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Be mining

18

12

12 Comment

Turbulent times

Reporting on the iron-ore industry with insight into the dynamics driving the market.

14 Comment

The next big thing

A. Paul Gill, president & CEO of Lomiko Metals Inc, is excited about the “mind boggling� applications of graphite.

18 Interview: World diamond council

The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme

14 6 | be mining

Eli Izhakoff explains the organisation’s role in redefining the role of business in the economic development of mining countries.

contents

28 Executive insight

A. Paul Gill

Paul is proud of helping to make millionaires, wishes he could have met George Washington, and thinks Europe is overrated.

28

30 Q&A: Fergus O’Dowd

Mining in ireland

38

The inside story of mining in Ireland from Minister Fergus O’Dowd, TD.

38 EXECUTIVE INSIGHT

Sechaba Letaba

The CEO of Kudumane Manganese Resources talks about leadership, Nelson Mandela and labour unions.

30

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42 52

gold: 42 Auriant Mining

Discovering one’s potential

Having existed as an exploration company up until recently, Auriant Mining’s aspiration is now to become a mid-sized gold producer.

66

52 GOLD FIELDS SA SHARING THE VALUE

Aiming to be the global leader in sustainable gold mining, progressing from compliance to social economic development (SED).

66 Alacer Gold Corp: Çöpler Exceeding expectations

By world standards it might be a small operation but one new venture in Turkey is making a big contribution to the local community.

8 | be mining

contents

78 NEWMONT GHANA GOLD Setting an example

George Brakoh, manager of local supplier and contractor development, explains how the mine’s economic legacy will benefit the local community for years to come.

94 CALEDONIA MINING CORPORATION The golden touch

94 104

The government of Zimbabwe is aware of the role its mining industry can play in the growth of the nation.

104 Aurizon Mines

Keeping the pipeline filled

Ambitious mining companies need to be continually planning ahead, as shown here in northern Canada.

services: 112 Eurotire

Finding the best route off road

122

A relative newcomer to the tire business, Eurotire is making room for itself in a crowded marketplace.

122 Rainstorm Dust Control From pit to port

As the pressure intensifies on global industry to conserve water and hone efficiencies, solutions that reduce the need for water in dust control are in high demand.

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Be mining 132 SSG Consulting The key to prosperity

How good old fashioned family values have helped create a leading project management consulting company.

132

140 Inorganic Ventures

Blending knowledge with passion

How this leading manufacturer of certified reference materials is targeting the mining sector.

148 Bentley Systems A source of inspiration

Bentley has all of the top five mining companies as customers for its comprehensive software solutions.

metals:

148

158 SWAKOP URANIUM

PLANNING NAMIBIA’S LARGEST MINE

Developing Namibia’s largest uranium deposit, but also protecting the sensitive desert environment.

166 GeoProMining

Taking a professional approach

International mining expertise and on-the-ground experience has created an enviable track record.

174 10 | be mining

174 TALVIVAARA MINING COMPANY Top of the heap

How bioheapleaching technology is getting the most from low grade nickel deposits in Finland.

contents

182

182 KGHM POLSKA MIEDZ: SIERRA GORDA PROJECT Into the deep

The on-going development of the Sierra Gorda open pit copper mine in Chile.

coal: 196 ETI KROM

A STAINLESS SUCCESS RECORD

How ETI Krom is currently building its own coal-fired electricity generation plant.

196

BE Directory: 210 DORCE

Building a better world

212 finn equipment sales inc safer dust control

214 Inorganic Ventures

212

We flex to your specs

216 Jeffares & Green (J&G) Group Consulting engineers

218 RED DIRT PERSONNEL Resources for resources

be mining | 11

Turbulent times by: Roskill Information Services

W

it h the disruption of supplies from India, concerns over slowing economic growth in China, and the effects of large stockpiles forcing the price of iron ore through a series of supposed “price floors”, the iron ore industry has faced a turbulent time during 2011 and 2012. While the price of iron ore appears set to make a partial recovery, Roskill’s new report offers a deeper level of insight into the dynamics driving the market, and offers a market outlook to 2020.

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From 2006 to 2011, the promise of a high return on investment led to a decrease in the concentration of corporate control of seaborne trade in iron ore. During this period, the share of seaborne trade controlled by Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Vale (the “Big Three”) fell to 57.3 percent of the world total. This trend is expected to reverse to 2020, as the limited availability of capital will make securing project financing increasingly difficult for emerging producers. Much of the increase in capacity is

expected to come from capacity expansions in Australia and Brazil and from projects backed by leading steel producers seeking to secure future supply.

Dow nwa rd rev isions in the long-term outlook for iron ore demand and prices are likely to lead to the delay, suspension or cancellation of a large nu mb e r of pr ojec t s.

Nonet heless, Rosk ill estimates that 425 million tonnes per year (mtpy) of nameplate capacity will be added from the middle of 2012 to the end of 2014 and that capacity additions

comment: Iron ore industry will continue to exceed 100mtpy through to 2020.

These additions are likely to exceed demand growth and mostly represent low to medium-cost operations.

Consequently, producers at the higher end of the cost cur ve—particularly t hose i n Ch i na —w i l l gradually find themselves unable to compete in the open market.

In 2012, a destocking phase among steel producers depressed demand for iron ore and the World Steel Association expects apparent consumption of finished steel products to grow by only 2.1 percent in 2012, down from 6.2 percent in 2011. A partial recovery appears likely, as the construction sector in China and increased infrastructure spending will support growth in demand.

During the period to 2020, however, rising demand from other emerging nations is unlikely to fully offset the slowing pace of growth in the intensity of steel use in China, as this country approaches a peak in per capita steel consumption.

Roskill expects growth in apparent crude steel use to

2.9% Expected growth in crude steel use from 2012 to 2020

average 2.9 percent per year from 2012 to 2020. Owing to the ongoing shift of steel production to countries with a higher use of iron ore per unit of steel, Roskill forecasts that demand for iron ore, at 3.1 percent per year, will marginally outpace steel demand, despite a relative increase in the use of scrap metal.

Uncertainty over the Eurozone affects the iron ore industry through its effect on demand, as well as through the reduced availability and higher cost of capital. Other risk factors include growing resource

nationalism, particularly in Africa, highly unpredictable energy costs, rising labour costs, and the fate of the Indian mining industry following the mining bans in Goa and Karnataka states.

As new capacity comes on-stream, the industry’s price floor will gradually drop and Roskill expects that the US$100/t price level will be repeatedly tested and eventually broken towards 2015. In its baseline scenario, and adjusting for inflation, Roskill expects that prices may trend towards US$85 to US$95/t during 2016 to 2020.

Roskill’s report provides a detailed view of the iron ore industry, with subsections on resources, world production, leading mining and processing companies, w o rld c on s u mp t ion , demand by end-use sector, international trade and prices.

Roskill is regarded as one of the leading global sources of market research on industrial minerals, minor metals and steel alloys, with analysts based in the UK, Canada and China, along with an expert network of industry consultants and contacts around the world. www.roskill.com/iron-ore

Be mining | 13

The n

th by:

comment: mining

next big hing Martin Ashcroft

A.

Paul Gill, President & CEO of Lomiko Metals Inc, is bullish about the current state of the mining industry. “There’s a lot of building to be done in China and India and other places,” he says, “and that trickles down to industrial materials, concrete, iron and steel, etc. Gold is strong because of the monetary situation around the world.

Everyone is very concerned about currencies, but I think they will be fine. There are no signs of inflation in America. I don’t see any signs of a run on the dollar. Given that scenario we should still see growth around the world.”

Gill also believes that more quantitative easing (gover nments printing

money) is around the corner, and that will encourage growth eventually, too, even though it has not had a great effect up to now. “They’re already into it in such a big way right now,” he says. “There’s no stopping it at this point. It’s got to go forward. To me that means there will be another signal from the Fed that they are going to do more, and therefore people will take bets on projects and on growth.

“Anytime you have more development it supports the mining industry because the materials have to come from somewhere. Specifically in our sector, we’re trying to provide materials for the high tech sector of the green economy. We think there’s a major amount of growth about to happen because this is still in its infancy.”

“development supports the mining industry because the materials have to come from somewhere” BE Mining | 15

T he sector Gill is referring to is graphite, not exactly headline news, but something which could become THE NEXT BIG THING. Lomiko Metals is a junior company based in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada with the primary objective of exploring and developing mining projects.

The company also holds the Vines Lake gold-silverzinc property in the Cassiar region of northern British Columbia.

16 | BE Mining

“All new technologies need materials, and they all have a graphite component to them�

But it is the Quatre Milles graphite property in Quebec that he’s excited about at the moment, where the Phase I drilling program has recently

commenced. Drilling will focus on verifying the areas of historical highgrade graphite intersected previously by Graphicor on the property. Lomiko aims

comment: mining to complete both Phase I & II and establish a flake graphite resource at the Quatre Milles property by December 2012.

So why graphite? An explosion in demand for pencils? Hardly. Graphite is an allotrope of carbon, with properties that make it highly suitable for countless high tech applications in medical equipment, batteries and construction materials, among others.

“We went through the computer revolution in the 70s, 80s and 90s, the internet revolution in the 90s and early 2000s and the mobile phone revolution, too,” says Gill.

“The next thing has either got to be related to how we power all these gadgets, or to supplement current industrial methods with greener technology—and that means new materials and new methods. That’s where we want to place ourselves at Lomiko. We’re looking at graphite and other materials that are going to be used in that new economy.

“There are over 1000 different patents involving

Graphene sheet model, 3D illustration

1000+ Number of different patents involving graphite and graphene graphite and graphene, so we think that’s where the growth is,” he continues. “All the new technologies will need materials, and they all have a g raphite component to them.”

Gi l l me nt ion s an interview by Agoracom.

com in which market commentator Bob Moriarty of www.321gold. com discusses replacing steel in cars w ith a high content of graphite— which is lighter and would reduce fuel consumption.

“There are all kinds of applications that are just mind boggling.”

A. Paul Gill is President & CEO of Lomiko Metals Inc. For more information see: www.lomiko.com

BE Mining | 17

The Kimberley P Certification Sc Eli Izhakoff, President of the World Diamond Council, explains the organisation’s role in redefining the role of business in the economic development of mining countries

written by: Steven Benson

18 | Be mining

Interview: World Diamond Council

Process cheme

Be mining | 19

Eli Izhakoff

Interview: World Diamond Council

T

he headline of the lead editorial in The Washington Post on the opening day of the World Diamond Congress in Antwerp, Belgium, on 17 August, 2000, would have left little doubt in the minds of attendees that this would be an event unlike any other before. Titled Africa’s Death Stones, the article guaranteed that this normally subdued industry-only conference would be held under the spotlight of the world’s media.

Responsible for the clamour was a barrage of news reports, documenting atrocities perpetrated against ordinary African citizens, by rebel groups that were amassing rough diamonds to finance civil wars against governments in Sierra Leone, Angola and the DRC. Just one month earlier, the UN Security Council had passed Resolution 1306,

which imposed a ban on the purchase of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone. The council had also called for the creation of an effective certificate of origin system, stating that diamonds exported through the regime could be exempt from the purchase ban.

Present at the World Diamond Congress in A nt wer p was a f ull contingent of journalists from the printed and electronic media, including representatives of many of the world’s leading news organisations. They were joined by politicians and diplomats, from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, South A frica, Sierra Leone, Angola, the United Nations and the host country Belgium, as well as a large group of representatives of human rights groups, from Europe, North America and Asia.

“The pressure was on to respond forcefully to the reputational challenge posed to the industry”

The pressure was on the diamond industry to respond forcefully to the reputational challenge posed to its product and business community.

And it did. By the end of the congress a new organisation had been established. Called the World Diamond Council, it would be an inclusive, allindustry group, stretching from the mine to the jewellery retailer, whose mission it would be to coordinate the industry’s efforts to end the scourge of conflict diamonds.

Elected to head the WDC was Eli Izhakoff, a veteran diamond industry leader, who earlier had served as president of the Diamond Dealers Club of New York and as president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.

Within weeks of its creation, the WDC had held its inaugural meeting and raised from its members initial funding to finance its activities. It also began engaging with government representatives, as well as with civil society, with the goal of setting up a coalition that could provide a comprehensive response to the crisis.

Earlier, in May 2000,

Be mining | 21

officials from the Southern African diamond producing states had met in Kimberley, South Africa, to consider ways of stopping the trade in conflict diamonds. The course of action came to be known as the Kimberley Process, and would eventually result in the establishment of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which would be endorsed by the UN Security Council and launched in 2003.

“From the outset, the

World Diamond Council was intent on playing a key role in the developing process,” recalled Izhakoff. “Our goal was not simply to be the industry advocate, seeking to limit any restrictions that may be imposed upon us.

On the contrary, we realised that we faced a challenge of existential proportions, particularly because we deal in a non-essential product, where reputation in the consumer arena is all important. It was critical

that we not only do the right thing, but that we also would be seen to be doing the right thing.”

The World Diamond Council, like the Civil Society Coalition involved in the conflict diamond campaign, are officially observers in the Kimberley Process, where the full members are all representatives of affiliated governments, or regional groupings like the European Union. But at the functional level, the WDC has been an

Eli Izhakoff adressing the plenary session of the 8th World Diamond Council annual meeting

22 | Be mining

Interview: World Diamond Council

“From the outset, the World Diamond Council was intent on playing a key role in the developing process” active participant, present at all key meetings and represented on various KP committees and peer review commissions. Moreover, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is actually based on a document

first presented by the WDC Technical Committee in October 2000, called ‘The WDC System for International Rough Diamond Export and Import Controls.’

“What we did was something that was

unprecedented not only in the jewellery and diamond sectors, but also was practically unheard of in business history,” said Izhakoff. “We not only agreed to be regulated, but actually proposed that this be done, in order to provide a solution to

2003 Kimberley Process Certification Scheme launched a humanitarian problem for which we were not directly responsible. We recognised that we were accountable to stakeholders along the entire chain of distribution, and we were prepared to take action to back that up.”

The Kimberley Process Cer t i f ic at ion Sc heme (KPCS), which next year

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“We recognised that we were accountable to stakeholders along the entire chain of distribution, and we were prepared to take action to back that up� will mark 10 years since its introduction, imposes extensive requirements on the governments of diamond producing countries to certify that shipments of rough diamonds from their territories are free from conflict diamonds. Countries that are signatories are barred from importing diamonds from countries

24 | Be mining

without KP certificates.

The system involves the examination and certification by KP-approved government bodies of rough diamonds extracted at legitimate mining sources.

Only rough goods that carry bona fide KP certificates can gain entry into the trading and manufacturing centres, where there, too, they are

examined by KP-approved government bodies.

The Kimberley Process regulates only the movement of rough diamonds, but once the diamonds have been cut and polished, members of the diamond and jewellery trades are expected to apply the WDC’s System of Warrantees, which requires that the original KP certificate number be recorded on an invoice each time a stone changes hands.

In this way, an unbroken paper trail is created from the mine all the way through to the item of jewellery sold to the consumer.

The impact of the introduction of new system upon the trade in conflict diamonds was dramatic.

Not only did the incidence of such diamonds in the legitimate pipeline fall from an estimated four per cent to less than two tenths of one per cent, but the

Interview: World Diamond Council

The plenary session of the 8th World Diamond Council annual meeting

drying up of funds to rebel groups was considered to have played a vital role in the ending of civil war in Sierra Leone, Angola, the DRC and Liberia.

“What I believe we demonstrated is that we are not part of the problem, but rather part of the solution,” Izhakoff said. “The positive role that our industry can play in the grass-roots development of economies in mining regions is one that we, too, are beginning to understand. Gem diamonds may be a non-essential, but

2005 Year Côte d’Ivoire was subject to a UN Security Council embargo for exporting conflict diamonds the gem diamond industry is most definitely essential.”

Today, there is estimated to be only a trickle of rough goods that comply with the original definition of “conflict diamonds,” which

is rough material used by rebel groups to finance civil war. They originate from Côte d’Ivoire, which has been subject to a UN Security Council embargo since December 2005. But, as Izhakoff notes, through proper compliance with the KPCS and the WDC Chain of Warrantees, such diamonds should not infiltrate the legitimate pipeline.

The success of the K imberley Process Certification Scheme in fulfilling its mission has in recent years led to calls

Be mining | 25

“Our position is that diamonds should not be associated with human rights issues�

26 | Be mining

Interview: World Diamond Council that the ‘conflict diamonds’ definition be expanded to include a wider range of human rights violations.

At the World Diamond Council’s most recent Annual Meeting, which took place in May in Vicenza, Italy, the chair of the Kimberley Process, Ambassador Gillian Milanosovic of the United States, suggested that the term should cover “rough diamonds used to finance, or otherwise directly related to, armed conflict or other situations of violence.”

For its part, the General Assembly of the World Diamond Council passed a resolution noting that Ambassador Milanosovic’s definition would be a good basis for moving the discussion forward.

The debate within the Kimberley Process is a charged one, and has continued for several years, ever since the discovery of large alluvial diamond deposits in the Marange region of eastern Zimbabwe.

Reports of human rights violations in the area led to a call for a boycott of such rough, which does do not fall under the classic

10 years Since the introduction of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme def inition of conf lict diamonds. Nonetheless, the Kimberley Process did intervene, and eventually reached agreement with the Zimbabwe authorities, enabling the export of such material, but only after a KP review.

