PRESS RELEASES

Pasofino Gold Limited has completed drilling works at the Bukon Jedeh ‘gold camp’ within the Company’s Dugbe Gold Project, Liberia.

Warren Greenslade, Pasofino Interim CEO made the announcement and credited the smooth operation was as a result good relationships with local communities. He expressed optimism about the visual results and the potential for high-grade gold based on existing evidence.

Bukon Jedeh

The Bukon Jedeh area has been a significant site for gold production in Liberia for decades, mainly through informal mining. Past exploration by Equator Resources Limited in 2012 included reverse circulation (RC) drilling but did not cover the most productive pits developed afterward.

The program involved drilling 11 holes totaling 1,328 meters across a 4 km long area, targeting key mining sites, historic drill intersections, and new promising intervals identified by sulphide mineral abundance.

The third phase construction of concentrator at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been finished.

Ivanhoe Mines made the announcement and said the development occurred ahead of schedule and within budget, with the initial ore introduced to the new concentrator, and the first concentrate production expected next month. The ramp-up to commercial production is targeted for the third quarter of this year.

The Phase 3 concentrator is designed to process ore from Kamoa 1, Kamoa 2, and the Kansoko underground mines. Once fully operational, it will position Kamoa-Kakula as the world’s fourth-largest copper mining complex and the largest in Africa. By April 30, 2024, Ivanhoe Mines had accumulated 2.25 million tonnes (mt) of ore with a copper grade of 3.1% in surface stockpiles.

Scope of work

Commissioning of the Phase 3 concentrator began with dry commissioning last month, followed by wet commissioning on May 26. The new concentrator’s output, characterized by higher sulphuric content, will reduce the external energy needed for the smelter. About 70,000 tonnes (t) of this concentrate will be stockpiled in preparation for the smelter’s start-up. The completion of the Phase 3 concentrator is expected to increase the complex’s annual copper production to over 600,000 tonnes by the third quarter of 2024.

Making mines safer and more productive has long been the strategic intention of mine automation, and surface drill rigs are now part of this technological evolution.

According to Kabelo Nkoana, Business Line Manager for Automation and Digitisation at Sandvik Southern Africa, AutoMine® is available for Sandvik i-Series models in the company’s intelligent range of down-the-hole top hammer and rotary blast hole drill rigs. Mining customers in southern Africa have been embracing the functionality, and reporting positive results.

“Sandvik AutoMine® system essentially replicates the machine control system to enable remote automation over the mine’s Wi-Fi network,” he says. “There is an awareness that safety could be compromised when rigs are operating close to a highwall, or when there are unstable geological conditions on the bench. Automating a drill rig in these conditions is an important contributor to safety.”

Surface drills

Sandvik’s i-Series machines come standard with features such as the onboard data collection unit technology for engine operation and other major components. Various operational and machine health data from the sensors are collected in the OEM’s Knowledge Box, and transmitted to cloud storage for analysis and real time reporting to support informed and accurate decision making. This creates the foundation for the automation process, which also enhances reliability and performance.

Pilot Crushtec’s crushing and screening solutions are key for a wide range of applications within the energy minerals sector, and the company has built a significant footprint in these industry segments.

Wayne Warren, Sales Manager Africa at Pilot Crushtec, highlights that the company has crushing and screening equipment operating successfully in lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, copper and graphite operations in the region.

“The flexibility of our mobile and modular equipment allows customers to tailor solutions to match diverse ore characteristics and processing plant requirements. This adaptability is crucial, especially when dealing with variations within the same commodity category, like lithium ores that differ in behaviour,” he explains.

Pilot Crushtec

Pilot Crushtec’s equipment selection also considers material abrasiveness, minimising equipment wear by bypassing crushers when necessary. Their mobile equipment often includes pre-screening options as standard, reducing the need for additional screens.

The increasing reliance of South African businesses on generator sets (gensets) to mitigate power disruptions highlights a crucial need for proper selection based on specific operational demands. Despite their growing usage, there’s still widespread confusion about how to choose the appropriate genset, often leading to inefficient and costly decisions.

Understanding the differences between standby, prime and continuous applications is essential to optimise genset performance and longevity. This is according to Craig Bouwer, Senior Manager Gensets at WEG Africa, who explains that many customers mistakenly select gensets based solely on nameplate rating.

“Understanding the specific application of the genset is crucial for the right selection, and the first step is knowing that genset applications are broadly categorised into standby, prime and continuous, each with distinct operational requirements,” he says.

Gensets

Standby gensets are seldom used, typically kept for emergency situations. These units have a limit on operational hours per year and a specific load factor. In South Africa, due to frequent load shedding, few gensets are used solely for standby purposes.