Mining: KOV
The heart of Nikanor’s project in the DRC is the KOV mine, the largest high quality copper and cobalt ore body in the world and truly the crown jewel of the Copperbelt.
Key stats:
- Huge 172 million tonne ore resource
- Extremely high grade – 5.1% copper, 0.5% cobalt
- Contained ore – almost 9 million tonnes of copper, more than 800k tonnes cobalt
- Long mine life – 30 years at projected production levels
Cu grade (%) for the top 5 global copper mines (by resources)
History
The KOV ore body is comprised of four elements: Kamoto East, Oliveira, Virgule and FNSR. These were first accessed via the Kamoto East pit from 1960 to 1985 and then via the adjacent KOV pit from 1983. From 1960 to 2000, when mining activities ceased and the pit flooded, 38 million tones of ore containing 2.2 million tones of copper and almost 200,000 tonnes of cobalt had been mined.
The average copper grade of the ore mined during this period was an almost unheard of 5.8% and the average contained cobalt was also high at 0.5%.
Major resource
The indicated resource at KOV is 172 million tones at an average grade of contained copper of 5.1% and contained cobalt of 0.5%, equating to approximately 9 million tones of copper and more than 800 000 tonnes of cobalt. Even taking into account the fact that the deposits at KOV have sustained major mining activity in the past, the amount of ore mined thus far is small in comparison to the resources still in the ground.
Brownfield advantages
Greenfield developments bring with them a number of disadvantages and additional risk in that subsurface conditions may differ form those indicated by exploratory drilling. KOV, as a brownfield site, offers a number of advantages, including a detailed knowledge of the ore body, the ability to use the significant infrastructure already in place, and not least of all the confidence that when mining activities commence in 2009, conventional drill, blast, load and haul methods will be both appropriate and effective.
Existing infrastructure
Kolwezi was historically a mining hub with the consequence that significant mining support infrastructure was set up including power generation facilities, rail lines and roads. This infrastructure was subsequently neglected; however, much of it is capable of being refurbished and the Group is already benefiting from its extensive investment programme.
Some of the existing infrastructure has been found to be in surprisingly good shape. The Krupp waste crusher, conveyor and stacker system, installed in the early 1990s, was only briefly used by Gécamines. Engineers examined the system in 2006 and 2007 and reported it to be generally in very good condition. The group has allocated US$30 million to recommission the system, a fraction of the replacement value.
Dewatering
A key focus area during the rehabilitation programme is the dewatering of both the KOV and Kamoto east pits. The KOV pit contains approximately 10-12 million cubic metres of water, and Kamoto East around 12-15 million. The dewatering programme, which commenced late in 2006, includes the drilling of new wells around the pits and the installation of pumps and pipelines. Pumping of both water and silt from the KOV pit will be carried out in tandem with pumping from the boreholes along the pit slopes, which is necessary to ensure the stability of these slopes. Dewatering of the KOV pit is expected to be complete by the end of 2008.
Long mine life
Over and above the other distinct advantages offered by this exceptional ore body, is its long mine life. Even at the high rates of mining required to feed one of the world’s largest SX-EW refineries, the mine is still expected to run for 30 years.