“Our position is that diamonds should not be associated with human rights issues,” said Izhakoff, “and we have, in fact, been proactive in this respect, reaching an agreement with the Civil Society Coalition that calls for compliance with international human rights law to be included in the KP’s Administrative Decision on Internal Controls.

“But we need to move forward most deliberately, and consider each step with the necessary care and caution, so that there are no unintended consequences. The KPSC must remain a system that is able to deliver on what it promises, and this means that a decision needs to be reached by consensus, with broad agreement on the terms of reference,” he continued.

“For more than a decade the World Diamond Council has been involved in a remarkable experiment, drawing together government, business and civil society in a common cause,” Izhakoff concluded.

“The road was not always easy, but we achieved success because we understood that, while we may not always see eye to eye on methodology, we do agree on the fundamentals of the end goal. For that reason I am confident about the future.”

For more information about the World Diamond Council visit: www.worlddiamondcouncil.com

Be mining | 27

Nobody’s perfect. What quality or ability do you wish you had?

I wish I had the ability to choose the right employees and the patience to train them. It seems anytime I find the right person, they get hired away from our small company and those that want to stay don’t always develop skills.

What is the best business book you have ever read, and why?

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. (Peter L. Bernstein). Understanding and assessing known risks, identifying and quantifying the impact of risk that has not occurred, discussing the rewards for success, the development of a science supporting the mutual fund industry, hedge funds and other publicly-traded stocks is discussed. Understanding risk is essential to making decisions in changing business climates.

A. Paul Gill President & CEO of Lomiko Metals Inc.

Someone you would most like to have met, living or dead, and why?

An impossible question! There are so many inspiring people in the world I would like to meet or would have liked to meet. I would have to say the most interesting person would have to be George Washington. This is a man that forged the greatest nation the world has ever known where, despite being far from perfect, people live free of tyranny, mostly in general well-being and with a steadfast loyalty to their country.

executive insi ht “Never bite off more than you can chew” What do you consider to be your major achievement (in life or business)?

I was one of the founding directors of Norsemont Mining which helped to create more than 20 new millionaires and made money for anyone that invested and held their stock when it rose from $0.05 to a buyout at $4.25. Today, that mine is being built in Peru and will supply copper to the world for the next 50 years.

Who or what do you think is overrated?

Europe in general is over-rated within the global community. Growth rates are stagnant, birth rates are negative and most nations have low productivity. If Europe is going to survive it must increase immigration, increase birth rates and increase productivity.

Which one piece of wisdom would you pass on to your successor?

Always answer the phone but if you miss a call, return it immediately. Opportunities never wait nor do impatient shareholders who may have their finger on the trigger.

(professional or otherwise), and what did you learn from them?

I tried to run 2 very active companies at once between 2006 and 2011 and was not prepared for a black swan event like 2008.

Never bite off more than you can chew and know that the true worth of a company is the management’s skills, because you never know what kind of opportunities are around the corner if you have the capacity to take them on.

Who has been your inspiration professionally?

Frank Guistra – someone who has made money in mining finance and company building and then contributed $100 million to the Bill Clinton Foundation to help Africa.

How would you like to be remembered after your retirement?

As someone who made every shareholder that held on wealthy.

Do you have a quote or motto you live (or work) by?

“Buy low, build high”

A. Paul Gill is President & CEO of Lomiko Metals Inc. For more information see: www.lomiko.com

What mistakes have you made

Be mining | 29

30 | BE Mining

Interview: Fergus O’Dowd

Mining in

Ireland The inside story of mining in Ireland from Minister Fergus O’Dowd, TD

edited by: Martin Ashcroft Research by: Robert Hodgson

BE Mining | 31

Overview:

What is your role within the mining & minerals industry?

As Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, I have statutory responsibility for regulation of mineral exploration and development under the Minerals Development Acts 1940 to 1999. This legislation applies to both State and privately owned minerals.

The State does not under ta ke mineral exploration or mining but regulates the activity of the private sector. Exploration is regulated through a system of prospecting licences, while extraction requires a state lease or licence, depending on mineral ownership.

T he G ove r n me nt ’s objective is to maximise the contribution of the mining sector to the economy with due regard to its social and environmental impact and administers the sector by regulation and permitting of exploration for and extraction of minerals (excluding petroleum, stone, sand,

32 | BE Mining

gravel and clay); promoting inward investment in minerals exploration; policy development in the area of minerals exploration and extraction; representing and protecting the State’s interests as mineral owner and rehabilitation of former mine sites where the Minister has an acknowledged role.

How will new legislation improve or expand the mining & minerals industry in Ireland?

A new Minerals Development Bill has been approved by Government for drafting.

The Bill will provide for greater transparency and predetermination of terms, including rents and royalties, which will streamline the permitting process. It will also bring other aspects of the regulation of the minerals sector into line with current best practice, particularly the provisions relating to compulsory acquisition of ancillary rights and compensation to private mineral owners.

Drafting of the Bill is at an advanced stage and publication and enactment is

Mineral exploration and in Ireland as of Septembe

Interview: Fergus O’Dowd

mining facilities er 2012

“The new Minerals Development Bill will streamline the permitting process” expected in the coming year, subject to other legislative priorities.

How do you promote the industry?

Prospecting licences held Areas available State mining facility Areas unavailable National parks Lakes Northern Ireland Current mines Historic mines

My Department undertakes active promotion of minerals in Ireland to draw in new investment. In addition, exploration geological data continues to be made available free of charge online from the Department’s dedicated website w w w.m i nera lsi rela nd.ie in order to incentivise exploration activity.

In regard to prospecting activity, the Exploration and Mining Division of the Department is developing an online portal for prospecting companies. This will enable the industry to see ground as it becomes available and to make applications if they desire. Companies will also be able to update

their own profile and track ongoing applications and their current licences. In addition, it is planned that applications and payments for prospecting licences will be enabled online.

Ireland will also be represented again at Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in 2013. This is the largest international meeting of its type in the world attracting some 30,000 delegates in 2012. This is an important event in promoting Ireland as a destination for inward investment.

Facts and figures:

What types of mineral deposits are there in Ireland?

Ireland has a long and rich history of mining dating back to the Bronze Age (2000500BC). Records show that over 450 mines have been

BE Mining | 33

mineral exporation expenditure in ireland from 1995 to 2011 €35m €30m €25m €20m €15m €10m €5m

worked over the years.

Since 1960, 14 significant zinc-lead deposits have been discovered, including the world class ore body at Navan. Ireland is ranked first in the world in terms of zinc discovered per square kilometre, and second in the world with respect to lead.

In addition to its gold and base metal potential, Ireland’s varied geological framework renders it prospective for a number of other commodity types. In the last few years, exploration

34 | BE Mining

has been undertaken for platinum group metals in the northeast, REE and speciality metals (Li, Ta, W, Sn) in southeast Ireland, nickel and chromite in the west of Ireland and diamonds and other gemstones in Donegal, in the northernmost part of Ireland.

Ireland also has significant potential for industrial minerals. Gypsum, dolomitic limestone and dimension stone are all currently exploited in Ireland and significant deposits of barite,

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coal, fire clay and talc have also been delineated.

How many people are employed by the mining industry in Ireland?

There are more than 1,300 directly employed in the minerals sector. The number employed indirectly is considered to be of the order of 3,900. An economic assessment of the impact of the exploration and mining sector is currently underway.

Interview: Fergus O’Dowd How much revenue is generated by the mining industry in Ireland?

The gross value of metal production (lead & zinc) in Ireland in 2011 was €499 million. Revenue to the State from royalties and fees and prospecting licence fees amounted to €10.024 million in 2011 (€7.882m in 2010). This does not include investment in Ireland in exploration and development; neither does it include corporation tax at 25 per cent, local authority rates, employee taxes and local spending on goods and services.

I h ave r e ce nt ly commissioned a detailed and up to date study by expert economic consultants to independently establish the economic value of the exploration and mining sector to the economy, the mechanisms and structure of those benefits and identify

Aerial view of the Lisheen mine in County Tipperary

initiatives and opportunities to increase such impacts.

The results of this work are expected early in 2013.

How many operational mining facilities are there in Ireland?

There are four major mines currently operating: Zinc/lead: 1. The Navan mine is operated

by Boliden Tara Mines Limited, Navan, County Meath (the largest zinc producer in Europe);

2. The Lisheen mine, County Tipperary, is wholly owned

by Vedanta Resources plc 3. The Galmoy mine County Kilkenny, operated by Galmoy Mines Limited, a subsidiary of the Lundin Mining Corporation. (Production here is due to cease shortly).

Gypsum: 4. Irish Gypsum Ltd is responsible for operations at Knocknacran and Drummond in Co Monaghan.

Other small operations produce marble and dolomitic limestone.

“Ireland is ranked first in the world in terms of zinc discovered per square kilometre, and second in the world with respect to lead” BE Mining | 35

“Miners have to be good neighbours and must make a positive contribution to counterbalance the right to deplete a finite resource�

What about exploration projects?

Interest in exploration in Ireland is high at the moment.

As of August 2012, there are 48 companies involved in exploration in Ireland under 612 prospecting licences.

The number of prospecting licences is one indication of how active the industry is. Another is the level of expenditure and this has also increased in the last few years.

There are approximately 150 people currently directly employed in exploration. The main focus is on zinc/lead but there is also interest in gold and other commodities.

Who are some of the major players in the mining industry in Ireland?

In addition to companies associated with the operating mines above, significant

36 | BE Mining

Interview: Fergus O’Dowd exploration work is being undertaken by Xstrata, Teck, and Conroy Gold & Natural Resources.

Responsible mining & sustainable development:

How important is sustainability for companies operating or hoping to develop projects in Ireland?

It is government policy to promote investment in mining and in minerals exploration in the expectation that it is conducted in line with the principles of sustainable development.

I firmly believe that a responsible extractive industry, having due regard to its social and environmental impact, can demonstrate its sustainability by taking adequate measures to protect the environment, by creating jobs, by producing raw materials which are essential to modern lifestyles and industry, at economic cost and through its contribution to local and national economies by way of taxes, royalties and other charges, as well as spending on indigenous goods and services.

In addition to permits required under the Minerals Development Acts, mining is also subject to land use planning regulations (planning permission) and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Licensing. All developments must undergo a rigorous environmental impact assessment. The EIS must include a properly costed closure plan providing for post closure remediation and aftercare. It is a requirement of all three permits that a surety or bond is in place from the outset to guarantee the availability of funding to implement the closure plan.

It is also essential that exploration and mining are undertaken with due sensitivity to the needs of local communities. Miners have to be good neighbours and must make a positive contribution to counterbalance the right to deplete a finite resource.

What other benefits does the mining industry bring to Ireland?

Apart from the sector’s contribution to overall national output, the provision of direct and indirect

employment opportunities and the tax and other revenues generated, the other economic impacts of the exploration and mining sector include regional development issues, the sector’s impact on the trade balance, international competitiveness and externalities such as environmental management.

Ireland has internationally recognized companies with wide ranging expertise in all aspects of mineral exploration and development, including major engineering and construction groups, specialized drilling contractors, analy tical laboratories, computerized data management and remote sensing expertise, and consultants specializing in project generation and management over the full range of exploration prog ra m mes, reser ve estimates and technical audits, geotechnical services, hydrogeology, environmental assessments, etc.

For more information please visit: www.mineralsireland.ie

BE Mining | 37

CEO of Kudumane Manganese Resources

Sechaba Let

taba

executive insi ht Nobody’s perfect. What quality or ability do you wish you had?

Patience, I am impatient. I also wish I was more in touch with my emotional side which would help me express feelings such as sympathy, etc.

What is the best business book you have ever read, and why?

Effective Leadership through Effective Relationships (John Maxwell). This book resonates with my own approach when it comes to leadership. I have a strong belief that there must be chemistry between people who work together. You have to like each other in order to be effective in what brings you together.

Someone you would most like to have met, living or dead, and why?

Nelson Mandela. He has charisma and possesses the rare qualities such as intelligence, and he expresses and articulates his thinking so well that he reaches his audience. He develops courtesy in all situations, disarming even the guards who had been placed to trouble him.

As my motto goes, Mandela believes in people too. He is quoted as he reflected on his life later saying, “all men have a core of decency and if their heart is touched, they are capable of changing.” This is what I believe in. He has mastered patience and compromise.

Be mining | 39

“Having walked every step of the way in my mining career starting as a miner to the CEO position” What do you consider to be your major achievement (in life or business)?

Believing in people and giving them second chances. As a result, I witnessed people evolve to levels they themselves never thought were possible.

Having walked every step of the way in my mining career starting as a miner to the CEO position. “Been there, done that, got a T-shirt for it,” as the cliché goes.

Having successfully managed to lead in a diverse environment that did not support my background.

Creating the best work teams in my career and being instrumental in bringing about change in South Africa’s mining industry.

Who or what do you think is overrated?

The attitude and the mind-set of the labour unions. Labour unions should never lose sight of the fact that they are the major contributors in either making or breaking the mining industry; hence their approach should be aligned as such. The success and failure of the industry will affect them just as much as it will the employers.

People miss the fact that human rights go hand in hand with both accountability and responsibility.

40 | Be mining

What mistakes have you made (professional or otherwise), and what did you learn from them?

I have often only believed in the good in people and buried my head in the sand like an ostrich. I have learnt that I must influence decisions that involve my life and career and not leave it in the hands and mercy of others.

Which one piece of wisdom would you pass on to your successor?

Understand the environment and the people you have to work with. A happy workforce equals a good safety record and high productivity.

executive insi ht Keep your emotions and temper under control.

Who has been your inspiration professionally?

Philbert Rweyemamu. He was my manager as a young mining engineer in my career.

He believed in people. He was charismatic and yet that did not translate into poor job performance and compromised outputs. He could be both the boss and the friend.

How would you like to be remembered after your retirement?

As someone who sees and acknowledges all human beings. Someone who encouraged uniqueness and individuality in people.

Someone who took a chance on people.

Supportive and consistent.

Do you have a quote or motto you live (or work) by?

Let those I lead spend time on what they know best, (which I don’t know), so that I can spend time doing what I do best. ‘I let them run with it’. Never question a man’s integrity unless they have given you a reason to do so.

do you have something to say?

We’re always looking for new executives to feature.

Get in touch to share your story with us...

Sechaba Letada, CEO of Kudumane Manganese Resources. www.kmr.co.za

editorial@bus-ex.com Be mining | 41

Discovering one’s potential Having existed as an exploration company up until recently, Auriant Mining’s aspiration is now to become a mid-sized gold producer.

CEO Denis Alexandrov explains how the company is perfectly placed to achieve this

written by: Will Daynes research by: Marcus Lewis

42 | be mining

Auriant Mining

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U

ntil recently, gold mining in Russia was a wholly state monopolised industry, one with a history that dates back over 300 years to when the first gold bullion was poured at Nerchinsky mines in 1702. Indeed, it was during the era of the Soviet Union that, through substantial levels of government sponsorship, the industry experienced its most recent exploration boom period, with upwards of 6000 geologists estimated to have been working in the Soviet Union at one time.

The collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it a swift end to this period of prosperity and an end to major exploration investments. Nevertheless, gold and other precious resources remained hidden beneath Russia’s soil and this created a gap in the market that companies are to this day attempting to fill.

Formerly known as Central Asia Gold AB, Auriant Mining is a Swedish junior mining company, listed on Stockholm’s NASDAQ First North stock exchange, focused specifically on gold production in Russia, primarily in the Zabaikalskiy region and the Republics of Khakassia and Tuva.

“In many ways,” explains chief executive officer, Denis Alexandrov, “2012 has been a transformational year for us, what with the appointment of a new board of directors and the commissioning of the heap leach at our Tardan mine.” The independent, five man board of directors Denis refers to bring together a wealth of experience from a number of fields, from mine engineering to geology, while the commissioning of

44 | be mining

One of the open pits at Tardan

Auriant Mining

“2012 has been a transformational year for us with the appointment of a new board of directors and the commissioning of the heap leach at our Tardan mine” Tardan has taken the company to the next level of its development.

In addition, Auriant Mining today boasts an entirely new, experienced management team, while its non-executive board members include heavyweights such as Lord Peter Daresbury, an expert in mining and the CIS in particular, and Andre Bekker, a gold mining veteran and leading geologist from South Africa. Meanwhile,

46 | be mining

the company has made great strides in improving the individual management teams based at its mines.

“Previously,” Alexandrov continues, “we existed mainly as an exploration company with very limited production capacities.

With the commission of Tardan we have become a self-sustainable business and are now able to finance our own exploration activities.” Both Tardan and Auriant

Auriant Mining

Start of a new heap leach at Tardan

Mining’s other core producing asset, which we expect to result in increased Solcocon in Zabaikalye, are gold deposits, reserves at the mine and therefore increase with ore processed through heap leaching the life of the asset.”

In addition to the mine itself, the company and gravitational technologies.

Located north of the Mongolian border holds an exploration license for 540 square in the Republic of Tuva, the mine of Tardan kilometres of land around Tardan, upon which was built upon a reserve of approximately it has already identified a number of satellite 7.5 tonnes of gold. “At deposits that it believes can present,” Alexandrov says, be brought into production at “the installed capacity at its existing facilities.

