PAN AFRICAN resources company Mwana Africa has decided to press ahead with its Hunter’s Road nickel project, in Zimbabwe, following the improved outlook for nickel prices since April last year, says technical director Ken Owen.
“Site preparations are currently advancing well. We are satisfied with the progress made by Engineering Project Company, which has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction-management contract, as well as with progress made by JD Goddards, the local mining contractor that has been awarded the prestrip for the openpit. The tailings dam, which is going to be a codisposal system, has been designed, and our consultants are happy with the progress,” he says.
The mine was originally scheduled to start production with the closure of Mwana’s Shangani mine, but the soaring nickel price shifted the company’s plans. Owen says that Mwana Africa took over Bindura Nickel Corporation in 2003, having acquired the assets from Anglo American. The Hunter’s Road project came with this acquisition.
The Hunter’s Road deposit lies in the upper Bulawayan Group within the Gweru-Midlands South Greenstone belt, in central Zimbabwe. Mwana Africa has a 53% controlling interest in Bindura Nickel, which holds the exploration licences to Hunter’s Road.
An indicated resource of 33-million tons has been defined at an average grade of 0,5% nickel. Between 40 and 50 people, including the prestrip contractors, are on site at present. Owen expects that number to peak at 400 during construction , and for the ongoing operating team to peak at 250 to 300 people.
Mwana has had technological input from Outukumpu on the design of the flotation section. The final product will be high-purity nickel cathodes and run-of-mine ore will be milled and concentrated on site to produce a concentrate grading between 10% and 12% nickel.
This will be transported by road or rail to the Bindura Smelter & Refinery (BSR) complex at Bindura. Except for a small offtake in Zimbabwe, the cathodes will be cut to customers’ specification and exported globally.
The project will be commissioned around the second quarter of 2009, but Owen is hopeful that this timeframe can be accelerated.
The capital estimate for the project is just under $70-million, with an initial output of 2 500 t/y of nickel. Crushers and mills from the closed Madziwa and Epoch mines are being refurbished in Bulawayo, which has shortened the delivery time for normally long lead time items and advanced the commissioning date.
While no concrete has yet been cast on site, the prefeasibility and feasibility phases have been completed. The final detailed engineering work is well advanced and procurement has started. The next step, says Owen, will be the finalisation of financing, and the placing of the orders against the tenders that are currently being adjudicated.
Owen says that the ultimate goal of the project is to fill the smelter, which has a capacity of 170 000 t of concentrate, and the refinery with a capacity of 145 00 t of cathode, integrating the Hunter’s Road operation with Mwana’s two other mines, Shangani and Trojan, thereby maximising the use of all these existing facilities.
Mwana will decide at a later stage whether to contract the mining operation, or to do the mining itself.
Owen admits that the political climate in Zimbabwe has had an effect on the project, and that operations have been difficult in the last six months, with contractors apprehensive about committing to work in Zimbabwe.
The outcome of the Zimbabwe elections was still in the balance at the time of writing, and the outcome will provide certainty going forward. A number of well-trained and competent Zimbabwean workers have been lost as a result of the prevailing political conditions and the commodities boom, and Owen hopes skills will return to an improving economy.
Owen says that the Reserve Bank has given permission for Mwana to pay selected technically skilled employees in foreign exchange, and he hopes that this will be instrumental in stemming the tide of worker losses. Previously, workers were paid in Zimbabwe dollars.
He also notes that social concerns about the project have been taken into account, with community meetings and full engagement with the local municipalities. He says that the locals have received the project favourably, and see it as a great opportunity to uplift the region.
Owen says that the mine has a complex mineralogy, with hard rock, and this has presented a considerable challenge. The company is putting in capacity in both the flotation section and the comminution section to handle this. This phase, he notes, is being seen as a design phase for the expansion, in which Mwana hopes to increase production from 60 000 t/m to 160 000 t/m. It also hopes to increase production to 240 000 t/m in a third phase. He notes that the second two phases may run concurrently, depending on how well the operation is running.
Kalaa Mpinga founded Mwana Africa in 2003 and listed on the Aim market, in London, in October 2005, and has built up the company in a short space of time, with a current estimated market capitalisation of £150-million. It is a multicommodity company, active in base metals, gold and diamonds, and has operations and exploration activities in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and South Africa.
Mining Weekly Online
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