Copper mine with silver lining
Kombat to fund its own expansion
Secondary silver production expected to pay the way for the return underground
Kombat copper mine has been resurrected by Trigon Metals and according to CEO Jed Richardson the prospect of rising production and declining costs promises a very profitable operation in the lead-up to going back underground by 2024. Down existing shafts that delve up to 750 meters below the surface, the 1% copper extracted from a thousand tons of ore from the open pits, and put through the mill every day, will increase to 2,6%.
Already the historic mine’s resuscitation is profitable despite recent turmoil in international copper prices, and the fundamental shortage of available copper concentrate globally holds a brighter future and self-funded expansion in store, he says.
By 7 July, 1,1 million tonnes of material had been moved since Trigon restarted the historic mine operations six months ago, and more than 120 000 tonnes of ore mined, of which almost 35 000 tones was fed through the mill and processed, producing more than 860 tonnes of copper concentrate grading 19,75% copper and 271,3 grams per ton of silver.
Already 548 tonnes of concentrate had been shipped by that date, and revenue received, an official statement read. “The Kombat Mine is advancing towards achieving commercial production. During this process, a number of challenges arose that were addressed successfully. A new loan facility was arranged, the processing plant capacity was increased to 350 tonnes per day and a second open pit, which will soon be yielding higher grade sulphide ore, was developed,” Richardson said according to that statement.
In a more recent virtual update on 13 July, Richardson elaborated that it will cost US$25 million to go back underground, but added that, “the silver stream deal will pay for that,” he said. Richardson made reference to an agreement with Canadian billionaire Eric Sprott, who provides a cash advance of US$2,5 million for a piece of the silver to be sold to a third party. Sprott will end up with less than 10% of the revenue stream with which Trigon plans to fund capital expenditure on new, better water pumps, further expansion of the mill to 2000 tonne per day capacity, and rolling equipment including its own fleet of scoop-trams and drills, and its own skilled underground mining workforce, he said. Sprott is already a 20% shareholder in Trigon, Richardson said.
The cash injection helped overcome working capital challenges and the dominance of oxides bringing ore quality for mill throughput down, which is addressed by opening the Kavango Pit in June, giving access to mining more sulfide ores. With the next few months mapped out Richardson aluded to a three growth stage envisioned for Kombat; a return to the Asis Far West shaft which was built for 2000 ton production per day, but never used.
“This is a mine with a lot of water, and it has flooded in the past, due to power outages,” Richardson explains. The tiered system of bringing the water up in stages due to limited capacity pumps, made the mine particularly vulnerable to flooding. Those problems don’t need to be insurmountable in 2022, Richardson said, elaborating that the new pumps will pump the water directly out from the bottom. While grid electricity is sufficient for all needs, back-up power generators will also be installed to keep the essential pumps running, while extracted water is already fed to a community garden bolstering food supply and providing income for locals. The mine employs 220 Namibians both directly and as contractors. An additional 80 women are employed on a part-time rotational basis as part of the Company’s community garden agricultural development project.
In an earlier interview support services manager Sam Januarie elaborated on the alarming amount of water which needs to be pumped from the mine: 1200m? per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of that the plant uses half, a quarter is provided to Namwater and the rest to surrounding farmers and Kombat town gardens.
Kombat mine is owned 80% by Trigon Metals, 10% by Epangelo the state-owned mining entity, and 10% by local businessman Knowledge Katti.
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Already the historic mine’s resuscitation is profitable despite recent turmoil in international copper prices, and the fundamental shortage of available copper concentrate globally holds a brighter future and self-funded expansion in store, he says.
By 7 July, 1,1 million tonnes of material had been moved since Trigon restarted the historic mine operations six months ago, and more than 120 000 tonnes of ore mined, of which almost 35 000 tones was fed through the mill and processed, producing more than 860 tonnes of copper concentrate grading 19,75% copper and 271,3 grams per ton of silver.
Already 548 tonnes of concentrate had been shipped by that date, and revenue received, an official statement read. “The Kombat Mine is advancing towards achieving commercial production. During this process, a number of challenges arose that were addressed successfully. A new loan facility was arranged, the processing plant capacity was increased to 350 tonnes per day and a second open pit, which will soon be yielding higher grade sulphide ore, was developed,” Richardson said according to that statement.
In a more recent virtual update on 13 July, Richardson elaborated that it will cost US$25 million to go back underground, but added that, “the silver stream deal will pay for that,” he said. Richardson made reference to an agreement with Canadian billionaire Eric Sprott, who provides a cash advance of US$2,5 million for a piece of the silver to be sold to a third party. Sprott will end up with less than 10% of the revenue stream with which Trigon plans to fund capital expenditure on new, better water pumps, further expansion of the mill to 2000 tonne per day capacity, and rolling equipment including its own fleet of scoop-trams and drills, and its own skilled underground mining workforce, he said. Sprott is already a 20% shareholder in Trigon, Richardson said.
The cash injection helped overcome working capital challenges and the dominance of oxides bringing ore quality for mill throughput down, which is addressed by opening the Kavango Pit in June, giving access to mining more sulfide ores. With the next few months mapped out Richardson aluded to a three growth stage envisioned for Kombat; a return to the Asis Far West shaft which was built for 2000 ton production per day, but never used.
“This is a mine with a lot of water, and it has flooded in the past, due to power outages,” Richardson explains. The tiered system of bringing the water up in stages due to limited capacity pumps, made the mine particularly vulnerable to flooding. Those problems don’t need to be insurmountable in 2022, Richardson said, elaborating that the new pumps will pump the water directly out from the bottom. While grid electricity is sufficient for all needs, back-up power generators will also be installed to keep the essential pumps running, while extracted water is already fed to a community garden bolstering food supply and providing income for locals. The mine employs 220 Namibians both directly and as contractors. An additional 80 women are employed on a part-time rotational basis as part of the Company’s community garden agricultural development project.
In an earlier interview support services manager Sam Januarie elaborated on the alarming amount of water which needs to be pumped from the mine: 1200m? per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of that the plant uses half, a quarter is provided to Namwater and the rest to surrounding farmers and Kombat town gardens.
Kombat mine is owned 80% by Trigon Metals, 10% by Epangelo the state-owned mining entity, and 10% by local businessman Knowledge Katti.
[email protected]
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