Tardan is between one and Solcocon, meanwhile, 1.2 tonnes per year, with possesses some 16 tonnes our target being to produce of gold in reserve, separated up to one tonne of gold here into two different deposits per year by the end of 2014. w ith Auriant Mining Of core to be drilled In that same time we intend currently mining one of at Tardan by the to drill approximately these. Here, installed end of 2014 20,000 metres of core, capacity is between 200

20,000 metres

be mining | 47

and 250 kilogrammes per year, with plans is much more of a greenfield exploration in place to gradually increase this to 500 project,” Alexandrov highlights, “in a very kilogrammes in 2014. “Much like Tardan,” promising area. It is here where we are Alexandrov states, “our plan for Solcocon operating solely as an exploration company, is to explore the flanks of the deposits investing capital in order to identify future to add more reserves to our balance drilling targets and new deposits.” sheet. We will then upgrade our existing Auriant Mining is also a part of a joint infrastructure, aiming to venture partnership with increase production to one Centerra Gold, a large, tonne per year.” established gold miner, As wel l as t he where together they operate an exploration project called aforementioned assets, Kara-Beldyr. An extremely the company also holds promising project that has an exploration license already yielded NI 43-101 that covers the Uzhunzhul Analyst estimates for resources of approximately anomalies group in the gold production in 2013 Republic of Khakassia. “This 500,000 ounces, this project

1,200

kilogrammes

Tardan camp and mill

48 | be mining

Auriant Mining

“What links all of Auriant Mining’s activities is the company’s primary goal and that is to establish itself as a mid-sized gold producer” continues the excellent relationship that the two partners have had for several years now.

What links all of Auriant Mining’s activities is the company’s primary goal to establish itself as a mid-sized gold producer. “Our existing production targets,” Alexandrov goes on to say, “will take production up to around 60,000 ounces a year, a figure that brings us just short of

being an intermediate producer. It is our belief that the next jump in production will in fact come from new discoveries that exist around our current assets, so that is where we will be focusing our exploration assets in the coming years.”

The on-going progress and potential for growth in the future were the key themes that the company recently took the opportunity to put across as part of its participation at the ninth annual RMG Exploration and Mining Investment Conference in Stockholm.

“Our key goal here,” Alexandrov enthuses, “was really to introduce the company to the mining community, particularly those who would not have been aware of us beforehand, and to highlight the fact that this is a new company, with a new management structure, secure cash flows and proven assets, that is ready to take off.”

The vast majority of junior mining companies that are today at the exploration stage of their development don’t have the luxury of being able to rely upon the revenues generated from existing operations. This is what makes Auriant Mining somewhat special and what makes it well placed to achieve its future ambitions.

“While there are other junior exploration companies in Russia, we are one of the only

be mining | 49

Auriant Mining Gold dore being produced at Tardan

ones to be producing gold and generating revenue from gold production. This puts us in the enviable position of being able to cover our costs without having to go to the market to raise fresh equity. On top of this, we have a very supportive majority shareholder who has always supported the company in any way he can.”

In 2013, analysts expect Auriant to double the production achieved in 2012.

This represents a guidance of around 1200 kilogrammes of gold for the full year. The biggest contribution to this will come from Tardan with more than 600 kilogrammes, while analysts expect 330 kilogrammes or more from Solcocon.

These figures are possible due to the continued ramp up in Tardan and the expected improvement in productivity at Solcocon.

“Over the next couple of years,” Alexandrov concludes, “the focus of the company will undoubtedly be exploration.

The reason for this is that we confidently predict that the future success of the business revolves around our ability to make new discoveries and bring new mines into production. That is our core goal, however it is not one that can be achieved in only two or three years. Therefore, immediate growth will continue to come from existing assets, while longer term prosperity will come from new finds.”

For more information about Auriant Mining visit: www.auriant.com

be mining | 51

Gold Fields aims to be the global leader in sustainable gold mining. That does not mean staying in business for ever; but rather leaving behind a viable economy, a clean environment and a thriving community written by: John O’Hanlon research by: Vince Kielty

52 | Be mining

Gold Fields SA

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Thembelihle Park, Northern Cape

Gold Fields SA

J

ohannesburg owes its existence to the Witwatersrand gold rush of the 1880s but in those days, mining was governed only by self-interest. The huge short-term capital it generated guaranteed a legislative and regulatory fair wind and in southern Africa little attention was paid to the impact of incoming speculators on the people who had lived there for millennia.

Elements of this attitude have persisted into modern times, and gold mining— indeed any kind of mining—is still often associated with environmental pollution, negative social legacy and an opportunistic business model that maximises profit but pays no more than lip service to cleaning things up once the mine is spent.

Well, that is changing, and the efforts being made by one of the world’s largest gold mining companies, Gold Fields, promise to be a benchmark for sustainable mining in the future. Gold Fields is headquartered in Sandton and listed on both the Johannesburg and New York Stock Exchanges. It operates four mines in South Africa, further mines in Australia, Ghana and Peru, and has committed itself to becoming the global leader in sustainable gold mining.

From compliant to sustainable This is not just a declaration: it is a journey.

More than a century of poor mining practice, pollution from abandoned tailings, denuded landscapes and unthought-out population displacement can’t be swept away just by saying that we are going to comply now, just so that we can talk ourselves into gaining a

Be mining | 55

licence to mine. Companies must be audited more closely than that, says Phillip Jacobs, Gold Fields’ VP of Sustainable Development for the South Africa region. The image problem is not of Gold Fields’ making; like most of the majors it has complied rigorously with regulations and legislation since it was formed in 1998. As with its peers, if not the entire industry, safety was a priority and remains so. “If we can’t mine safely we won’t mine!” says Jacobs.

But he admits that responsible mining was more of a compliance issue in those days. These days, compliance is a starting point. Thinking at Gold Fields has moved progressively from compliance—not breaking the law—through corporate social investment (CSI) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) to sustainable business in the fullest sense. Today it is busy promoting the final step to creating shared value.

Shared value will drive the next wave of innovation and productivity growth in the global economy, according to the Harvard Business Review, where the concept was first defined in 2010. “It will also reshape capitalism and its relationship to society.

Perhaps most important of all, learning how to create shared value is our best chance to

legitimise business again.” Clearly this is an important goal for the mining industry, and the benefits of shared value flow both ways, Jacobs points out. It is not window dressing—there should always a business case for projects.

While there is no standard definition of shared value Gold Fields does measure both its wider economic impact and the amounts dedicated to social economic development

“There is a thin line between our employees and the community—and in many cases no line at all, as they live in the community” 56 | Be mining

Gold Fields SA

Tarkwa gold mine, Ghana

(SED) spending. In calendar accom modat ion a nd 2011, the most recent full procurement. But that is just financial year, the company our point of departure.” spent around US$55 million The Sust a inable Development (S D) on SED of which around d epa r t m ent Ja c o b s 80 per cent was spent in heads pulls together South Africa.

Gold Fields’ all the corporate plans So what precisely does social development for sa fet y, hea lt h, sustainable development spending in 2011 community development mean to him, and who does it and environmental best involve? “Most of our social practice. “There is a thin development initiatives are integrated with the social and labour plans line between our employees and the (SLPs) that we have to submit to get a mining community—and in many cases no line at licence. That is a useful way to pull together all, as they live in the community.” It could different elements of the business including hardly be otherwise in a company that health and safety, human resources and our employs up to 40,000 people, to which must economic development, environmental, be added the considerable secondary impact

$55

Million

Be mining | 57

on the communities near to the mine sites, and in the ‘labour-sending areas’. “Many of our workers migrate from the Eastern Cape or KZN as well as Mozambique and Lesotho to work in the mines. So when we promote community projects we don’t just focus on the ‘host’ communities but also the sending communities.”

Gold Fields’ journey has moved the whole organisation from departmentalised

and piecemeal thinking on SD to an integrated approach, says Jacobs. “Instead of just doing ad-hoc projects we have started looking for meaningful, sustainable projects that will make a difference.” The vision for SD is twofold: on the one hand to avoid leaving any residual liabilities, on the other to leave behind an economy that is independent once the mine closes—as it must eventually. The gold resources at the

“When we promote community projects we don’t just focus on the ‘host’ communities but also the sending communities”

Thembelihle Park

58 | Be mining

Gold Fields SA

Gold Fields CEO Nicholas J Holland opens Themblihle Park

Kloof Driefontein Complex (KDC), South Africa’s largest mine, could last for around 50 years, but like all mining operations are governed by world demand for gold.

So whatever happens, legacies such as ghost towns, communities left without alternative employment, acid pollution and the like must have no part in it.

To prepare the community to sustain itself, the first thing is to understand how that community works, he says.

“Our ethnographic assessments give us a picture of the community as we collect data on education levels, skills available, literacy, unemployment and the like.” In every case the local municipality will have an Integrated Development Plan (IDP) that identifies wealth creation projects, so

Gold Fields will align its own information gathering process with the IDP as far as possible, improving it where necessary and adding projects it believes will be beneficial to that community.

It’s a constant learning process. One of the earliest projects established in 2003 was a rose propagation farm and marketing enterprise near KDC. Gold Fields and the government-run Industrial Development Corporation have invested a total of R160 million (US$22 million) in the Living Gold rose farm over the past few years. To date, this alternative livelihood project has provided jobs and training for over 600 people in the skills of growing, harvesting, sorting and packaging roses for export.

Though the venture has been a commercial

Be mining | 59

success, one of the most valuable lessons was that the value to the community is not related to the size of the investment.

“We have projects where we have spent R10,000 and the impact is proportionately as significant,” he says.

Projects for people A good example is the Alien Vegetation Project at KDC, which aims to create jobs and conserve local biodiversity through the clearing of alien vegetation and the production of charcoal. The project’s 45 participants have produced 500 tonnes

of timber since it started in November 2010.

South Africa is trying to eradicate exotic species like eucalyptus and wattles that are both invasive and thirsty.

Studies showed that an eradication programme could cost R5 million in the first year alone, with follow-on costs to stop the pest vegetation coming back. “Instead we identified people in the community, typically unemployed people, bringing them together in a small business Timber produced at KDC enterprise. We trained them by the Alien Vegetation up to a level where they had Project certificates they could take

Employee housing project in Glenharvie

60 | Be mining

500

tonnes

Gold Fields SA

“Instead of just doing ad-hoc projects we have started looking for meaningful, sustainable projects that will make a difference” and use elsewhere if required, got them the equipment they needed and supported them through a pilot stage, which expanded to the point that now we have a whole community eradicating alien vegetation. We have even negotiated an offtake agreement for them with a company that will buy the timber.

In that way we successfully addressed an environmental issue, an economic issue and

a social issue all in one go and at low cost.”

Another project more closely aligned with traditional agriculture, while feeding directly into the tree replacement programme, is still in its pilot phase. The company has created an ‘Agri-Hub’ with the threefold mission of assessing small scale agricultural projects for feasibility and getting them off the ground; training; and production. “The idea is simple,” explains Jacobs. “We started with wormeries where we compost the kitchen waste from our living accommodation. The wormery produces liquid fertiliser and compost.

That is used in our tunnels where we produce the seedlings.”

The vegetable seedlings are initially given to the community that lives around the KDC mine to plant gardens. To give an idea of the project’s scale, the last time Jacobs checked, about 40,000 plants were growing. The project will be extended to the company’s mines at KDC West, South Deep and possibly Beatrix. From the initial CSI opportunity to provide seedlings to establish food security within a community, Gold Fields has gone a step further, training participants how to plant their seedlings, how to fertilise and how to water them. Some of the plants are used for food, others sold

Be mining | 61

“We successfully addressed an environmental issue, an economic issue and a social issue all in one go and at low cost” and the money used to buy more seedlings.

As well as cabbages and spinach, the tunnels are propagating saplings, all indigenous South African trees, to replace the invaders as they are removed. A similar project, still at the planning stage but scheduled to be launched before the end of 2012, will address bee keeping and honey production. “Again, the principle is to align environmental benefits with socio-economic

62 | Be mining

needs. Beehives can be housed anywhere— each community member could have a few hives and the bees assist pollination in gardens where we are growing trees and rehabilitating the area.”

Spirit of enterprise While these initiatives encourage selfsufficiency, the ultimate aim is to leave behind a local economy that works, and

Gold Fields SA

Environmental inititiave at Beatrix mine

for that you need individuals who will invest their money, skills and vision in their community. You need entrepreneurs.

These men and women emerge naturally in the project and slowly take over until it is self-sustaining. There are signs that this process is happening in the agri-projects we have looked at, but Gold Fields is also keen to encourage sustainable business like the Futyana Bakery, based at the KDC mine.

It is run by an ex-Gold Fields employee, employs 22 local people and supplies the mine with more than 2,000 loaves of bread every working day. Gold Fields supplied loan finance to the enterprise, as well as indefinite rent-free accommodation in an old hostel building. A group of women produce a range of safety attire and equipment at another

enterprise that was established to serve as a hub for independent community businesses.

Gold Fields has now started a ‘localisation project’ to support entrepreneurship. It started by creating a database of all existing enterprises in the community and the skills available. The data will be available to the local business community and the municipality. Gold Fields itself will be able to use it to build a supplier community that can supply not only foodstuffs, along the model of the Futyana Bakery, but also craftsmen like plumbers or welders that it may require as well as mining related services like safety clothing, electrical or engineering services. “We will assist them with mentorship to get them to the quality level we need,” Jacobs promises.

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Driefontein headgear, South Africa

Gold Fields SA The next phase will be to create business development centres in all the mine and sending communities to act as a repository for the local database and an incubator for growing businesses. Professionals from the mine’s training facilities will provide basic training in numeracy and literacy. “Once they have passed that stage they can have the opportunity to obtain portable skills in disciplines like animal husbandry, carpentry, metalwork, auto repair and the like.”

The company’s procurement policy will help to provide the market. For example if there are houses to be built, instead of getting contractors to tender, the database will be used to source the building skills needed from the local community. The business development centre could help them form a business to do the work; it could provide them with meeting rooms and act as their communications hub, so they will be able to offer their services to other local businesses or municipalities.

Though the will has always been there, the progress from a mindset of compliance to one of shared value has not been without pain. But Jacobs says it has been worth every step. “For a mining company to be successful today, cosmetic changes are not enough: it must change its moral fibre, it’s very genetic makeup. We have done that, I believe.”

For more information about Gold Fields SA visit: www.goldfields.co.za

Be mining | 65

Exceeding expectations By world standards it might be a small operation but one new venture in Turkey is making a big contribution to the local community written by: Jeff Daniels research by: Abi Abagun

66 | Be mining

Alacer Gold Corp: ร รถpler

s

Be mining | 67

Alacer Gold Corp: Çöpler

N

The first gold was poured at Çöpler in December 2010

ature has been very uneven in its distribution of bounties.

Take gold, for example. Plenty has been found throughout North and South America.

Africa and Australia are similarly blessed.

China is by far the largest source of gold; but poor old Europe has been left holding all the low cards.

The highest European representative on the list of gold producing nations is Turkey, ranking just 26th in the world’s top 100 gold producers. To put output into perspective, in the same period that China produced 320,000 kilos of gold, Turkey weighed in with 12,000 kilos.

It could be argued, of course, that Turkey’s gold deposits aren’t even European, located as they are on the eastern side of the Bosphorus. But what is not in dispute is that the Çöpler Gold Mine is an important part of the Alacer Gold Corp’s portfolio and one that is all set to increase significantly in size.

In the trade, Alacer is classed as an intermediate gold producer. It is registered under the laws of the Yukon Territory in Canada, has its head office in Colorado in the States and operates mines in Australia as well as Turkey. In 2011, total production measured 421,204 ounces of gold, a figure that is certain to be surpassed in the current year. Çöpler is located in the eastern part of Turkey, roughly 550 kilometres east of Ankara and 120 kilometres south-west of the provincial capital city of Erzincan.

It’s a remote area, high in the mountains,

Be mining | 69

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Alacer Gold Corp: Çöpler serviced by the nearby town addition to the almost of ĺliҫ (population 2,500). one thousand jobs the The mine is important to mine has created, means the town and the immediate a massive boost for the vicinity and provides much local economy. needed jobs in an area The mine itself is owned where little else is going on.

80 per cent by Alacer with the Like all good employers, remaining 20 per cent held A lacer maintains

by Alacer’s minority Turkish par tner— Lydia Maden constructive partnerships with the local communities İşletmelerş A.Ş. Alacer first and regional stakeholders The mine is high in the mountains acquired an interest in surrounding Çöpler to Çöpler over a decade ago ensure that activities which may impact and by 2004 it had consolidated 100 per them are carried out in a consultative and cent control of the property. However, at participatory manner. Wherever possible, that stage, all it had were the rights to mine Alacer has a policy of buying parts and what was still virgin territory. In 2009, services from local suppliers which, in though, it entered a strategic relationship

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Alacer Gold Corp: Çöpler with Lydia Mining and Kar-sa construction of the mine Kar-sa was established as a mechanical construction began not long after, company in 2006. The scope of our jobs includes: with the first gold being industrial plants’ mechanical, electrical & instrumentation poured December 2010 erection and installation; steel structure erection and and f ull commercial installation; stainless steel, carbon steel, and HDPE pipe production announced a fittings installation; cold and hot commissioning tests; fire extinguishing systems design and installation; cladding few months later. and insulation; and maintenance and modification of heavy In fact, ramp up to full industries systems. production and progress In the past, Kar-sa was a sub-contractor for Mitsubishi Heavy in general at the mine has Industries at the Afşin-Elbistan B Power Plant. The company gone better than planned, also serves as a sub-contractor for Alacer Gold Company at meaning that Çöpler the İliç Gold Mine for new projects and modifications. exceeded expectations www.kar-sa.com.tr during its first year of operations. Commercial gold production came on stream earlier than planned and the mine produced a total of 185,418 ounces of gold at a cash operating cost of $322 per ounce. Ore was sourced from the manganese pit during 2011 and 26 per cent more gold was mined than modelled, with reconciliations being 30 per cent higher on grade and three per cent lower on tonnes.

