Summary

Mine Type	Underground
Status	Active
Commodities	Copper Cobalt
Mining Method	Sub-level caving Vertical Crater Retreat Longitudinal Room-and-Pillar
Backfill type	...
Production Start	...
Snapshot	Nkana Mine comprises four underground mines and several open pits, (although none of the open pits are currently operational) and surface metallurgical units as concentrators and refinery operations. Mopani Copper Mines has between 2014 and 2021 sunk and equipped brand new Syclinorium and Mindola Deeps Shafts to replace the old infrastructure. Mindola Deeps Shaft will be one of the deepest shafts ever sunk in Zambia at 2,020 metres. Mopani will also fine tune the newly commissioned Synclinorium concentrator. These expansion projects are expected to be commissioned to full capacity by 2027. The new infrastructure is expected to extend the life of the mine by over 25 years.

Deposit type

• Sediment-hosted

Summary:

The predominant mega-structure of the mining area is the northwest-plunging Nkana syncline. This structure is asymmetric, with a curved axial plane inclined steeply to the northwest in the trough of the syncline but upright to westward dipping at higher structural levels. A complex occupies the axial zone of the syncline but this folding dies out on its flanks. As a result of the north-westerly plunge of the Nkana syncline, the present land surface represents a horizontal section through progressively higher structural levels of the syncline from southeast to northwest.

The mines are situated on the north-eastern limb of the Nkana Syncline area. Other cupriferous zones are present in the nose and southwest limb of the syncline. The orebodies are stratiform and are mainly confined to a recognisable ore formation, which occurs near the base of the Katangan sequence within the Lower Roan Group of the Mine Series. In the underground workings, the principal copper ore minerals are chalcopyrite and bornite with subordinate chalcocite. There is a zoning in the geographical distribution of these minerals. Cobalt occurs as carrollite and cobaltiferious pyrite. The principal ore minerals are malachite, pseudomalchite, chrysocolla, native copper, cuprite and libethenite. In the open pit, malachite and chrysocolla are the principal ore minerals in the zone of oxidation closer to the surface. In some places however, vermiculite, malachite pseudomalachite and accessory wad are more important. At deeper levels chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite are predominantly present.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

Operational metrics

Metrics	2022
Annual processing capacity	....

Personnel

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