGrade
Proven & Probable 110.4 Mt Zinc 6.1 %
Proven & Probable 110.4 Mt Lead 0.5 %
Measured & Indicated 36.3 Mt Zinc 6.1 %
Measured & Indicated 36.3 Mt Lead 0.5 %
Inferred 78 Mt Zinc 8 %
Inferred 78 Mt Lead 0.6 %

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnits202120202019
Cash costs Zinc USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.


Heavy Mobile Equipment:

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 30, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 30, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 30, 2021
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Staff:

EmployeesYear
Subscription required 2020
Subscription required 2019

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
Fact Sheet 2018
Other 2018
Other 2015
Sustainability Report 2015
Annual Report 32
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

News:

NewsDate
Vedanta board approves R7 billion towards Gamsberg expansion April 1, 2022
Vedanta reopens Gamsberg zinc mine in South Africa January 16, 2021
Vedanta Zinc International advice of a Geotechnical Failure at Gamsberg November 17, 2020

Aerial view:

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