For the geologists, mineralisation at Çöpler occurs in both oxide and sulfide forms, making the ore amenable to conventional open pit mining. The oxide ores are being processed in a simple crush, The remote Çöpler Mine

“Like all good employers, Alacer maintains constructive partnerships with the local communities and regional stakeholders surrounding Çöpler” Be mining | 73

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Alacer Gold Corp: Çöpler agglomeration and heap leach circuit. For the deeper Haycarb activated carbons from Eurocarb are the leading sulfide mineralisation, solution for the goldmine sector in Turkey and around the Alacer is at an advanced world. High quality carbons are backed up by our market stage of a feasibility study leading technical support and analysis service from our into assess the processing of house goldmine consultants, ensuring that our customers the sulfide ores through have the right carbon and all the information they need to conventional cr ushing deliver maximum profits from their operations. www.eurocarb.com and milling, leading to a pressure oxidation circuit.

When Alacer announced the results of its preliminary feasibility study (PFS) around 18 months ago, indications were that such a project would have marked impact on the life of the mine. Gold reserves would increase from 2.2 million ounces to 4.6 million ounces and life of mine production would increase from 1.3 million ounces to 3.7 million ounces. The working life of the mine would extend to 16 years.

At a gold price of $1,038 per ounce, the sulfide project would deliver $739 million in cash f low and provide a real internal rate of return of 24.6 per cent on a US$410 million initial capital investment. At a planned production rate of 8,000 tonnes per day, such a pressure oxidation circuit would not only recover

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7.3 million oz The target is for Çöpler to produce a total of 400,000 ounces

Çöpler’s measured and indicated resources as at December 31 2011

Be mining | 75

Mineralisation at ÇÜpler occurs in both oxide and sulfide forms

Alacer Gold Corp: Çöpler additional gold but also 91 million pounds of copper.

After a break in exploration drilling during the construction phase, more than 50 kilometres of drilling were completed during 2011 at Çöpler. This has extended and upgraded known gold mineralisation.

Only about half of this drilling was incorporated in an updated Çöpler resource announced early in 2012 which already reported increased measured and indicated resources to 7.3 million ounces.

Drilling is continuing at Çöpler and a further resource update is expected in the near future. This is particularly important to the work underway on the Çöpler sulfide feasibility study that is due to be completed in late 2012. Çöpler is forecast to produce 180,000 to 190,000 ounces (on a 100 per cent basis) during 2012 at a cash operating cost of $360 to $380 per ounce.

A positive development decision following the completion of the Çöpler sulfide feasibility study in late 2012 would enable construction of the sulfide project to commence. The target is for Çöpler to produce a total of 400,000 ounces when both oxide and sulfide ores are processed. With measured and indicated resources totalling 7.3 million ounces as at December 31 2011, Çöpler is proving to be a world-class deposit in a well mineralised district.

For more information about Alacer Gold Corp: Çöpler visit: www.alacergold.com

Be mining | 77

Newmont Ghana Gold

Setting an

example

George Brakoh, manager of local supplier and contractor development, explains how the economic legacy left behind by Newmont Ghana Gold will benefit the local community for years to come written by: Will Daynes research by: Richard Halfhide

Be mining | 79

Newmont Ghana Gold Pouring concrete

B

oasting economic growth rates that have consistently topped six percent in recent years, Ghana is universally lauded as being an emerging African economic success story. A peaceful and stable democratic nation, Ghana continues to make strong progress towards its goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2020.

Like many companies currently based in the country, the Newmont Mining Corporation has found Ghana to be a land of great opportunity and one where it can expand its own global reach. One of the largest and oldest gold producers, the New mont Mining Cor poration also holds significant assets in North and South America, Australasia and the Far East, employing 43,000 staff and contractors worldwide.

In Ghana, Newmont’s African activities are presently centred on its Ahafo operation, located beneath an area inhabited by around 1700 households.

Newmont’s staff made great strides in successfully resettling the affected communit y, compensating residents financially and providing them with new homes, schools and titles to land that they were previously not allowed to own.

Today the mine supports the employment of 1800 people directly employed by Newmont and provides work for a further 3000 contractors on site. As the mine has continued to develop, its focus has turned to Newmont’s Ahafo Linkage Programme, a three year project designed to increase

Be mining | 81

Atlas Copco Ghana Ltd. +233(0) 302 774512 info.ghana@gh.atlascopco.com www.atlascopco.com

S

Surface Drilling Equipment

Sustainable Productivity

ATLAS COPCO GHANA LIMITED Innovating for sustainable productivity Atlas Copco is an industrial group with world-leading positions in compressors, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems. The Group delivers sustainable solutions for increased customer productivity through innovative products and services. Founded in 1873, the company is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and has a global reach spanning more than 170 countries. In 2011, Atlas Copco had about 33,000 employees.

The Group’s vision is to become and remain First in Mind –First in Choice® for its customers and other stakeholders. Its organizational culture is based on three core values which are interaction, commitment

84 | Be mining

and innovation. These values guide its people towards a consistent position in offering the best of products and services to customers and other stakeholders.

Atlas Copco Ghana Limited started operating at Obuasi, Ghana in 1992 with the goal of supporting the country’s mining industry.

Its regional responsibility covers Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and French speaking West Africa. The company currently has three branches strategically positioned in Accra, Obuasi and Tema.

Atlas Copco Ghana operates through a number of divisions within three main business areas; Mining and Rock Excavation Technique , Compressor Technique and Construction Technique.

Newmont Gold NEWMONT Ghana GHANAGOLD

The Mining and Rock Excavation Technique business area markets and services underground drilling rigs for tunneling and mining applications, surface drilling rigs, loading equipment, exploration drilling equipment as well as the related aftermarket and drilling consumables, all designed to help achieve high productivity with moderate maintenance costs.

The Compressor Technique business area provides industrial compressors, gas and process compressors and expanders, air and gas treatment equipment and air management systems. It has a global service network and offers specialty rental services. Compressor Technique innovates for sustainable productivity in the manufacturing, oil and gas, and process industries.

The Construction Technique business area provides construction and demolition tools, portable compressors, pumps and generators, lighting towers, road construction and compaction and paving equipment.

It offers service through a global network.

Construction Technique innovates for sustainable productivity in infrastructure, civil works and road construction projects.

The company can also boast of a well-defined aftermarket (service) team which offers expert service and training to customers to increase their production capacities. In enhancing its service offering, the company has recently established a new training facility at Obuasi to provide a central place for employees and customers to attend training seminars and courses under the “Master Driller Program� which is a by-product of the Atlas Copco Performance Services initiative.

Atlas Copco Ghana does more than meeting equipment needs; it goes a mile further to help solve customer problems by providing consumables, spares and solutions for customer operations.

The company continuously strives to be a good corporate citizen and as part of its corporate social responsibilities, immense contributions have been made towards the sustainable development of the Obuasi community. Atlas Copco Ghana has also been involved in various charity and community engagement projects in Ghana.

It remains committed to sustainable productivity.

T. +233 0302 774512

Info.ghana@gh.atlascopco.com

Be mining DECEMBER 2012 | | 852

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GOLDER ASSOCIATES Golder Associates’ involvement in Newmont Gold Ghana Limited’s Ahafo Amoma project began during stage three and involved the design, engineering and construction of a large majority of the infrastructure related to the goldbearing, open-cast pit.

From the outset, Golder engineers added value by determining more efficient ways of setting up the project, whereby they reviewed and optimised NGGL’s initial design concepts.

Included in the scope of work was the design, engineering and construction of an 8.7 km haul road and associated infrastructure; the waste rock dump; the sedimentation control structures and associated controlled outlet structure.

The site’s secluded location, extreme topography and adverse weather conditions presented Golder with numerous challenges,

such as logistics, water management, sedimentation control and security. Golder managed these challenges by thinking outside the box, which involved extensive research and inventive in-house engineering, which well exceeded client expectations.

Golder handed the project over to NGGL US$9million under budget, three months before schedule, and with an exemplary safety record of no reported incidents.

Golder’s ‘above and beyond’ work ethic and quality engineering and delivery of the Ahafo Amoma project, enabled NGGL to begin operations at the mine three months ahead of the expected operational date. cfell@golder.co.za www.golder.com

NOVEMBER 2012| |872 Be mining

Weekly Because a month is a long time to wait...

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Newmont Ghana Gold the opportunity to grow.

Consar Meanwhile, a similar mission Between July 2004 and June 2006 Consar Limited being undertaken at Ahafo demonstrated our performance in building and civil involves a drive to create engineering works when we were awarded the construction more private-public sector of a new ball/sag mill wet plant including 49 senior and junior partnerships and increase the staff houses at Ahafo for Newmont Ghana Gold Limited. level of dialogue between the Our quality and standard of workmanship, coupled with a good working relationship with Newmont, earned us two sectors. another opportunity to construct a new ball/sag mill wet “Most of the time,” Brakoh plant together with 160 room accommodation at Akyem, continues, “what we find is which is nearing completion. that the two sectors tend not Working with Newmont Ghana Gold has tremendously to understand one another. improved our safety and environmental practices in our What we want to do is create construction business over the period. a scenario where the two www.consarltd.com sides can connect with one another. We believe that this will ultimately create a more level business environment that will allow everyone to grow more effectively.”

What the company is equally keen to ensure is that a legacy of economic stability and growth remains long after the mine has ceased operations. One of the ways it plans to achieve this is through the strengthening of regional agribusiness. “We believe the environment around the mine provides excellent economic opportunities,” Brakoh enthuses, “and we want it to remain that way even when our own presence diminishes.

3,000 Contractors that the mine provides work for Stone pitching works

Be mining | 89

Top soil spreading by Gyifoss

Newmo

“Today we are focused on promoting the mentoring of small business by some of our larger contractors�

What we are striving to do is encourage more successful local businesses to invest some of their profits into various agribusinesses.�

On the national front, Newmont Ghana Gold is at the forefront of efforts to develop local content agreements across the country. These efforts have the full support of the Ghanaian government

90 | Be mining

who have brought in local content laws that require mining companies to submit local procurement plans, based on a list of items.

Working in collaboration with the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Newmont has thus far identified 28 different product categories that it believes can be sourced locally.

Newmont Ghana Gold

ont is committed to local sourcing

Together with a number of specialist consultants, the company has been carrying out in-depth analysis of these products and the companies that manufacture them in the country.

“Based on the progress made to date,” Brakoh says, “we have proposed that a programme focused on driving local content agreements begins in early 2013.

What we believe we can achieve in the short-to-medium term is to attract an increasing number of foreign investors into the country, with the ultimate aim being to encourage them to partner with local businesses. This is all part of a longterm strategy that we have mapped out that

Grass planting by Nyame Adom Twum

we believe will lead to a situation where international manufacturers will be able to utilise Ghanaian businesses to establish their own local operations.”

Newmont Ghana Gold will certainly be hoping that its local content programme meets with the same success and approval as some of its other initiatives. In early October, the company was commended by the country’s Asanthehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for establishing the Ne w m ont A hafo D e v e lop m e nt Foundation, an enterprise that seeks to ensure the sustainable development of its host communities.

Otumfuo praised the company for

Be mining | 91

The local content programme at Ahafo has met with great success

Newmont Ghana Gold

1,800 People directly employed at Ahafo

the cordial working relationship it has maintained with local communities and reaffirmed his belief that if all other mines could emulate the example set by Newmont, the lives of mining communities across Ghana and Africa as a whole would improve by leaps and bounds.

“Together with our partners in the local community we have achieved a lot at Ahafo,” Brakoh says, “and the results are there for all to see. What I, like many others, now believe is that we have the potential to achieve something just as big on a national scale. Thanks to Ahafo there are numerous examples of local businesses that today have the potential to grow further thanks to opportunities that didn’t exist before and we are passionate about making such opportunities available on a national level. We are under no illusion that this will pose significant challenges, but with the best efforts of everyone involved we feel that what happens in Ghana will set an excellent example that other countries can follow.”

For more information about Newmont Ghana Gold visit: www.newmont.com/africa

Be mining | 93

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94 | Be mining

Caledonia Mining Corporation

golden touch

the developments that have occurred at the Blanket gold er the last several years have proven, the government of abwe is becoming ever-more aware of the important role its mining industry can play in the growth of the nation written by: Will Daynes research by: Robbie Hodgson and Jon Bradley

Be mining | 95

Caledonia Mining Corporation

Z

Zimbabwe’s terrain is among the most productive of its kind in the world

imbabwe is, by its own admission, a gold country. In terms of gold yield per square kilometre, the country’s Archaean terrain is among the most productive of its kind in the world. In fact it has been estimated that from the seventh century through to the start of the 20th, when modern mining activity began, some 700 tonnes of gold was mined in what would have been a very crude fashion.

While Zimbabwe does boast a long mining history, many areas still remain that have yet to be scientifically investigated. Furthermore, many of the modern exploration techniques that have proven to be the catalyst for significant finds elsewhere throughout the world are yet to be adopted by companies operating within the country. What this does do, however, is provide a number of exciting opportunities for those that do decide to invest in the exploration of Zimbabwean gold.

One such entity is Caledonia, a Canadian registered mining and exploration company with several assets across Southern Africa, including the Nama cobalt-copper project in Zambia, the Rooipoort and Mapochsgronde platinum-nickel projects in South Africa, and the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe.

Blanket gold mine is wholly owned and operated by Caledonia’s subsidiary company, Caledonia Mining Corporation, which acquired the mine in April 2006 from Kinross Gold Corporation. Operating at a depth of approximately 800 metres, Blanket is a well-established mine that currently has a production capacity of 40,000 ounces of gold per annum. Located in the south-west

Be mining | 97

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BARLOWORLD POWER Barloworld Power is a registered entity within the multinational Barloworld Limited Group.

We are a distributor of leading international brands, providing integrated power, rental, fleet management, product support and logistics solutions. The company was founded in 1902 and has been one of the largest leading Caterpillar dealers for 85 years.

Based in South Africa, Barloworld Power is a leading provider of engineered solutions in the mining sector for custom designed prime and standby electrification solutions driven

by Caterpillar’s extensive proprietary suite of diesel, heavy fuel oil and gas generator engine configurations.Today Barloworld Power’s Cat territorial responsibility encompasses 11 countries in southern Africa, in addition to its dealer coverage in Portugal, Spain, Siberia and

the Russian Far East. Our design teams work side-by-side with our mining clients to develop an optimised package. In some cases, the specification caters for back-up power, and in others, where no grid connection is available, 24/7 continuous operation. For independent power producers (IPPs), Barloworld’s project scope extends to include Cat power stations that serve as dedicated plants to meet private sector as well as public utility needs.

Barloworld Power manufacturers its own low voltage switchgear and synchronisation panels. These are integrated to form a seamless changeover for medium and heavy voltage systems during transition to and from grid connections, where applicable.

For more information visit www.barloworldpower.com

OCTOBER Be mining 2012| |992

Show the world what your company has to offer with our tailored packages

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Caledonia Mining Corporation

Zimbabwe boasts a long mining history

Recent undertakings have focused works have commenced with the shaft being predominantly on a similar programme concrete lined from its surface collar, down to involving the upgrade of the mine’s No.4 a depth of 90 metres, and a surplus mill has shaft and the milling section of the plant, also been refurbished and installed within while at the same time maintaining the the mine’s metallurgical plant.

During the course of October 2011, the mine’s production levels. To date, surface work on the shaft has been completed, as has Blanket gold mine was the recipient of two the construction of the winder house and the prestigious safety awards following an audit installation of a 650 kilowatt on its occupational safety and health (OHS) policy and winder therein. Other works undertaken include the procedures by the National fabrication and installation Social Security Authority of a 40 metre high headgear, (NSSA). This audit also a 120 metre overland covered the mine’s training Ounces per annum conveyor system and a and management systems. production capacity of the Blanket mine series of primary crushers.

As a result of the findings made by the NSSA, Blanket Meanwhile, below-ground

40,000

Be mining | 101

“Caledonia Mining Corporation has identified future growth as coming more from organic expansion, as opposed to acquisitions� gold mine was awarded the gold medal in the mining and quarrying sector in Matabeleland, as well as the bronze medal across all industrial sectors in Zimbabwe.

In June 2012, Caledonia Mining Corporation announced the signing of an agreement with the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund (NIEEF) to transfer 16 percent of the Blanket gold mine. At the same time it revealed it had been awarded a

102 | Be mining

Certificate of Compliance in accordance with the Zimbabwe Indigenisation Act. The conditional agreement signed for the sale of the 16 percent stake in the mine is valued at $11.742 million in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed with the Zimbabwean government in February 2012. This previous agreement will see indigenous Zimbabweans acquire 51 percent ownership

Caledonia Mining Corporation

The company intends to increase Blanket’s production levels significantly in the years to come

of the Blanket mine for a paid transaction value of $30.09 million.

