Mining Intelligence and News
DRC

Frontier Mine

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Australia

Frontier Mine

Location: 30 km NW from Ndola, DRC

Regional Office:

238 Route Likasi Commune Annexe Province Haut Katanga
Lubumbashi
DRC

Contacts:

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Copper
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotFrontier Mine comprises an open-cast copper mine and processing facilities to produce copper sulphide concentrate.

The Cut 3 project ended in the first half of 2024 and extraction of Cut 4 ore started in June 2024.

Cut 4 project at Frontier has the potential to extend the life of Frontier mine by 10 years. Eurasian Resources also continued to investigate the potential for a further life of mine extension focused on underground development (known as Frontier Deeps).

In 2024, significantly lower copper concentrate output at Frontier was mainly due to delays in the Cut 4 ramp-up and ore being lower-grade than planned.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo 5 % Indirect
Eurasian Resources Group S.a r.l. 95 % Indirect
Frontier SA (operator) 100 % Direct
(Translated from French using AI)

Frontier SA is 95% owned by ENRC Congo B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Eurasian Resources Group Sarl (ERG). The remaining 5% of the project is owned by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Frontier SA, a Congolese law company, is responsible for operating the mine, whose extension (called “Cut 4”) is the subject of the current update of the ESIA/ESMP.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Stratabound
  • Sediment-hosted

Summary:

(Translated from French using AI)
The geological sequence in the project area consists of sandstones, andesitic lava flows and their reworked equivalents, followed by dolomites and olive-green argillite (mudstone). The argillite (mudstone) is in turn overlain by whitish dolomites, locally referred to as white dolomites or simply lower-footwall dolomites. Above the white dolomite lies an argillite unit divided into two by an intermediate limestone. Grey and pink argillites are used locally to differentiate the lower and upper argillite units respectively, although alteration and overprinting by mineralization make precise color-based classification difficult. The lower argillite is generally thicker than the upper argillite.

The argillite is overlain by sandstone (the marker unit), a distinctly clast-textured sandstone that is matrix-supported, with angular to sub-rounded siliceous clasts. The matrix appears recrystallized. The grain composition is almost exclusively silica, making it an appropriate marker unit (as it withstands textural obliteration caused by alteration or mineralization). Above the marker lies the black shale, whose altered equivalents host most of Frontier SA’s mineralization. Fresh, unaltered black shales are distinctly dark due to high carbon content, although laminated varieties are not uncommon. Stratification is defined by carbonate and/or pyrite.

The mineralized facies of the black shale are pink or grey, the color resulting from albite, the main alteration mineral. The black shale is conformably overlain by the Grand Conglomerate, a glaciogenic diamictite and an unequivocal regional stratigraphic marker defining the base of the Nguba. The fact that the diamictite contact with the underlying shale is conformable confirms that the shale can be confidently assigned to the Mwashya. The Nguba tillite is overlain by a crystalline dolomite that forms a major aquifer in the project area. This dolomite is in turn overlain by silicic black shale. The silicic black shale has only been intersected in drillholes located farther east, outside the Mine boundary.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnits20242023202220212020201920182017
Copper Metal in concentrate M lbs  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe183308315
Copper Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Operational metrics

Metrics202420232022
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Annual milling capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 5, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 14, 2025
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....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 5, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 14, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 5, 2025

Workforce

Aerial view:

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