Shituru

The 100 ha Shituru property is located one kilometer east of the Gecamines hydrometallurgical complex on the eastern limits of the City of Likasi in the province of Katanga, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is also only 3 km off the provincial Likasi - Lubumbashi highway.

The deposit is a stratiform copper deposit overprinted by extensive alteration and related supergene enrichment and is part of the Katangan Copperbelt.

The Feasibility Study proposes developing an open pit, ore processing and electrowinning facility with an annual production capacity of 38,000 tonnes of LME grade cathode copper.

Mining will be by an owner-operated conventional truck and backhoe fleet with supporting ancillary equipment. Strip ratio averages 4.9:1 over a 7.8 years projected mine life. Mine production has been scheduled at 0.9 Mtpa with 3% dilution and 97% mining recovery. Scheduling has been done on a bench-by-bench basis with in-pit blending to minimize any stockpiling.

The ultimate pit bottom at about 150m is likely to be located within known high yielding aquifers and dewatering will be required.

Highlights of the feasibility study include: 7.24 Mt would be processed and they would average 4.3 percent copper grade for 265.5 Kt copper that would be recovered over the life of the project.

The annual ore processing rate has been reduced to 0.9 Mt per year with 3 percent dilution and 97 percent mining recovery.

The project assumes initial construction of a Whole-Ore-Leach process plant and a Solvent Extraction - Electrowinning refinery to produce LME grade cathode copper. The Feasibility Study estimates 80 percent of the ore processed is amenable to Whole-Ore-Leaching. This ore type occurs mainly in the upper parts of the deposit.

Higher operating cost, high carbonate ore is stockpiled until Year 5 of operation. A flotation plant is to be constructed to process this ore in Year 5. High carbonate ore would then represent 40 percent of the ore processed until the end-of-mine life. The flotation plant would produce an oxide copper concentrate which would then be fed into the leaching circuit and SX-EW refinery to produce cathode copper. The flotation process allows high acid consuming (high carbonate) material to be discarded ahead of the acid leaching process and substantially reduces the processing costs for this ore type

The majority of the mill feed for the first five years of operation comprises low acid-consuming material.

The tailings dam for the Shituru Project has been designed as a conventional ring-dyke dam. The preferred site is to the south-east of the pit and covers a shallow valley which is presently agricultural.

Power is assumed to be available for the Shituru Project from the National Grid. Discussions have indicated that obtaining sufficient potable water from the town supply and raw water from the Panda River is quite feasible, however it will require permit applications and approval.

Accommodation in the town of Likasi appears limited, so provision for several houses may be required.