Overview
| Status | Inactive / Suspended |
| Mine Type | Open Pit |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
|
African Copper PLC was the 100% holding company of Messina Copper Botswana (Pty) Ltd (“MCB”) which was a copper concentrate producer from its 100% owned the Mowana Copper Mine and Thakadu mine.
Between the period from 2012 to 2015, MCB sourced the majority of its feed requirements from its 100% owned higher-grade Thakadu mine. The Mowana Mine was re-opened in 2014 to supplement the Thakadu ore, but MCB was placed in liquidation on 13 November 2015, following an application to the High Court of Botswana by creditors of MCB. All mining and processing activities ceased at this point and a structured wind-down and care and maintenance program was implemented. On 15 December 2015 MCB was put in final liquidation.
Operations at the Thakadu mine were suspended in June 2015 as the operation neared the end of its scheduled mine life. |
Source:
p. 18
| Company | Interest | Ownership |
|
ZCI Ltd.
|
40 %
|
Indirect
|
|
Cradle Arc Plc.
|
60 %
|
Indirect
|
|
Leboam Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
On 21 December 2016, Cradle Arc Plc announced that it had entered into a conditional acquisition agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Cradle Arc Investments (Pty) Limited (“CAI”) for a consideration of £1 million payable in cash and the issue of consideration shares to the vendor and its nominees representing, in aggregate, 60 per cent. of the enlarged share capital on completion. CAI is a holding company incorporated in Botswana which, via Leboam Holdings Limited (“Leboam”) acquired the Mowana Copper Mine, a producing mine located in north east Botswana from Messina Copper (Botswana) (Pty) Limited (in liquidation) (“MCB”) through a liquidation process. Pursuant to the acquisition, US$20 million is payable to the liquidators of MCB (the Leboam Payment) and the existing major secured creditor of the mine, ZCI Limited (“ZCI”), as a term loan. ZCI then converted US$79 million of its US$110 million loan into shares equivalent to 40% of the equity in Leboam.
Contractors
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Summary:
The Thakadu Copper Project is hosted within the Matsitama Metasedimentary Group, comprising carbonaceous and argillaceous metasediments which are enclosed within foliated granitoids of the Mosetse Complex. The Matsitama Metasedimentary Group lies in structural contact or unconformably over the granite/gneisses and forms two main areas of outcrop; the Matsitama Belt (which hosts the Thakadu and Makala deposits) and the arcuate “Bushman Belt” to the north where the Thakadu Mine is situated. The Matsitama Metasedimentary Group consists of greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks with the following types of rocks identified: calcareous sandstones, conglomerates, pelites, arkoses, quartzites, volcanic tuffs and agglomerates, amphibolites, limestones, banded ironstones and serpentinites.
The copper mineralisation is broadly strata-bound and hosted by a complexly folded sequence of felsic sedimentary rocks, about 50 150m thick. The felsic metasedimentary sequence includes siliceous carbonates, biotite schists, calcareous pelites and graphitic carbonates. The stratigraphy above and below the felsic package is dominated by amphibolite derived from mafic/intermediate intrusives, volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks.
Hypogene sulphide mineralisation is predominantly hosted by quartz and quartz-carbonate rich arenites and to a lesser extent in biotite schists. Chalcopyrite is the dominant Cu-sulphide with minor bornite. Pyrrhotite is present in some zones an ........
Summary:
Thakadu's ore is transported by road to the Mowana mine processing facility and it shares the Mowana mine infrastructure and management.
Recoveries & Grades:
| Commodity | Parameter | 2014 |
|
Copper
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 80.6 |
|
Copper
|
Head Grade, %
| 1.66 |
Production:
| Commodity | Product | Units | 2014 | 2013 |
|
Copper
|
Metal in concentrate
|
t
| 9,951 * | 9,496 |
|
Copper
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| 43* | 44 |
|
Silver
|
Metal in concentrate
|
oz
| ...... | ...... |
Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | 2014 | 2013 |
|
Tonnes processed
| 748,911 t | 801,901 t |
Reserves at November 1, 2014:
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Indicated
|
2,268 kt
|
Copper
|
1.11 %
|
25 kt
|
|
Inferred
|
5,380 kt
|
Copper
|
0.63 %
|
34 kt
|
Mine Management:
| Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
|
.......................
|
.......................
|
|
Jan 26, 2021
|
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