Seychelles domiciled Consolidated Copper Corp plans to resume production of refined LME grade copper cathode at Tschudi during 2024 from existing ore stockpiles and is undertaking engineering studies into a restart of mining from the existing open pit.
The company also wants to restart Matchless, Otjihase copper mines, and Berg Aukas zinc mine. The mines have been under Mr Sisay’s stewardship since 2018, when the Bonohgroup took over from Weatherly Namibia Ltd.
To secure funding for the restarts, Mr Sisay partnered with a group of fellow mining executives experienced in developing large scale mines in Africa Consolidated Copper Corp (CCC) in 2022. CCC took over the mines in March 2023 when the Competition Commission approved the deal.
Tschudi Copper Mine
To support its restart plan Consolidated Copper is utilising the substantial existing infrastructure already in place capable of producing refined LME grade copper cathode.
Exploration and development work at the Tschudi copper mine has revealed resource of 51 Mt.
The Tschudi copper mine is 20km west of the township of Tsumeb within the Otavi Mountain Land. subsidiary, Ongopolo, operated Tschudi after receiving environmental approval in 2013.
The mine produced its first copper cathode in early 2015 at a nameplate production rate of 1400t per month (17,000 tpa).
Weatherly’s subsidiary, Ongopolo, operated Tschudi after receiving environmental approval in 2013.
Tschudi encountered structural problems with flooding and metallurgical issues, resulting in a production downgrade.
The mine’s former parent company went into administration in 2018, and its administrators appointed John Sisay, the CEO of Consolidated Copper, to manage it. In 2020, all operations at Tschudi were placed on care and maintenance to develop a new long life mine plan.
Consolidated Copper says it has completed further geo-metallurgical and historic drill tests at Tschudi, which revealed more copper available at a deeper depth, extending the mine’s life from three towards the Company’s target of 10 years or more.
The company is evaluating the potential for construction of a concentrator at Tschudi to increase the mine life and output of contained copper.
Current works at Tschudi have extended to assaying for copper, iron, sulphur, and calcium to better delineate ore zones through advanced grade control drilling.
Matchless and Otjihase
Consolidated Copper says it has recruited an ex-Glencore underground mining specialist to focus on developing a 10-year mine plan for Central Operations—Matchless and Otjihase mines.
Consolidated Copper has valid mining licences, environmental clearance certificates, and all other required permits to restart mining at the Otjihase and Matchless mines.
Otjihase was in production until September 2015, when its then-operator placed it into care and maintenance.
At Otjihase, Consolidated Copper is evaluating capital expenditure required to restart the Otjihase mine.
Consolidated Copper is evaluating the potential to produce 10–12 ktpa of copper in concentrate for the next 10 years.
The company targets fresh exploration of the sites to determine their potential and to drill new ore blocks within developed areas, targeting 5Mt.
Consolidated Copper’s focus at Otjihase is to drill the western margin of the orebody at Tigerschulcht.
Matchless has been in care and maintenance for about 30 years.
Drilling is underway at Matchless West to determine the likelihood of a further oxide resource after the mine site floods.
Consolidated Copper says there is copper underneath. The company is undertaking metallurgical test work to identify ore sorting processes that remove 65% of waste and to explore the possibility of introducing a smaller-scale concentrator if this is beneficial.
The Matchless West mine has been mined to level 24, and Consolidated Copper is evaluating opportunities to extend the operation at depth and commence extraction of adjacent surface outcrops.
Consolidated Copper says exploration results indicate that three more outcrops have been discovered. Drilling of these outcrops is currently underway and results will be used to update the resource estimate for Matchless which is currently 1.7Mt at 1.97% Cu.
Berg Aukas
Historical resource reports indicate the mine to host high-grade 13% zinc and 3% lead. CCC is in the process of validating these historical estimates and also an oxide cap on the adjacent hill, which has not been touched in recent years. There is also the possibility of reprocessing historical high-grade waste deposited in the tailings dam.
Consolidated Copper is investing in extensive pre-feasibility research to determine the most suitable and value-adding course for Berg Aukas’s future restart activities.
Berg Aukas’s zinc-lead-vanadium deposit was discovered in 1913. From 1920 to 1978, the mine was operational in varying capacities.
Berg Aukas was last mined during the 1970’s and has been under care and maintenance since this time. Consolidated Copper took over the management of the assets in mid-2022.
Future work for Berg Aukas will include assessing marketing and exploration opportunities.
A PFS of the Berg Aukas mine, last updated in 2018, has identified a variety of minerals below the surface. At 1.26 mt, there is 15.47% zinc and 3.84% lead.
There is potential for a 10+ year life of mine.
The Berg Aukas mine is near Grootfontein, about 100km southeast of the Tschudi copper mine site and the Otavi Mountain Range.
The Berg Aukas mine opened in the 1920s and was significantly operational from 1958 to 1978.
From 1967 to 1978, it was reported that 2.3Mt of material at 15.0% zinc, 3.9% lead, and 0.85% vanadium oxide were hoisted from the mine, and, of this, 1.5Mt of ore at 21.5% zinc, 5.5% lead, and 1.23% vanadium oxide were milled. The mine closed in 1978, with significant resources remaining unexploited.
*This article was edited – Editor
