The Kinsevere Copper deposit is a sedimentary hosted copper deposit. The deposit is hosted in moderately to steeply dipping Neoproterozoic sedimentary formation of the Roan group of the Katanga stratigraphy in the Mine Series subgroup of Katangan African Copper belt.

On surface, the Kinsevere Copper deposit has been mapped as made of three separate Mine Series fragments (large breccia clasts of the Mine Series) whereby the first two fragments are situated along a major N-S oriented fracture and separated by a sinistral strike-slip fault, while the third fragment, called Kinsevere Hill, is situated along major NW-SE fracture and separated from the other fragments by another sinistral strike-slip fault. All these fragments are affected by fractures and breccias.

The sulphide, transitional and oxide mineralisation in the Kinsevere copper deposit are either disseminated in recrystallised layers or infilling bedding plans, reactivated bedding, fractures and joints. Sulphide mineralisation includes chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite and pyrite. Oxide mineralisation is dominated by malachite with lesser chrysocolla. A transitional zone exists between the primary and oxide zones with both a horizontal trend, controlled by ground water movements, and a sub vertical trend controlled by bedding and structures. Transitional copper species include chalcocite, cuprite, covellite and native copper.

Mining operations are conducted by open-pit methods. The ores mined are the oxide types malachite and cuprite with a small proportion of transitional ore and minor native copper. The current life of mine (LOM) is out to 2024 after taking into account mining from oxide resources and recovery from existing oxide stockpiles.

The mining rate is designed to feed the 2.3Mtpa processing plant with ore blending to produce a copper feed grade of around 3.7%. Depending on the mining sequence, the mining rate may differ from the processing rate due to stockpile build or withdrawal. Typical working stockpile inventory is 100,000 tonnes. Kinsevere also maintains a much higher stockpile balance of 4.8mt at 2.1% copper, partly to manage Run of Mine (ROM) head grade and partly for stockpiling low-grade ore for processing later in the mine life. Currently, all mining is from the Central pit, but the future mine plan calls for two or three pits to be mined concurrently. The total life of mine waste to ore ratio is 2:1.

MMG employs the contractor MCK for most mining functions at Kinsevere including civil works, mine development and drilling. Ore and waste haulage is by six-wheel articulated trucks with a capacity of 15-16m3 (approximately 40 tonnes). These trucks are small for a mining operation and are more commonly employed in civil applications. However, they are very suitable for wet weather conditions and provide good operating flexibility. The wet season extends from October to April, with the wettest periods in January and February. Kinsevere continues to focus on initiatives that will lead to further mining efficiencies.

Kinsevere mines and processes oxide ore. This enables the operation to use the conventional solvent extraction/electrowinning (SXEW) process (Exhibit 3) to produce A grade refined 99.99% copper cathode.

The Kinsevere operation was commissioned in 2007 as a Heavy Media Separation (HMS) operation with a copper concentrate product. The current SXEW plant was completed in 2011 and the HMS plant was closed.

Elements of the current plant and SXEW process include:

Ore grinding – this uses a single stage SAG mill operating in a closed circuit. This produces a 200 micron feed, which is then directed to the leach tanks. The SAG mill operation is unusual in that sulphuric acid is added to the circuit to start the leach process early in advance of the leach tanks. The leaching process involves the extraction of copper from solid copper oxide using the sulphuric acid solution. Although the acid concentration in the SAG mill circuit is lower than that in the leach t ........