Further terms of the MoU include an agreement for the sale of 15 percent of the mine to a consortium of indigenous Zimbabweans for a consideration of $11.008 million and an agreement for the sale of ten percent to the Blanket Mine Employee Trust, a body established for the benefit of both present and future employees of the mine, for $7.339 million. Additionally, ten percent of Blanket is to be donated to the Gwanda Community Share Ownership Trust, which has been established for the benefit of the local community.

For the year ending 31 December 2011, Blanket gold mine’s unaudited revenues and profit, after tax, were recorded as $56.6

million and $19.2 million respectively. In looking to the future, Caledonia Mining Corporation has identified growth as coming more from organic expansion, as opposed to acquisitions. Accordingly it is focused solely on developing existing projects and addressing its properties with a view to increasing its reserves and resources. Depending on the outcome of its forthcoming exploration and feasibility studies, the company intends to increase Blanket’s production levels significantly in the years to come.

For more information about Caledonia Mining Corporation visit: www.caledoniamining.com

Be mining | 103

For ambitious mining companies it is necessary to be continually planning ahead, as is demonstrated by the operations of Aurizon Mines in northern Canada written by: Alan Swaby research by: Dan Finn

104 | Be mining

Aurizon Mines

Be mining | 105

Aurizon Mines

A

Aurizon has interests in seven exploration ventures

urizon Mines is a Canadian mining company operating in one of the world’s most favorable mining jurisdictions and prolific gold and base metal regions. The Abitibi area of Quebec is in the north-west of the province, close to the Ontario border and around 400km south of Hudson Bay. T hroughout t he region, Aurizon has a mix of ten properties, both gold producing and in various stages of exploration. The main focus for the business is the Casa Berardi mine, taken out of retirement and currently back in its sixth year of commercial operations.

Last year, the best year so far, saw the 100 percent owned mine produce a total of 163,845 ounces by processing 698,123 tonnes of ore, giving an average grade of 8.0 grams of gold per tonne. This year, though, expectations have been lowered marginally to 150,000 ounces.

Casa Berardi’s gold is found deep underground and there are developments taking place to take it even deeper. The shaft at the western side was excavated a further 106 metres in the first half of this year from the previous 760 metre level down to 866 metres. The second phase of the deepening, by using a sinking hoist at the 795 metre level, should be completed and in operation by this time next year. From a depth of 1,010 m, a drift will provide access to three more zones and the whole development has involved capital expenditure of $40 million.

When the mine went into production in 2006, it had a life expectancy of just six

Be mining | 107

Show the world what your company has to offer with our tailored packages

Seen www.bus-ex.com

Aurizon Mines years. But this year, instead Jennmar Canada of closing things down, Jennmar Canada is proud to be a vendor partner of Mine the operation is looking Aurizon. Our relationship has allowed us collectively to forward to another nine come up with innovative solutions to their unique ground years of production with control challenges at the Casa Berardi Mine. Jennmar is every possibility of further excited by the continued investment and growth in the extensions should the $10 Abitibi region and is looking forward to continuing our strong relationship and supporting their new and million dollars the company upcoming projects. is spending per annum on www.jennmar.com exploration find further useful deposits.

Whatever the date is that Casa Berardi does wind down, Aurizon is hoping that one or more of its exploration leases will be ready to take over. The most advanced of these is the Joanna gold project conveniently served by the nearby Rouyn-Noranda airport. Joanna is an 8km x 3km area split into five sectors and although Aurizon has a 100 percent interest, all sectors are based on different ownership agreements.

This year, Aurizon completed a feasibility study in the Hosco sector. The assay results from 89 holes showed that 60 of them had between one and five mineralization intersections down to a depth of 200 metres and another 19 showed positive indications down to 400 metres. Aurizon is sufficiently encouraged by these results to commission 2011 was the best year at Casa Berardi

“Casa Berardi is looking forward to another nine years of production with every possibility of further extensions�

Be mining | 109

deeper holes and follow the mineralization down to 600 metres.

However, Hosco might have to wait to be developed until some of the surrounding sectors have been explored. Early drilling at the adjacent Heva sector, for example, is indicating higher grade ore potential than at Hosco and initial metallurgy has returned very good gold recoveries using conventional cyanidation.

The feasibility study was prepared as an open pit mining project relating solely to the mineral reserves located on the Hosco deposit. The in-pit mineral reserves were estimated at a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t for a total diluted proven and probable reserve estimate of 41.1 million tonnes at 1.26 grams/tonne, representing 1.66 million ounces of gold. The mine plan was designed for an 8,500 tonnes per day operation, with an average stripping ratio of 4.49 to 1 which should give the mine a life of mine of 13 years.

The pre-production capital costs and sustaining costs for the Hosco deposit have been estimated at $422 million and $97 million respectively. At an average operating cash cost estimated at US$716 per ounce of gold and $25.32 per tonne milled and based on a gold price of US$1,350 per

ounce, the pre-tax internal rate of return would be 8.7 percent and the project would have a payback period of 8.2 years.

In the meantime, Aurizon has interests in seven exploration ventures in and around Abitibi totaling more than 2800 claims over an area of 70,000 hectares.

Either in conjunction with other mining exploration companies, where it has at least a 50 percent interest, or in certain

“Early drilling at the adjacent Heva sector is indicating higher grade ore potential than at Hosco�

110 | Be mining

Aurizon Mines

Higher gold prices helped push up profits

work it has committed to. cases where Aurizon has 100 percent ownership of Unaudited financial results the rights, it can earn its for the first quarter of 2012, options upon fulfilling its prepared from available investment commitments. information up to May this If all of them are followed year, indicate a 238 percent through it will involve improvement in net profit 2011 gold production at Aurizon in expenditure in compared with the previous Casa Berardi the order of $50 million year. Higher realized gold within the next four years. prices helped push up the In the first quarter of 2012, $6.7 million operating profit margin by 31 percent, was spent on exploration mainly at the leaving the company with cash balances of Marban and Fayolle projects in addition $199 million and no debt. to continued exploration and feasibility work at Joanna.

For more information about Aurizon will therefore be looking for Aurizon Mines visit: continued good performance at Casa Berardi www.aurizon.com to help finance the further exploration

163,845 ounces

Be mining | 111

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Eurotire

A relative newcomer to the tire business, Eurotire is making room for itself in a crowded marketplace

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written by: Alan Swaby research by: Marcus Lewis

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Be mining | 113

Eurotire concentrates on growth areas where new mining ventures are being developed

Eurotire

I

magine the situation: a new name in off-road tires for the mining industry is trying to break into a market dominated by three of the biggest brands in the world. At the other end of the spectrum, customers are losing faith in unknown brands thanks to masses of inferior Chinese tires flooding the market and failing to live up to expectation.

This was the scenario facing Eurotire after what was once a state-run research facility in the Soviet Union was privatized in 2004. “Since the 1970s,” explains commercial director Mike Bloor, “our Ukraine factory existed to produce short runs of prototype OTR tires. After the Soviet Union broke up, the Ukraine became a separate country in 1992 and a decade later embarked on a large scale privatization program. As the mining industry tends to deal in US dollars and as many of Eurotire’s shareholders live in North America, the commercial business is registered and run under the rules of the United States.”

Since then, the Ukraine factory, which specializes in bias tires, has undergone a $70 million expansion and modernization program. In 2007, a further $300 million was invested in a state-of-the-art radial tire plant in Romania, providing Eurotire with plant capacities of 14,000 and 22,000 tires per annum respectively. In all, it has a workforce of 2,500 directly and indirectly manning a chain of nine warehouses and offices in ten different countries of the world.

But with the biggest names in global mining being cosseted by the biggest names

Be mining | 115

in tire manufacturing, where was Eurotire to sell its output? “After what happened during the tire shortage,” says Bloor, “there was an understandable resistance for buyers to trust brands they didn’t know. So, two years ago, rather than chasing the bulk of sales going to well-established mines in long-standing, mature regions, we adopted a new business strategy and turned to the fringes, to growth areas where new mining ventures were being developed.”

Of course this meant the most marginal and isolated places in the world, dealing with mining companies and locations that only industry insiders had ever heard of. “These mines had exactly the same need for good tires and plenty of back-up from suppliers,” says Bloor, “but had to rely on getting whatever they could get their hands on from intermediaries of one kind or another.”

It seems that despite tires being a crucial part of the mining process and one which can have a considerable impact on operating costs, only a few mine operators are truly savvy about the whole question of tire selection and management. While the big mining houses with deep pockets got all the attention they could ever want

from the big tire manufacturers, those on the margins got nothing in the way of help and support.

“There are no operating manuals,” says chief operating officer Meir Dubinsky, “on how to run a tire management program while mining at an altitude of 5,500 meters or how best to change tires. Buying through a dealer gets absolutely nothing in the

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Eurotire

Romania Factory

way of support. Those guys Africa that take up the slack are completely on their own.” and become the industry’s So for the past two years, mainstream mines. while obviously not ignoring Doing business this way easier-to-come-by business, is not easy. If a customer Number of people in Eurotire has been doing its needs a tire today, it’s too Eurotire’s workforce own pioneering work and late. Even those customers creating contact with mines with the greatest leverage in the badlands of Russia, have to plan a year ahead of India or Kazakhstan. In this time, they their needs. When it can take three or four have become convinced of the correctness months to deliver a tire to some isolated of their strategy. At the moment, they have spot in the Sayan Mountains, forward little or no competition as the rest of the tire selling is even more critical. suppliers battle it out with the current big Unlike the automobile market, where names in the industry. But over the coming younger motorists aren’t even aware decades, as the giants run out of resources, that cars once ran on bias tires, the Tire it will be the isolated mines in Russia and Industry Association estimates that around

2,500

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40 percent of all off-road tires are still bias.

This of course means that the majority of OTR tires are now radial but in order to justify the extra cost of a radial tire, mines must have roads good enough to travel at higher speeds.

“We find that there is enormous difference in the mix of tires a country will use,” says Bloor. “Mature markets such as North America or Australia have better

infrastructure and probably use 95 percent radials. But these tires would be totally ineffective in less well developed areas.

There, the roads are so poor that trucks can never get anywhere near the speeds that radials are capable of and could never justify the cost.”

Eurotire’s range in both bias and radial covers haul trucks of around 50 tonne to vehicles with a 220 tonne capacity. One

“Caterpillar is in the same boat as us. They know that it’s the growth mining zones where future business comes from”

Eurotire has strategic supplier status with Caterpillar

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Eurotire

Tires can have a considerable impact on operating costs

of the greatest feathers sell the Eurotire message. in Eurotire’s cap is the “Being the relatively new strategic supplier status it kid on the block,” says has with Caterpillar which, Bloor, “we have to try although not the only OEM harder to break through Number of countries it supplies, is certainly the purchasing inertia and where Eurotire operates the most well known. get mines to try something “Caterpillar is in the same new. We do this through a boat as us,” says Bloor. package we call EuroCare “They know that it’s the growth mining through which we can show that rather zones where future business comes from than simply selling tires, we want to add and they appreciate the effort we are value to every part of the process.” putting into opening up these markets.”

Eurotire claims that no other supplier Even Caterpillar, though, steers clear of offers the same range of support services that certain tire selection decisions. Over 90 make up EuroCare nor are they able to tailor tonne capacity, its vehicles are sold without the support in the same way. “As well as the tires, leaving the decision to the end user tires themselves,” says Dubinsky, “we provide and therefore opening up opportunities to everything—but everything—end users will

10

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Eurotire

40% Proportion of all off-road tires that are still bias ever need to get the best life and value from their tires: tools, service programs, training, our own line of repair products—everything from a single source and brought to the customer at a reasonable price.”

Not only does Eurotire promise not to try and sell anything the customer doesn’t need, it offers the software programs that will prove that everything it does supply will add value. Perhaps the most impressive element is a remote tire monitoring system that enables Eurotire to keep track of every tire equipped with the necessary telemetry components. With this, if there is a problem with running tire pressures, the Eurotire system will send an alert via text or email in real time to allow mine managers the chance to make appropriate service interventions.

“What we want to achieve,” says Bloor, “is to make tire management data meaningful and show the end users how to take their maintenance to the next level and with that get much more value and life from their purchases.”

No other supplier offers the same range of support services

For more information about Eurotire visit: www.eurotire.net

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As the pressure i efficiencies, so in high deman

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Rainstorm Dust Control

intensifies on global industry to conserve water and hone olutions that reduce the need for water in dust control are nd. Rainstorm Dust Control is using its expertise, unique products and solid experience to lead a growing market written by: Becky Done research by: Paul Bradley Be mining | 123

Veneering in process

Rainstorm Dust Control

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hen ore is mined, processes such as crushing, grinding and transporting generate large amounts of dust; as do the untreated roads carved out of dry earth to carry the vast number of vehicles essential to operations. Failure to control this dust can reduce an operation’s efficiency, pose health and safety hazards, and cost a lot of time and money. Traditional methods dating back centuries either involve pumping copious amounts of water or, even worse, just putting up with it.

It tends to follow that the more predisposed a region is to dust, the less water it has available to help control it; so in dry climates, to throw water at the problem is no longer a viable long-term option. “The catchphrase we use is ‘Water on dust control is water lost’,” says Rainstorm Dust Control’s technical sales and marketing manager, Mason Trouchet. Consider also the added expense of flying water cart operators into remote mining sites, he says, and it becomes clear that an alternative to water is the only sensible way forward.

Headquartered in Maddington, Western Australia, Rainstorm Dust Control is a unique business in the world of dust control. Its suite of products is specifically designed to stop the dust from becoming airborne in the first place. Drawing on expertise gathered over the past 30 years, the company supplies both products and contractor services, running a range of specialised equipment to dispense the products or inject them into minerals.

For mining and civil projects, over 50 per

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cent of all dust is generated from unsealed roads. It’s the single largest contributor towards dust on almost all the projects Rainstorm works with. The company tackles road dust with DustMag, a world-leading solution trusted by mining giants such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Sprayed onto the roads, it works by pulling moisture from the atmosphere, so the road is effectively being continuously watered. When applied to unsealed or mine haul roads, no water is required for dust control for a period of between three to four months.

A lower value alternative to DustMag is the use of water extenders, where water containing special additives is used to suppress road dust. The additives encourage the water to penetrate further into the road surface.

That said, Rainstorm’s preferred option is DustMag, because water extenders require specialised training to be given to whoever is spraying the water. “With DustMag, we have our own vehicles, we spray it on the road, and we disappear,” says Trouchet. “A DustMag application offers better cost control. And it keeps the water carts off the road, which is an added benefit from a health and safety point of view.”

The second largest dust generation source is wind erosion of open areas and stock piles.

Australia has advanced warning systems in place that can forecast dust dispersion 48 hours ahead of time—including where the wind is coming from, at what speed, and where the dust is going to land. Rainstorm can react to these forecasts by spraying stockpiles with a veneer that forms a crust or film to prevent the material from lifting.

The company uses Gluon (polymers) and a range of hydro mulch and hydro seeding

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Rainstorm Dust Control

DustMag application at Cloudbreak mining site

solutions to veneer surfaces, something unique to tackle which, as well as stockpiles, this challenge—PDX (Point can include rail cars and of Dust Extinction). This is transport trucks, topsoil and a liquid biochemical used green field developments. to reduce the DEM levels of Proportion of dust The third dust generation fine-grade ores, by changing in mining/civil source comes from materials the interface between the projects generated handling, or the movement water and ultra-fine particles by unsealed roads of a mineral, and Rainstorm’s and through ion exchange, approach is to manage causing the ultra-fines to bind and drop. “The additive the DEM (Dust Extinction Moisture point). This is the point at which changes the water already present in the ore to after adding moisture into a mineral it no be more efficient, so you achieve dust control longer flies once it reaches a certain percentage at one, two or three percentage points lower in (imagine adding water to a pile of flour and the DEM range which means you need to add you get the idea). Of course, there is a fine less water to reach DEM. And that is unique,” line between adding too little moisture and says Trouchet. adding too much, so Rainstorm has invented PDX is highly concentrated, entirely

50%

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biodegradable and non-toxic. An effective aid to wettability and friability, the method is cost-effective, as small amounts of PDX will treat a large volume of mineral for a minimal cost.

Demand is now growing for this product, Trouchet says, as iron ore and coal companies in particular struggle to find enough water to manage the dust in the millions of tons of volume they export. Shipping insurance

companies are also becoming increasingly concerned with the free addition of water, due to the risk of ore liquefaction within the ships’ holds.

However preventing dust from flying is only half the story: what the industry refers to as ‘fugitive dust’ must also be tackled.

