Australian mining company Equinox said that while the amount of ore mined at its Lumwana copper mine in Zambia increased by 1,192,822 tonnes during the Q1 of 2009, it only managed an increase of 154,642 tonnes in the Q2.
Mr Craig Williams CEO of Lumwana copper mine said that key contributing factors to the Q2 results included decreased availability of the mine’s mobile equipment fleet, decreased shovel and truck productivity and cycle times and transitional ore zones.
Mr William said that “Availability and productivity parameters continue to improve and as a matter of urgency, management is developing strategies to further increase productivity and mine output.
He said that “These strategies include engaging specialist consultants to advise on opportunities to improve productivity and the company is intensifying its internal training programs to improve workforce skills and expertise.”
He added that, while the various issues that impacted on production at Lumwana during the Q2 could have been managed with minor implications, the compounding effect, within a short space of time, presented significant limitations to maintaining suitable ore supply to fully realize the company’s large processing capacity.
Mr William said that “The pits currently are being developed on the Malundwe copper ore bodies include the uranium zones at Valeria South and Valeria North. As these uranium zones are being selectively mined and stockpiled, they are not treated by the copper concentrator and are effectively classified as waste to the copper project.
He said that “This uranium-rich copper ore stockpile may be treated at a later date, if and when the company builds a uranium plant but is not contributing to current production cash flow.”
There is a lot of expectation that the project will add significant value to the Zambian economy and will once again elevate the country to one of the continent’s fastest-growing mining hot spots. In addition to copper, the Lumwana orebody also boasts significant uranium resources.
(Sourced from Miningweekly.com)
