BONUS MAGAZINE: THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN CANADIAN DIAMONDS Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM
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Cobalt continues to inspire action / 9–14
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Orla completes study on Camino Rojo in Mexico GOLD
| Junior sees more exploration potential on property BY TRISH SAYWELL tsaywell@northernminer.com
O
rla Mining’s (TSX: OLA) Camino Rojo open-pit project in Zacatecas, Mexico, would produce 97,000 oz. gold annually over seven years and could be built for US$123 million, a new feasibility study concludes. The study envisions a simple heapleach operation that could repay initial capex in three years at precious metal prices of US$1,250 per oz. gold and US$17 per oz. silver, and deliver an after-tax net present value — at a 5% discount rate — of US$142 million, and a 28.7% internal rate of return. Camino Rojo, 3 km from a fourlane highway and 190 km from the city of Zacatecas, would be the company’s first mine, and would operate at a throughput rate of 18,000 tonnes See ORLA / 6
Finished copper at Kamoto Copper Co.’s Kamoto project, 12 km west from Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. KATANGA MINING PM40069240
Glencore: 19 artisanal miners dead in DRC TRAGEDY
| KOV copper mine averaged 2,000 artisanal “intrusions” a day
BY TRISH SAYWELL tsaywell@northernminer.com
G
lencore (LON: GLEN) says 19 illegal artisanal miners have died, “with possible further unconfirmed fatalities,” when two galleries caved in at Kamoto Copper Co.’s KOV open-pit copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The mine has experienced “daily intrusions onto its concession by on average 2,000 illegal artisanal miners per day,” the Switzerland-based commodities giant said in a news release, adding that the situation
“has presented a significant risk to its employees, operating equipment and the illegal artisanal miners themselves.” Kamoto Copper Co. “has observed a growing presence of illegal artisanal miners throughout its industrial mining concessions in the Kolwezi area,” Glencore said. The tragedy has not impacted production, the company noted. The KOV mine is owned 75% by Kamoto Copper Co. and 25% by the DRC’s state-owned Gécamines. Katanga Mining (TSX: KAT) owns 75% of Kamoto Copper Co., and Glencore owns 85% of Katanga Mining. Katanga’s assets in the DRC in-
clude the KOV open-pit mine and the Kamoto underground mine, Kamoto concentrator, and the Luilu metallurgical plant for the on-site production of refined copper and cobalt. Katanga describes the KOV open-pit mine as “the largest highgrade copper resource in the world.” It is made up of four orebodies — Kamoto East, Oliveira, Virgule and FNSR — and accessed by the Kamoto East and KOV pits. The Kamoto East pit operated from 1960–1985, and the adjacent KOV pit began production in 1983. Edward Sterck, a mining analyst at BMO Capital Markets in London, said in a research note that while
“exact numbers are hard to come by,” the KOV open pit “is believed to contribute around two-thirds of the ore processed at Katanga.”
INTRUSIONS ONTO ITS CONCESSION BY 2,000 ILLEGAL ARTISANAL MINERS PER DAY ... HAS PRESENTED A SIGNIFICANT RISK. See GLENCORE / 2
ARGENTINA: COURT UPHOLDS GLACIER PROTECTION LAW / 5
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