Where large volumes of bulk materials are being handled, for example in crushing and screening plants or transfer hoppers, some

“We have a great deal of expertise in all facets of dust control, so if the solutions are not readily available we will create them to suit a client”

Untreated ore - a bad dust day

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Rainstorm Dust Control

Veneer project at Dampier

dust will still escape, no matter how effective the dust control in other areas. To tackle this, Rainstorm uses fogging systems, designing, building and commissioning its own equipment for this purpose. “Instead of using large amounts of water to suppress the dust, we use low volumes of water at high pressure, or dry fog,” explains Trouchet. “We match the water particle size to the dust particle size so the two are attracted together. The weight of the dust particle is made heavier by the water molecule attaching to it and it drops to the ground. Many people use large water jet sprays, but that just pushes the dust out of the way—there’s no balance between the particle size and the water particle size.”

Rainstorm’s contracting expertise has been built upon its 30 years’ experience in

growing and developing the dust control industry; and as water shortages and tighter environmental controls on dust increase, the sector looks set only to grow.

As mines work to expand production, they must do so without any further damage to the environment: if they want to double production, they must make their dust control twice as effective. The last 10 years have seen a significant change towards dust control solutions and Rainstorm has been one of the largest and major contributors towards the growth of the industry. The old ways are now recognised as not being good enough and transition towards 21st century techniques and products is paying dividends by saving enormous amounts of water, money and hassle.

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Rainstorm bucket at Jandakot

This is a caption this is a caption

Rainstorm Dust Control However, as with any rapidly growing industry, many smaller start-ups lacking the relevant expertise have been entering the market touting individual products. But Trouchet believes this is a short-sighted approach. “The product is not what it’s about,” he says. “The mining companies now are looking to receive a far more sophisticated service from their dust control suppliers: they want them to act as contractors and develop the specialised equipment required. A lot of companies have entered the market with a product for roads but they don’t offer veneering, ore treatment or fogging—we’re probably the only business in the world that handles everything, from pit to port. Whatever you need for your dust control, we can deliver it. We have a great deal of expertise in all facets of dust control, so if the solutions are not readily available we will create them to suit a client.”

With its global reach and access to consultants, atmospheric scientists and experts modelling EPA requirements in developing countries, Rainstorm is finding its products and services in increasingly high demand. “Africa and South America are looking at what we’re doing in Australia and wanting to do it too. But they don’t have to take years to develop these systems themselves, as we have done—they can buy it all now, off the shelf,” he concludes.

For more information about Rainstorm Dust Control visit: www.rainstorm.com.au

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The key to prosperity

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SSG Consulting

Chief executive officer Steven Golding explains how a lack of fear, a willingness to embrace innovation and good old fashioned family values have combined to create a leading project management consulting company

written by: Will Daynes research by: Marcus Lewis

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he concept of family values is one that stretches across all four corners of the world. From the United States to Brazil, South Africa to China, the concept of family exists as a fundamental building block of society. In each of these countries and beyond one will find a multitude of businesses that adopt family values as a part of their core philosophy, yet perhaps no better example can be found than SSG Consulting.

“We are a company,” explains chief executive officer, Steven Golding, “that is very much built on a Christian foundation with the concept of family very much at the heart of what we are all about.” Formed in late 2007, SSG Consulting has developed rapidly in the years since, based almost exclusively on previous relationships with clients and their founders. Possessing collective experience of more than half a century within the field of project management, the company is ideally placed to service a growing client base within the infrastructure, energy, mining and petrochemical industries.

“Embracing innovation and having a lack of fear,” Golding continues, “are two of the core characteristics that define us as a company. We are a relatively young crowd, by comparison, with an average management age of under-50 and we believe that this comes across in the way that we approach each task with a degree of boldness and energy that others may lack.”

Looking at the company’s offering, it provides services through four different spectrums, those being project execution, consultation, the SSG Training Academy and

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The company serves a growing client base within the infrastructure, energy, mining and petrochemical industries

SSG Consulting

2007 The year SSG Consulting was formed

SSG provides project execution services

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its KEY360 management system. KEY360 was borne out of the company’s frustration based on years of experiencing business and project management systems that often did not facilitate the basic function that they themselves were designed to perform.

“As part of executing our projects,” Golding states, “we soon realised that effective data management and having the ability to work with a large number of documents, and present them back to our clients efficiently, required a system that did not come close to existing within the marketplace at the time. It was our own internal requirements that drove us to develop what is now a commercially successful product and one that we, quite boldly, predict will result in a scenario where, in a matter of years, no mega-projects under construction anywhere in the world will run without KEY360 being used somewhere in the fold.”

The human aspect of the KEY360 system has similarly been a major contributing factor to its success, as Golding goes on to highlight. “A lot of what we try to do as a company, both internally and with our clients, involves energising and motivating people.

What KEY360 does is provide its users with the ability to monitor people in such a way that it can improve efficiency, output and collaboration. Actually being able to watch

SSG Consulting

KEY360 was created to provide effective data management

people grow and mature in the field, thanks in part to the use of KEY360, is definitely one of the most exciting and inspiring things that comes from the work that we do.”

It is messages like this that SSG Consulting intends to take with it to the 2013 Investing in African Mining, INDABA, event in Cape Town this coming February. “We think that this INDABA is going to be a massive springboard for a lot of investment,” Golding says, “and Key360 was built for that exact purpose.”

Investors across Africa are today in the process of establishing assets and, as

an investor, having access to up-to-theminute information regarding said assets is fundamental. In reality, most project management information that is delivered at present is not real-time. KEY360 on the other hand is specifically designed to provide minute-by-minute data that is available to all stakeholders, making it an incredible tool that gets information to where it should be quickly, accurately and in a useful format.

This, in turn, helps get the assets in question up and running faster, and in a more cost effective manner.

“Embracing innovation and having a lack of fear are two of the core characteristics that define SSG Consulting” be mining | 137

“KEY360 is specifically designed to get information to where it should be quickly, accurately and in a useful format�

Effective management systems assist the physical execution of the project

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SSG Consulting The need to be on top of information when establishing an asset is clearly the core message that the company is hoping to put across at the INDABA event. “Information,” Golding reveals, “is what we, in our experience, find actually costs projects the most in terms of time and money. The reason being that, while technical solutions are more often than not fine, it is the physical execution of the project in terms of pure management and data management that holds back the process. This fact makes it all the more important that KEY360 has the ability to become a networking tool those involved in establishing assets have an understanding early on of the opposed to against one another.” importance of using effective management Providing companies with a platform that systems that provide the information that is allows them to work together seamlessly is yet needed, when it is needed.” another example of the way SSG Consulting KEY360 was developed at the same is able to bring innovative ideas to the fore. time as, and very much inspired by, the “Innovation,” Golding concludes, “as well explosion in popularity of social networking, as the way in which KEY360 works and, of driven by the likes of Facebook and similar course, the way in which we as a company programmes. What KEY360 was designed execute business are the things that have to create however is what SSG Consulting enabled us to get where we are today, and defines as corporate networking. “In some they remain the aces up our sleeves that cases,” Golding enthuses, “we have examples will allow us to remain relevant in an everof upwards of 50 companies working together changing market.” on a single piece of software. This is unheard of anywhere else and goes to prove that KEY360 For more information about has the ability to become a networking tool SSG Consulting visit: that gives different parties the opportunity www.ssgconsulting.co.za to work together in establishing assets, as

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written by: Will Daynes research by: Stephen Vivian

Blending knowledge with passion For the better part of three decades Inorganic Ventures has been a leading manufacturer of certified reference materials and is now targeting the lucrative mining sector

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Inorganic Ventures

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QC chemist Heather Fisher-Clarke prepares a sample for the ICP

Inorganic Ventures

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egardless of the size of the operation or where on the planet it is taking place, one of the most fundamentally important, but often overlooked, phases of the mining process is the testing of materials that are extracted from the earth. It may sound like one of the least important undertakings companies have to face, what with the massive costs and labour intensive nature of processes such as exploration and production, yet it is only after accurate tests have come back with positive results that these phases of the project can commence.

Headquartered in Christiansburg, Virginia, Inorganic Ventures has, since 1985, been manufacturing high quality certified reference materials. It is capable of making almost any reference material for inductively coupled plasma (ICP), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), ion chromatography (IC), atomic absorption, wet chemistry and quality control applications.

The company’s distribution network, operated from its foreign distribution centre in Madrid, covers North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

The first inorganic certified reference materials manufacturer to be accredited to ISO Guide 34 and to offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, it is quality and customer service that defines Inorganic Ventures. “Our speed of delivery and turnaround times,” explains executive vice president, Michael Scott, “are second to none and really help differentiate ourselves from others in the industry.”

With stock items leaving the same day as ordered and custom blends taking no more

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than five days to manufacture, the company is able to guarantee these turnaround times anywhere in the world. “As a business,” states vice president of operations, Christopher Gaines, “we focus on doing one thing and we believe very firmly on doing it the best.”

Rather than being a catalogue house, what Inorganic Ventures does is manufacture one product and that is inorganic certified reference materials for certain instrumentations. In complementing this it places a great deal of time and resources into delivering technical support and educating clients on how to do a better job of analysing their test results through various books and articles.

“A lot of companies in this field handle both organic and inorganic materials,” Scott continues, “but I personally don’t know of anyone else on the market that concentrates solely on inorganic reference materials the way we do. We live, eat and breathe this business and it is that degree of focus that makes us truly unique.”

It is this dedication that today sees Inorganic Ventures turning increasingly towards international expansion. “While there is certainly still room for growth in the US market,” Scott states, “it is on the international stage where we are identifying enormous potential through the activities

of our distributors who are present in more than 50 countries.”

Where the company identifies much of the growth coming from in the future is from the mining sector, particularly in regions such as South America, South Africa and parts of Europe. “Our largest customer account to date,” Scott says, “is with a large multinational mining company, and it is these kinds of

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Inorganic Ventures

Group discussion on a custom CRM quotation

clients that we are looking to importance to the business target going forward.” achieving its long term In order to achieve its goals, Scott is just as keen growth targets the company to emphasise that this is a has taken, and continues to company that understands take, proactive steps to better that it has to go if it wants Countries in which the company has position itself to capitalise to grow. “The way we will distributors present on the vast number of grow the business in the opportunities it has identified short-to-medium term is by throughout the world. “In travelling, by introducing the last few months,” Scott says, “we have Inorganic Ventures to people all over successfully finished doubling the capacity the world and by building long-lasting of our US facility. Meanwhile, we are in the relationships with customers. Any good process of moving our European distribution business can display product quality and centre from Madrid to Santander on the good delivery capabilities, but it is strong, border of France.” mutually beneficial relationships that every While such developments are of critical client cherishes and this is what we build.”

50

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Technical support chemist Thomas Kozikowski reviews ICP data

Manufacturing chemist Briana

“While there is room for growth in the US market, it is on the international stage where we are identifying enormous potential” Travelling to those regions and territories where the company has seen the potential to grow will be fundamental to Inorganic Ventures’ ability to identify distributors that can assist in the company gaining a foothold within the marketplace. “We are a member of the Economic Development Process here in the US,” Scott reveals, “and it is through some of the international visits organised through this that we have been able to reach out to

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the right kind of people. Then what we find is that once these people have our product in their hands they recognise just what it is that we have and what we can offer.”

By emphasising things like the building of relationships and by providing high quality technical support it is clear that the way Inorganic Ventures does business is about more than just the end result. It is equally about doing the little things that seem to have

Inorganic Ventures

M. Hudson mixes a custom CRM

Michael Scott (far) and Christopher Gaines review quarterly figures

gotten lost or been forgotten about over the past 20 to 30 years.

Up until now there has been little evidence to suggest that there has been a concerted effort from companies within this highly technical, niche industry to broaden their scope outside of what is admittedly a healthy home market. “There are locations out there,” Scott says, “in South America for example, which people assume are a decade behind in terms of technology and innovation. In truth, that is perhaps how we felt until we began travelling and exploring these places, whereas now we know first-hand that these parts of the world are a lot further along than some give them credit for.”

With the knowledge that there are opportunities outside of its home market

waiting to be grasped, Inorganic Ventures is now in the process of aggressively targeting potential distributors and clients, both near and far. The company is equally aware that with its soon to be relocated European facility it is perhaps better placed than any other business of its type. “Having a facility outside of the US doesn’t sound like that big of a deal,” Scott concludes, “but what it does is allow us to be just as competitive as any local or multinational manufacturer and to bring our knowledge, expertise and dedication to customer service to a worldwide audience.”

For more information about Inorganic Ventures visit: www.inorganicventures.com

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A source of inspiration

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Bentley Systems

From buildings and bridges to clean energy and clean water, Bentley Systems has been sustaining some of the world’s most significant infrastructure projects for close to 30 years

written by: Will Daynes research by: Will Kirby

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Bentley Systems

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Finsch mine project, courtesy of Petra Diamonds Limited, Lime Acres, South Africa

hen we think of infrastructure we tend to think about the hardware involved, be it the materials used or the equipment and tools to bring structures and buildings to life. What we tend to take for granted are the software solutions involved and how crucial they are to the entire process.

A global leader in its field, Bentley is dedicated to providing architects, engineers, constructors, geospatial professionals and owner-operators with comprehensive solutions for sustaining infrastructure.

Founded in 1984, the company has grown to the point where it now employs almost 3000 people in more than 45 countries.

At its core, Bentley’s mission is to give its clients the ability to leverage information modelling through integrated projects for high-performing intelligent infrastructure.

Since 2003, the company has invested more than $1 billion in research, development and acquisitions in order to grow both organically and through successful takeovers.

The solutions offered by the company encompass its MicroStation platform for infrastructure design and modelling, its ProjectWise platform for infrastructure project team collaboration and work sharing, and its AssetWise platform for infrastructure asset operations. These platforms support a broad portfolio of interoperable applications and are complemented by global professional services.

Bentley’s expertise and capabilities have seen it extend its reach into all manner of industry sectors, from power generation and

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rail to utilities and communications. One area of particular significance is the mining and metals industry. It is here that the company has been striving to deliver solutions that will allow its clients to meet the unprecedented level of demand for raw materials from both the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Driven by the high commodity prices that have occurred as a result of this demand, the

industry’s priority, at least in the short-term, is to obtain the necessary capacity required to bring as much raw material to market as quickly as possible. While it is doing so the company also incorporates the longer term view of overall sustainability of the industry and the environment as the resources get extracted and assets need decommissioning.

Bentley’s mining and metals solution is

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Bentley Systems

Vale Cristalino Project, courtesy of SEI Engenharia Ltda, Canaa dos Carajas, Brazil

compelling in that it offers both short and long-term benefits to help increase the efficiency of capital projects associated with the design, procurement and construction of mines and processing plants, as well as solutions for supporting the operations and maintenance of the built assets, and their subsequent decommissioning.

Addressing both the areas of mining and transportation, and ore processing and refining, what Bentley has found is key to bringing value is a combination of consistent, accurate and available engineering data across the lifecycle, coupled with the most comprehensive set of interoperable design and analysis tools. With these at a users’ disposal they have a far greater chance of

their assets reaching optimum potential.

Bentley’s mining and metals products expand across a wide spectrum of disciplines, from plant design, engineering and operation, land development to geospatial information management, water modelling and structural analysis. A major supplier to both owner organisations and EPC companies that serve this industry, Bentley can boast having ten of the top 20 mining companies, as measured by market capitalisation, as customers, including all of the top five.

Bentley’s success across the mining and metals sector over the last several years has been well documented through the innovative uses of its products by its users submitting to the Be Inspired Awards programme.

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Recognising the world’s most outstanding infrastructure projects, submissions are judged by a jury of independent experts who determine which examples best exemplify innovation, superior vision and a commitment to quality and productivity.

In the category of Mining and Metals, projects in Australia included, in 2011, the $630 million crushing plant at Fortescue in Western Australia where modeling in

3D resulted in 30 percent time savings and overall cost savings of 20 percent. In 2012, AMEC fast-tracked project delivery at FMG’s Cloudbreak ore-handling plant in Western Australia with rapid deployment of MicroStation, Structural Modeler, and Bentley PlantSpace to reduce steelwork drafting time by 31 percent. In 2009, the award went to the Hatch Africa, QMM Ilmenite Project in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar. The primary goal

“Bentley users have achieved both short and long-term benefits that improve the performance of engineering and construction capital projects”

Vale Cristalino Project, courtesy of SEI Engenharia Ltda, Canaa dos Carajas, Brazil

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Bentley Systems

Finsch mine project, courtesy of Petra Diamonds Limited, Lime Acres, South Africa

of this project involved the Project in Canaa dos Carajas, development of a productive Brazil. The goal of this ilmenite mine consisting of project is to build a $2.6 billion copper plant that will a mining extraction pond, produce 16 million tonnes per dredger, wet plant and a Invested in research, mineral separation plant. annum with average annual development and In order to improve production of 340,000 tonnes acquisitions since 2003 workflows and reduce costs, of copper concentrate. As Hatch deployed 3D plant part of this undertaking, Vale design using MicroStation as the CAD platform contracted SEI Engenharia to perform frontand software including Bentley Structural, end loading and deliver a 3D model.

TriForma, PlantSpace and Bentley Navigator.

This 3D model was used to advance the The 3D models used reduced the number of concept studies during the detailed design 2D drawing deliverables and streamlined the phase, which helped achieve the goal of steel fabrication and construction processes. accelerating project execution. In order to This enabled the steel fabrication contract to do this, SEI trained its design team to use be placed earlier than anticipated, improving Bentley software such as MicroStation, Bentley the critical path of the construction schedule. Architecture and Bentley Navigator to carry The winning project in 2011 was from SEI out the modelling of infrastructure, concrete Engenharia, working on Vale’s Cristalino and steel structures, substations and industrial

$1 Billion

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QMM Ilmenite Mine, Fort Dauphin, Madagascar, courtesy of Hatch Africa

Bentley Systems installations. Ultimately, the integrated workflow that Bentley’s solutions helped create saved approximately 5100 man hours and reduced front-end loading costs by $400,000.

