The manganese mineralisation at K.Hill occurs primarily as a supergene-enriched Mn-shale present in two distinct horizons in the upper portion of a larger shale package within the Black Reef Quartzite Formation of the Transvaal Supergroup. The Mn-shale horizons are overlain by a hard chert dolomite breccia (CDB) unit. In plan, the northern part of the K.Hill deposit is approximately kidney-shaped, reflecting the pattern of outcrop along the edges of the hill, while to the south, there is outcrop expression.

The Mn-shale outcrops along the northerly scarp slope of the Kgwakgwe Hill and dips into the hill. The strata at K.Hill dip gently toward the NW, at an average of approximately 5° to 10°, and S and Z parasitic folding is common. Numerous outcrops display parasitic folding, with local dips varying from 45° to almost subvertical. This is not consistent with the overall shallow dip of the Mn-shale and adjacent units. Where the deposit outcrops in the north, the Mn-shale unit is kidney shaped. The unit varies between approximately 2 m and 15 m thick, with an average thickness in the order of 4 m and has a delineated extent of approximately 1,900 m N-S and 350 m E-W. Some of these thicker intersections may be local fold duplications of a single horizon. In general, the Southern Extension Area shows greater thicknesses of the mineralisation than in the north.

The mineralised horizons have been interpreted as two main packages: the Upper Mn-shale Horizon A a ........

The K-Hill Project will be developed as a small-scale open pit mining operation. Just over 2 Mt of ore will be mined at an average diluted head grade of 18.9% manganese oxide and an average strip ratio of 5.0 over a 11-year LOM. Due to the continuous nature of the deposit and the minor low-grade mineralisation that exists along much of the Mineral Reserve boundary, the impact of both dilution and ore loss is expected to be minimal to Project economics.

Open pit design parameters:
• bench height: 4 m
• face angles: 70°
• berm width: 3.2 m
• inter-ramp angle: 41°

A ramp width of 13 m has been used in the pit design, which is in line with industry-standard ramp widths for the considered haul truck class. This ramp width was estimated based on 3.5 × truck width (3 m) = 10.5 m, which was increased to 13 m considering the required drainage and safety bund walls.

The pit design contains a total ROM inventory (excluding Inferred material) of 2,032 kt grading 18.9% manganese oxide above an in-situ cut-off of 7.3% manganese oxide. The overall strip ratio is 5.0 t:t (waste:ore). Considering the location of the pit on a hill, the highest elevation difference relative to the pit crest on the east and pit bottom on the west is roughly 95 m.

Waste rock dump (WRD ) and stockpile design
The WRD design has a total height of 74 m due to the elevation differences of the underlying topography. The maximum elevation from the ........

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