Kansanshi mineralisation occurs as hydrothermal, structurally controlled, vein and strata hosted copper deposits.

The Kansanshi deposit, currently mined from the Main Pit and the North West Pit, is hosted by deformed metasediments of the Lower Kundulungu Group, within the Katanga Supergroup of the Zambian Central African Copperbelt. The individual rock units of the stratigraphic sequence comprise dolomites, dolomitic marbles, and various schists and phyllites. The recently defined South East Dome and Rocky Hill deposits, in the south east of the tenement area, are similarly hosted but separated from the Main Pit by a structural discontinuity.

Copper mineralisation at Kansanshi occurs within two domal structures along the crest of a regional antiform. These domes are closely associated with the deposit mineralisation been mined in the Main and North West Pits. Three styles of primary sulphide mineralisation are associated with these domes:
* stratified and disseminated mineralisation
* vertically dipping, quartz-carbonate-sulphide veins crosscutting the stratigraphy
* breccia mineralisation

Oxidation of primary mineralisation is associated with depth of weathering, and is reflected as:
* nearer surface weathering around vertical veins, with oxide mineralisation evident as malachite and tenorite
* mixed mineralisation, with a wide variety of copper ore mineralogy, occurs in a wide transitional zone between the base of complete oxidation and the top of fresh rock

Mineralisation at South East Dome and Rocky Hill occur as higher grades associated with near vertical brecciation and veins as well as lower grades associated with stratigraphic controlled mineralisation.

Primary copper sulphide mineralisation is dominated by chalcopyrite, with very minor bornite and is accompanied by relatively minor pyrite and pyrrhotite. Oxide mineralisation is dominated by chrysocolla with malachite, limonite and cupriferous goethite. The mixed zone includes both oxide and primary mineralisation but also carries significant chalcocite, minor native copper and tenorite. Some copper appears to be hosted in clay and mica minerals, and is essentially refractory. Gold mineralisation appears to occur in association with copper.

Open pit mining at Kansanshi is based on conventional drill and blast, load and haul mining techniques. Mining has proceeded from initial excavations in two pits (Main and North West) through a sequence of cutbacks, which in the longer term will result in these pits merging. A newly defined, nearby resource at South East Dome will contribute to the longer term production profile, but is unlikely to merge with the other two pits.

The cutbacks generally comprise wide benches of 200 metres to 300 metres width, providing several mining horizons to satisfy the feed requirements for multiple processing routes. The bench heights within the pits are designed on either 5 metres to 10 metres depending on geotechnical constraints. In general, ore is hauled to a ROM Pad located immediately south of the North West pit where it is either tipped directly into the crushers or stockpiled for future rehandling if required.

Waste is hauled to various dumps around the northern and southern extremities of the Main pit, around the western, northern and eastern extremities of the North West pit, and to the northern, eastern and southern extremities of the future South East Dome pit.

Dewatering of the Main pit is currently carried out by means of a 4.1m diameter vertical raise bored shaft to the east of Main pit which has been effective in lowering the groundwater surface below the level of the current base of the Main pit. A project is currently underway to deepen the current dewatering system to cater for the deepening of Main pit. Water pumped from the vertical raise bored shaft is piped to a storage dam to supplement the process water demand. Dewatering of the North West pit is currently carried out by means of collection and pumping from in-pit sumps.

The Kansanshi mining fleet comprises diesel powered production drills, various sized hydraulic excavators and electric shovels, diesel powered and diesel-electric powered haul truck trucks and various ancillary equipment to support mining operations. Mining is carried out by the Company’s own equipment fleet.

The prime focus for future mining is to maximize the efficient use of grid electrical power throughout the mining process, coupled with bulk mining systems to ensure that unit costs can be minimized. Initially, this strategy has been met with the installation of trolley-assist equipment for a portion of the truck fleet.

The Kansanshi process plant has been designed to operate with a high degree of flexibility to suit the various ore types delivered from the mined orebodies. The three main process routes are for treating sulphide, mixed and oxide ores independently. The flexibility of the circuitry, however, allows any ore type to be treated through any of the three circuits. This allows balancing of the tonnages as each circuit has a different inherent capacity.

Mixed float and mixed leach ores are treated via crushing, milling, flotation, sulphuric acid leaching and the SXEW process to produce cathode copper. The ore is treated with a sulphidising agent, NaHS (sodium hydrosulphide) to assist with flotation to recover a proportion of acid-insoluble copper minerals and gold. The concentrate so produced is filtered (pressure filters) and sold along with concentrate from the separate sulphide and mixed ore processing plants.

Sulphide ore is treated via crushing, milling and flotatio ........