In 2012, Petra Diamonds Limited, Finsch GIS, in Lime Acres, South Africa won the Be Inspired Award for Mining and Metals.

Located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, the Finsch mine is operated by majority owner Petra Diamonds, which developed a 700,000 South African rand integrated spatial data management system to manage geospatial data for five departments that were functioning in isolation. The company also co-manages the mining town of Lime Acres, for which the GIS-based system captures data and bills residents for water and electricity usage. Survey and plan data are captured and digitized in MicroStation, with Bentley Map links features representing the mining lifecycle, town layout, and residential setup, and Bentley Geo Web Publisher makes the geospatial mining and town information accessible to the whole mining group.

Engineering professionals strive to shorten project schedules and lower operating costs through improved access to mission-critical information. Bentley users have achieved both short-term and long-term benefits that not only improve the performance of engineering and construction capital projects, but also increase the efficiency of operations for mines and metals processing and refining plants.

For more information about Bentley Systems visit: www.bentley.com

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Swakop Uranium is about to develop Namibia’s larg uranium deposit. CEO Norman Green talks about the challenges of the project and how the company i protecting the sensitive desert environment

written by: gay sutton research by: Jeff Abbott

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Swakop Uranium

gest

is

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he Namib Desert, a mixture of stunning red sand dunes and mountainous rocky areas, extends along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia and South Africa, and at its deepest point in Namibia it extends over 150 kilometres inland. Beneath this environmentally precious landscape can be found a wealth of minerals, in particular uranium. There are already several active uranium mines in the vicinity of Swakopmund, Namibia, and

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these include the well-established Rössing and the Langer Heinrich mines. In just over three years’ time they will be joined by the Husab mine, an exciting new project that will bring Namibia’s largest uranium deposit into production.

Located around 70 km inland from Swakopmund, and just south of the Rössing uranium mine, the Husab ore body has been classified as the highest grade granitehosted uranium deposit in Namibia, and is one of the most significant discoveries

Swakop Uranium

The Namib Desert hosts a wealth of minerals, in particular uranium

in the world in recent years. Originally explored by Extract Resources of Australia, using its 100 percent Namibian subsidiary Swakop Uranium, it is now 100 per cent owned by Taurus Minerals Limited, an entity owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation and the China-Africa Development Fund.

The Husab mine will be developed and operated by Swakop Uranium (SU), now a subsidiary of Taurus in Namibia. SU received notification of the go ahead intended in

October 2012 from its parent company in August this year, and construction will begin post go ahead to bring the mine into operation within 36 months.

“This is not a complex project, but it is big,” commented CEO Norman Green. The ore body has an average grade of over 500 parts per million (ppm) of U3O8 (uranium oxide), which will yield around one pound of concentrate per tonne of ore extracted.

“The mine will be designed to produce around 15 million pounds of uranium per

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CEO Norman Green

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annum. We will then be mining at a rate of 15 million tonnes of ore a year, and removing around 100 million tonnes of waste rock at an average stripping ratio of 6.2 in order to achieve that. All of this will require large scale extraction and a fleet of massive equipment.”

The definitive feasibility study, published in April 2011, delineated the ore body and defined a mine life of some 20 years.

However, Husab is surrounded by other prospective uranium areas that SU plans to continue exploring in the future. “So there is every chance that the mine life will be extended beyond this,” said Green.

Initially, orders will be placed for all long-term delivery items, including mining and metallurgical equipment, and for laying in permanent power and water as well as telecommunications and an access route. As Husab is located 70 km inland, access is currently not easy. One of the first elements of construction will be a road linking the mine to the highway and then to Swakopmund and the port of Walvis Bay, through which materials and equipment will be imported and uranium concentrate exported to market.

Once fully operational, the mine will require a power supply of 110 MW. The Namibian power utility NamPower is scheduled to lay in a temporary connection to the national grid and then begin construction of a permanent distribution line terminating at a 220 kV substation.

Construction of the mine and processing plant are then scheduled to come to fruition concurrently with the infrastructure, in

Swakop Uranium

Core samples

a massive three year project employing some 4000 workers at peak. Once the mine comes onstream it will then require around 1200 mine operators, the majority of whom will be selected from the local Namibian population and trained for the job. “Sourcing the skilled operating staff is something of a challenge here, as Namibia has only a small population. However, the Government is very supportive. During the early years we will be able to bring in around 10 percent highly qualified expats.

Then as the Namibian workforce gains the

necessary skills they will take over those positions,” said Green. The recruitment drive is likely to begin a few months after constructions starts so that training can take place and the workforce will be ready to begin stripping the overburden around 18 months into the project.

Husab’s location in the heart of the desert may make it a beautiful place to operate, but it presents several challenges. Firstly, water is an increasing issue in Namibia. In the past, many companies have relied on water from the aquifers. “We plan to bring

“The mine will be designed to produce around 15 million pounds of uranium per annum” Be mining | 163

desalinated seawater to the mine from sites on the coast, and we have several options,” Green said. The seawater desalination plant built for the uranium mining company Areva Resources is located 30 km north of Swakopmund and capable of modular expansion. Meanwhile, NamWater, the Namibian water supply utility, is also considering the construction of a seawater desalination plant north of Swakopmund.

“Piping the water to the mine will then be part of a combined endeavour between

NamWater, our mine and others in the area, but it will require a substantial investment.”

Secondly, Husab lies at the northern end of a national park, which has a variety of sensitive flora and fauna. “We have developed other projects in Namibia and we have received a number of accolades for our environmental work,” Green explained, “so we are experienced at operating in this environment. We are not only going to do what is required of us, but we are initiating some interesting environmental projects of our own.”

“We plan to bring desalinated seawater to the mine from sites on the coast”

Samples

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Swakop Uranium

Drill cores

An example of this is the Welwitschia, a desert plant that is said to live for several thousand years and exists on very little water. “We’ve counted over 50,000 plants in the mining licence area, so this is not a rare or endangered plant, but it’s not very well understood. As we will have to remove some specimens during the construction phase, we’ve used the opportunity to commission some scientific research to increase our understanding of the plant.”

As well as furthering environmental understanding, the Husab mine is likely to be of significant benefit to Namibia. “We will be creating quite a bulge in the GDP,” Green said, “through direct and indirect taxes and royalties.” The mine will not only

provide employment for some 1200 people, but for every permanent job it is estimated that there will be another six jobs created elsewhere in the economy.

Already SU has created the Swakop Uranium Foundation, which is currently funded by parent company donations. Its objective is to promote education, welfare and health among the local communities and this will come into its own once the mine is up and running and it can be funded from turnover.

For more information about Swakop Uranium visit: www.swakopuranium.com

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Taking a professional approach

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GeoProMining Vice president for strategy and business development, Sergei Nossoff, discusses how a combination of international mining expertise and on-the-ground experience has created an enviable track record of delivering significant cash flows from its assets

written by: Will Daynes research by: Robert Hodgson

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New equipment at GeoProMining’s Zod mine in Armenia will provide for expanded exploration of the field

GeoProMining

I

t has long been known that the ground beneath Eastern Europe is home to an abundance of natural resources, yet the difficulty posed by its terrain, amongst other challenges, has left a large part of this region unexplored. Those companies that have managed to establish long-term operations in this part of the world, however, have quickly found themselves reaping the rewards of what Eastern Europe has to offer.

Founded in 2001 as Stanton Equities Corporation, GeoProMining is an international, diversified metals resource holding company with three operating assets in the resource-rich countries of Russia and Armenia. Over the last 11 years, the company has built up a track record of growth through the successful restructuring and development of acquired assets. Today its key operating units, GPM Gold, its Agarak CopperMolybdenum Mine Complex and its Sarylakh Surma and Zvezda mines, are responsible for producing significant quantities of gold, copper, antimony, silver and molybdenum.

“Our business history,” explains vice president for strategy and business development, Sergei Nossoff, “began with the acquisition of Georgian assets, Madneuli JSC and Quartzite, in 2005. In the two years before embarking on a programme of regional consolidation, we took these gold and copper assets and achieved a fourfold increase in production levels, making both operations profitable.”

It was this success that saw the company turn its attentions to Armenia, where it acquired the owner of the Zod gold mine and Ararat gold extraction plant, Sterlite

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Gold, which would become GPM Gold. With explored resources of five million ounces, the Zod mine stands as one of the largest gold deposits in the region.

Late 2007 brought with it the acquisition of the Agarak complex, while it was in March 2008 that the company acquired its Russian antimony deposits. “Since early 2008,” Nossoff continues, “we have focused our efforts on integrating all of our assets into one group, thus creating a very successful enterprise.

Our strong asset management capabilities have ensured that we remain economically self-sufficient, generating healthy cash flows from our operations, and we look forward to building on that in the future.”

In many ways, GeoProMining was founded to take advantage of a niche in the market and that was to capture several prospective deposits and mining operations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region and enhance those operations, increasing cash flows and shareholder value.

“Typically,” Nossoff states, “when we acquire assets they tend to be in a slightly troubled state, either because of previous poor management, a lack of economic resources or other mitigating factors. What we do is invest significant capital, paying off existing debts and establishing capital expenditure

programmes. In both of our Russian antimony mines our first task was to clear all paths and access points that had become flooded before anything else could occur. From there we carried out all the necessary assessments before re-launching operations. Such was our effectiveness in doing so that by the end of the first year production volumes had increased almost six fold from where they were previously.”

“Since early 2008, we have focused our efforts on integrating all of our assets into one group, thus creating a very successful enterprise” 170 | be mining

GeoProMining

GPM activities in Russia

O ne t h i ng t h at environment and supporting local communities. These are GeoProMining takes just areas that we recognise as as seriously as being able being important components to increase the value of an of the successful and asset, is its commitment to The year the company sustainability. By considering sustainable development of was founded. itself to be a long-term our business.”

GeoProMining is very much investor in the regions in an organically integrated which it has a presence, the company seeks to secure sustainable group and as such its primary strategy going development in the interests of its employees, forward is to grow organically via the success local communities and governments. of its operational assets. That however is not “Our social responsibility programme is to say that further acquisitions sometime in called Resources for Good,” Nossoff says, the future won’t happen. “If you look closely “and it covers various important aspects of enough,” Nossoff says, “you will see that our relationships with key stakeholders. This the market today is awash with opportunities includes taking care of each and every one of so it is natural that at some point we our employees, minimising our impact on the will look into acquiring other sources of

2001

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income that possess the right economics and geographic properties that can increase our business.�

As Nossoff goes on to say, GeoProMining has every intention of becoming a much larger player within the international mining community, however its current focus is on maintaining a solid operational performance across its operations. “As a business we do not subscribe to the idea of trading licenses

172 | be mining

for assets or being the type of company to identify a deposit and simply sell it on to the highest bidder. What we do is take a project, manage it and build it up into a viable, commercial success. That is what we feel we do better than most.�

A proactive player in the marketplace, with a proven ability to integrate operations in different countries, GeoProMining is aware that its ability to grow also rests on its ability

GeoProMining

Leaching tanks at the Ararat gold recovery plant in Armenia

to move further afield into new markets, or simply going deeper into Russia.

“One of the other things we have going for us,” Nossoff concludes, “is that we have a strong, international workforce. The level of experience that these individuals possess allows them to move between operations easily, which in itself brings a united culture to our group, creating extra productivity and effectiveness. This is just one of a number

of strengths that sets GeoProMining apart from other companies, strengths that show that we have a number of different ways to develop our operations and ultimately our shareholder value.”

For more information about GeoProMining visit: www.geopromining.com

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Top of the Chief executive officer Harri Natunen explains how the company is using bioheapleaching technology to get the most from its low grade nickel deposits

written by: Will Daynes research by: Jeff Abbott

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Talvivaara Mining Company

heap Be mining | 175

T

hough it is perhaps not the first country that one associates with the industry, Finland’s mining history in fact dates back to 1540.

Today the raw material base for its metal industry is made up from the exploitation of nickel, copper, cobalt, zinc and lead ores, as well as chromium, vanadium and iron deposits.

Located in Sotkamo, in the east of the country, Talvivaara boasts two metasedimentary hosted, low grade nickel sulphide ore bodies, Kuusilampi and Kolmisoppi. Originally discovered by the Geological Survey of Finland in 1977, the deposit was at first deemed to be too poor for existing technology. It was determined at this early stage that the only process that would be capable of concentrating the nickel enough would be bioheapleaching, a technology which, at that point, remained untested in such a scenario.

Obtained by Outokumpu Corporation, the mining rights were eventually sold to one of its former employees, Pekka Perä. It was Perä’s purchase of the rights that gave birth to the Talvivaara Mining Company in 2004.

Today an internationally significant base metals producer, with its primary focus on nickel and zinc, the company’s Kuusilampi and Kolmisoppi deposits are now recognised as comprising one of the largest known sulphide nickel resources in Europe. Their combined contents of 1.1 billion tonnes of ore, in measured and indicated categories, are thought to be sufficient to support extensive production levels for several decades to come.

Talvivaara supplies metal intermediaries

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Mine site

Talvivaara Mining Company

to companies with metal refining operations.

Arguably its most important contract to date is the ten year off-take agreement it has entered into with Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta.

This agreement involves the delivery of the entire output of the mine’s nickel and cobalt production at market prices. A similar long-term partnership was established in November 2010, with the company entering into a zinc concentrate streaming agreement with Nyrstar NV. The terms of this contract involve the delivery of all of Talvivaara’s zinc concentrate to Nyrstar up to 1,250,000 metric tonnes.

“What makes the work we carry out unique,” explains chief executive officer, Harri Natunen, “is the fact that we apply bioheapleaching

Dumpers

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technology to extract nickel from the ore.”

Commonly used in copper processing, particularly in Central and South America, bioleaching is a process in which metals are leached from ore as a result of a bacterial action. Triggered spontaneously by microorganisms in the presence of air and water, commercially applied bioleaching technologies replicate the same natural phenomenon, but accelerate the process in order to speed up metal recovery.

“What we do is,” Natunen continues, “we mine the ore, crush it down in four stages to a size of minus 15 millimetres and then utilise a process of agglomeration using a pregnant leach solution.” After the agglomeration process the ore is conveyed

Talvivaara Mining Company

“The company’s Kuusilampi and Kolmisoppi deposits are recognised as comprising one of the largest known sulphide nickel resources in Europe” and stacked eight metres high on the primary heap pad to undergo one and a half years of bioheapleaching. The heap pad is equipped with piping and laid on the bottom of the pad, through which low-pressure fans supply air to the stacked ore. From the top, the heap is irrigated with leach solution, which is recycled through the heap until its metal content is sufficient for metals recovery.

Following its time on the primary pad the leached ore is then reclaimed, conveyed and re-stacked onto a secondary heap pad, where it is leached further to recover metals from those parts of the primary heaps where the leach solution couldn’t previously penetrate. After secondary leaching, the barren ore remains permanently on the secondary heaps.

“The total leaching process,” Natunen says, “takes approximately five years, at which point the pregnant solution is collected, with the majority being pumped to a metals production plant where it is infused with hydrogen sulphate. These materials are precipitated as sulphites and then, through a combination of dewatering, thickening and filtration the final product is processed ready for delivery.”

Bioheapleaching was chosen as the preferred technology for the Talvivaara mining project based upon its favourable capital and operational cost profile. A low cost process requiring only air, sulphuric acid, water and microbes to work, bioheapleaching has lower capex and opex than traditional grinding and flotation processes. It is also widely recognised as a cleaner and more environmentally friendly process.

The concept of responsible mining exists

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throughout Talvivaara’s business operations and incorporates three dimensions of corporate social responsibility, these being economic, environmental and social aspects.

Across its operations the company seeks to meet the challenges associated with achieving sustainable development.

The primary objective of Talvivaara’s environmental management is to ensure the sustainable and economical use of natural resources, while at the same time minimising any adverse effects on the environment that could be caused by its mining operations.

From a social perspective, the company is equally as committed to the development of its employees, encouraging them to acquire

and develop the necessary professional skills.

“In all that we do,” Natunen states, “our aim is to be a pioneer within the mining industry. As a young company we have had the opportunity to develop responsible best practices from the offset, while introducing environmentally efficient technology at every possible turn. As a result of a combination of an eco-efficient metals recovery process, the very best new technology, an advanced operating environment, and a high level of expertise, we are in a prime position to be able to grow into our desired role of being a leading player in responsible mining.”

Today, the company finds itself on the cusp of making its first test delivery of copper

“Perä has created a company that has incredible potential and the ability to increase its production levels”

Stacker

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Talvivaara Mining Company

The company is in the construction phase of a uranium recovery plant

concentrate, marking another milestone in its short history. In addition to this, Talvivaara has recently entered into a co-operation agreement with Cameco, one of the world’s largest publically traded uranium companies.

This partnership will allow Talvivaara to make use of the uranium by-product which is created during the bioheapleaching process.

Furthermore, the company has entered into the construction phase of its building of a uranium recovery plant. This project is expected to be completed during the first six months of 2013 and will create an additional revenue stream for the business.

“When Pekka Perä first set about developing this operation,” Natunen says, “he worked especially hard to bring together a group of individuals that boast

experience and expertise in different areas of mining, as well as those that specialise in the use of bioheapleaching. In doing so he has created a company that, while still in its ramp-up phase, has incredible potential and the ability to increase its production levels, and achieve the cash-cost position it is targeting. What Perä has managed to do in such a short space of time is already a well-recognised achievement here in Finland, and I’m sure it will only continue to garner the attention of the mining world as a whole as time passes.”

For more information about Talvivaara Mining Company visit: www.talvivaara.com

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Into the deep written by: will daynes research by: abi abagun

182 | Be mining

KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project Business manager Roberto Luna discusses the on-going development of the Sierra Gorda open pit copper mine project

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Salt water pool - Earth work

KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project

A

s well as having the distinction of being known as the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile is home to the Sierra Gorda project. “A large tonnage, open pit copper mine development,” explains business manager Roberto Luna, “it boasts deposits that total up to 2.2 billion tonnes of measured and indicated resources, and reserves amounting to some 1.3 billion tonnes.”

Estimated to have a useful life of 20 years, two phases of activity have been proposed.

The first of these will run from 2014 until 2017 and will feature an ore throughput rate of 110 kilotons per day. The second phase will then commence in 2017 and is expected to involve ore throughput reaching levels of 190 kilotons per day on average.

The main plant equipment needed to be brought together for the first phase of the project includes one primary crusher, four secondary crushers, three ball mills, four high-pressure grinding rolls and 32 floatation cells. In turn, six 73yd3 shovels, 41 cubic metre front loaders, six drills, and 29 trucks with a 300 tonne capacity are being considered for the mine.

As is the norm for an open pit mine, the ore from Sierra Gorda is hauled by trucks to a primary crusher. By means of conveyors over the ground the ore is then transported from the crushing stages to the concentrator plant, before grinding is carried out through ball milling using hydrocyclone classification circuits. The ore released from wet grinding is then recovered during the bulk copper and molybdenum flotation stage.

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SIERRA GORDA KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project

SalfaCorp As an industry leader, Salfa Montajes, a SalfaCorp subsidiary working in industrial construction and assembly in mining and energy, has been awarded construction and installation of the Sierra Gorda Processing Plant (110,000 ton per day capacity) dry and wet areas. With a contract totaling over $350 million dollars, the Sierra Gorda project covers all multidisciplinary areas with a commitment of over 10,000,000 man-hours from the start of Civil Works to the launch of the plant, including raw materials stockpiling, secondary and tertiary grinding (HPGR), secondary and tertiary sieves, crushing, floatation, filtration and tailings thickeners, among other areas.

As part of this process, for the past two years Salfa Montajes has taken part in the project’s constructability with Sierra Gorda S.C.M., both in Chile and Canada.

Salfa Montajes has been involved in every stage of the project, including construction strategy, organizational structure, logistics, as well as assessment and awareness of the construction CAPEX in each of the engineering stages.

With 83 years of experience behind it, SalfaCorp is ranked in the top 5 in Latin America companies in engineering and construction, leading the Chilean market with annual sales of more than $1.7 billion dollars, and with a workforce of over 44,000 and 2,400 professionals.

Constant evolution and innovation has permitted Salfa Montajes to be an industry leader in its areas of specialty and service. It has reached successful international expansion to key regional markets such as Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Uruguay, with active participation and dedicated client service.

Throughout its history, the company has demonstrated an outstanding ability to grow in a sustainable manner and offering solutions for a variety of services, including construction and industrial assembly, civil construction, infrastructure, industrial maintenance, mine development, marine works, earth moving and EPC projects.

E. salfacorp@salfacorp.com www.salfacorp.com

OCTOBER 2012| 187 |1 Be mining

KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project SIERRA GORDA The final product is a mixed copper Sierra Gorda feature text.....Lorem ipsum and molybdenum concentrate that is sent dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, to a flotation plant where molybdenum is sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore recovered and copper concentrate remains et dolore magna aliqua.

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consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor Prestripping

HATCH HELPS SIERRA GORDA BECOME ONE OF WORLD’S LARGEST MOLYBDENUM PRODUCERS Sierra Gorda has turned to Hatch’s EPCM expertise to support its ambitious copper / molybdenum plant project in the Antofagasta region of Chile. This is a unique opportunity for the company, since the mine’s molybdenum ore grade for the first three years is about 900 ppm, which is significantly higher compared to the industry standard of less than 90 ppm.

Working with a tight timeline between July 2012 and May 2013, Hatch is responsible for all detailed engineering duties of the molybdenum flotation plant, including a thorough analysis of the basic engineering stage, and delivering all documentation needed for procurement and construction.

During its first three years of operation, the 110-ktpd ore throughput copper and molybdenum concentrator is expected to produce 450 ktpa of collective concentrate, of which 7 percent is molybdenum

concentrate. For the remainder of its estimated 22-year life, the plant will continue processing at 190 ktpd of ore generating 790 ktpa of collective concentrate with 1.5 percent being molybdenum concentrate. That transition will require a flexible design in order to accommodate the different ore throughput to be processed from year four onwards.

“We have always believed that Hatch delivers strong engineering capabilities and expect they will fulfill their commitment to design this plant, a critical part of the project, within the tight schedule,” said Joe Tis, vice president of development for Sierra Gorda.

Equipment covered under the project includes thickeners, flotation cells, molybdenum concentrate filters, regrinding mill, dryers, packing maxi bags equipment and associated infrastructure. www.hatch.cl

Be mining | 189 OCTOBER 2012 | 2

Knight PiĂŠsold S.A. Knight PiĂŠsold S.A. is currently developing the detailed engineering of the tailings transport, tailings storage and water management systems for the operation of the Sierra Gorda Project. In order to address this project and comply with the expectations of Sierra Gorda, we have formed a multidisciplinary team composed of specialists from the following disciplines: civil, electrical, instrumentation, water and tailings transport, geotechnical and geology, construction, risks, project control, quality and safety.

The strengths of our team, coupled with the collaboration and participation of the team from Sierra Gorda, have

enabled us to comply with the objectives defined at the outset of the project, in terms of both the agreed upon goals and deadlines. This has resulted in a final design of the deposit that meets the highest standards of both safety and constructability.

E. santiago@knightpiesold.com www.knightpiesold.com

KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project

Workers

and position strategy for the global copper of this particular greenfield project where and molybdenum market. The project deadlines are incredibly demanding and presents the ideal opportunity to bring shorter than the industry average.”

Of equal importance is the need to capture, about increased resources, reserves and production, and ultimately raise the value retain and train the employees required for of the three companies on a global scale. the construction, operation and development “The primary challenge at the heart of of the project. At present, over 3500 people this venture,” Luna continues, “is being able are assisting in the construction phase, with to design, procure, construct, commission this number expected to peak at around 7000 and successfully start in the near future. Once into the operational stage, a total up a large scale project of 2000 individuals are due for a foreign company, to be active in carrying this where different visions stage of the project through. inherent to the cultures As a result of internal and of each participant are Length of pipeline external factors in Chile, and successfully integrated. carrying sea water the mining world in general, Another challenge stems to the project there is an increasingly from the fast-track status

141 km

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SIERRA GORDA: SEAWATER TRANSPORT PROJECT

BRASS Chile S.A. was contracted by Sierra Gorda S.C.M. for the Detailed Engineering of the 145 km – 36� diameter Seawater Transport with a maximum capacity of 1,500 l/s.

The pipeline utilizes a RFP Pipe at low pressure and CS at high pressure section. To enable delivery from coast to mine site at 1700 masl, 3 pump stations connected in booster mode are utilized: one at the coast and 2 intermediate. Each intermediate station has 7 high pressure pumps in parallel with 3,160 kw motor capacity each.

A chemical treatment plant with high efficiency filters are located at the first intermediate pump station. Operation is controlled through a SCADA system connected through fiber optic cables.

www.brassengineering.com

KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project strong demand for qualified Ingeniería Civil Vicente (ICV) labour and mining supplies, Ingeniería Civil Vicente S.A. (ICV S.A.) is proud to have which has conspired to been able to participate, from the very beginning, in the produce an increase in Sierra Gorda mining project in Chile, providing earth prices. This has impacted movement services for the construction of its preliminary directly on projects that are platforms and infrastructure. currently under execution.

The implementation of this important contract implied major logistics and engineering challenges for our company “The Sierra Gorda project and its successful completion reflects the joint efforts of has not escaped the effects ICV and the client, Minera Quadra Chile Limitada. of this,” Luna highlights. “As This key milestone in ICV’s history has added to our a hedge against potential company’s experience, enhancing its capacity to undertake f luctuations that could other similar projects for Chile’s large-scale mining industry. impact upon project costs www.icv.cl and completion, moves have been made to commit purchase orders and contracts at the earliest stage possible.”

Nor t he r n C h i le ’s ge og r aph ic characteristics, namely the scarcity of water and energy, have also raised several issues.

To overcome these, the project follows the current trend of using seawater in the mining process. This water will be carried by means of a 141 kilometre pipeline with a flow rate of 1500 litres per second. Furthermore, two industrial water supply contracts have been entered into with Aguas Antofagasta and FCAB respectively. Processed at its on-site water treatment plant, this water will be made suitable for human consumption.

Meanwhile, the power required for the project will be generated by a coal-fired thermoelectric power plant located in Mejillones. From here a 140 kilometre long, 220 kilovolt transmission line will supply energy to a primary substation that will also be located on-site.

To date, 2012 has seen the project achieve Flotation cells

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CAT shovel

KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project several milestones, all of which revolve around the mine area itself. In addition to the mine loop now being in operation, March 2012 saw the start-up of the prestripping stage. Looking towards the years ahead, by the end of 2013 it is hoped that pipeline construction will be complete, plant mechanics in place and the precommissioning stage will have begun. These events will then be followed in 2014 with the starting up of the commissioning phase, the opening of port facilities and the completion of ramp up operations.

“The project has been progressing as planned and in accordance with the schedule put in place by the joint venture partners,” Luna says. “The project’s critical path remains unchanged with originally scheduled deadlines still maintained and entry into production expected to begin during the first semester of 2014.”

As it relates to the immediate future, the goal for the rest of 2012 is to have the entire necessary infrastructure in place in order to allow the normal development of construction work. This requires the completion of camps, mesh halls, offices, recreational areas and a polyclinic. “In addition,” Luna says, “prestripping, pipeline and civil construction work in dry and wet areas have begun with our own equipment and personnel, while the project will continue to meet its expected output levels.”

For more information about KGHM Polska Miedz - Sierra Gorda Project visit: www.quadrafnx.com

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A stainless success record 196 | Be mining

Eti Krom

One of Turkey’s most important home-grown mining companies is weathering the decline in demand for chromium ore and continuing to supply its customers year-round

written by: Alan Swaby research by: Abi Abagun Be mining | 197

KEF mines and beneficiation plant

Eti Krom

T

here’s an interesting tale relating to the discovery of chromium ore in Turkey.

Apparently, in the 1930s, a German company was mining and smelting copper in the Elazig region of the country and local inhabitants were making some extra cash by collecting wood in the hills that the Germans then converted into charcoal. So the story goes, one such forager needed a rock to counterbalance the panniers straddling his donkey for the trek down the mountain. He didn’t need the rock to go back up, so left it lying around, only for it to be noticed by a sharp-eyed German engineer who recognised what he was looking at. In true Cinderella fashion, the local worker was found, the source of the ore identified and the Germans switched their attention from copper to chrome—at that time, a particularly strategic ore with many geopolitical implications.

“It probably meant,” says Dr. Alp Malazgirt, recently appointed chief executive officer of Yildirim Holding, “that the Germans had not focused on chromium mining until it became a strategically important metal. I’m not a trained geologist but on an inspection tour of new leases we have acquired near Adana’s Aladag region, it is possible to see many such lumps of chrome ore and I am sure it was even in greater abundance at Elazig back then.”

After the Second World War, the Turkish state continued to run Eti Krom, as the mine and processing plant was known, but never very profitably. At the start of 2000, the country began a wholesale privatisation

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Eti Krom

Turkish HC FeCr (high carbon ferrochrome)

programme and in 2004, when the mine from slag. In total, the Eti Krom operation was losing over $100 million a year, the numbers around 80 chrome ore mines with brothers Yildirim took over the mine. 20 of them currently active. Proven reserves “Today,” says Malazgirt, “Eti Krom is the top 100 million tonnes, with current annual flagship of all Yildirim operations. It’s the production capacity of about 1 million tons largest and richest chromite source in the of chromium ore. Ferrochrome production country and generates much of the over $1 capacity is 150,000 tonnes and the smelting operation takes place in four furnaces, two billion in revenue for the group.”

The mine itself is located on a open and two new semi-closed arc furnaces 200-hectare site 55 kilometres from Elazig. near Elazig, all of which have been updated The main activities there and modernised in the past can be summarised as five years.

Turkey has no shortage open pit and underground of chromium mines but mining of chromium ore, what sets Eti Krom apart is a chrome beneficiation the high quality of the ore. along with a briquetting facility, production of high There’s a very high ratio The brothers Yildirim carbon ferrochrome, and of 2.7:1 chrome to iron but took over the mine the recovery of ferrochrome even more desirable is the

2004

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Atlas Copco Makineleri Imalat A.S. Turkey Atlas Copco is a Swedish-based industrial group employing more than 30,000 people all over the globe. Dating back to 1873, Atlas Copco’s main business areas are compressors, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems.

components, Atlas Copco compressors lead the way in terms of energy efficiency. We listen to our customers and study their industry through our industry specialists.

Innovation is in our genes; in 1954 Atlas Copco first introduced screw compressors to the industry. In 1967 it launched the Z series.

Atlas Copco Turkey operates in Istanbul Oil free and electrically driven compressors as a customer and service center with its have been and still are a success for the more than 200 dedicated personnel to company. It is no surprise that Atlas Copco help Turkish industry to have the most was the first air compressor producer efficient and reliable solutions. With over certified as “oil free” by TÜV ISO 8573-1—but 75 years’ experience, we are able to offer innovation does not stop there. We launched comprehensive total compressed air solutions variable speed drive compressors in 1994 to to any requirements. save our customers’ energy up to 35 per cent compared to fixed speed compressors and Atlas Copco’s way of doing business is based we are leading the way in modulation control on sustainable productivity. To support this we systems that optimize working conditions for constantly improve our equipment and offer fit- the equipment and save substantial amounts to-purpose solutions. With their highly efficient of energy for our customers.

With these technological advances, we help our customers every day to sustain their profitability and productivity.

Nowhere is this more evident in Eti Krom, where Atlas Copco Turkey provided technical expertise to reach the most efficient solution.

After detailed analysis, Atlas Copco offered three oil free, variable speed drive (VSD)

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If your industrial process requires a completely oil-free air supply, Atlas Copco now offers a compressor range that is certified 100% oil-free. Our Z-range of oil-free screw compressors is the first in the market to receive an ISO 8573-1 ‘Class 0’ rating from the German certification authority TÜV. TÜV testing detected no oil contaminants whatsoever in the compressed air supply. So when you need to avoid all risk of oil contamination – rely on Atlas Copco oil-free air compressors. Want to know more? Visit www.classzero.com

Eti Krom

Committed to your superior productivity.

www.atlascopco.com

compressors where demand is precisely matched by supply. Moreover, with its highly efficient desiccant dryers Eti Krom wastes none of its compressed air as purge air.

The whole system is controlled by an Atlas Copco patented modulating system which controls the units allows them to work to their optimum. With this modulation system, our customers can save up to 30 per cent of their precious energy. In total; Eti Krom “expects to save about 68.500 euro per annum,” according to Kadir Salman, mechanical departments manager. These technical advances were not the only reasons why Eti Krom chose Atlas Copco over its competitors.

From day one Atlas Copco was on-site with

its sale engineer and the diligence that Atlas Copco demonstrated was not matched by its competitors. Moreover, previous experience with Atlas Copco’s reliability and customer centricity also influenced Eti Krom’s decision.

“Atlas Copco was “positive, constructive and reliable,” says Mr. Salman. This is how we place our customers first, this is how we excel.

With a combination of technical expertise and putting our customer first, Atlas Copco Turkey is ready to assist you for your compressed air needs. This is the Atlas Copco way. www.atlascopco.com

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low silicon content. “Silicon can be removed readily,” explains Malazgirt, “but at a higher cost as neutralising the silicon needs more carbon and therefore more coal. The phosphorous content of our ore is also low which means it is ideally suited for the very high grades of stainless steel.”

These characteristics have helped Eti Krom weather the decline in demand and the suppression of prices seen since 2008. At the time, chromium ore was fetching around $750 per tonne; now the price is either side of $270. Nevertheless, through a combination of operational hedging and optimising its mining and manufacturing units, Eti Krom has remained viable. Productivity and process improvements have led to increased flexibility and a low cost operation. Eti Krom has used its financial strength and steady cash flow to make capacity-increasing investments with zero leverage.

Eti Krom remains an important partner to its customers as it is the only Turkish chrome ore supplier that can produce chrome ore all around the year, without any suspension, even through the tough winter season. By stockpiling product in 18 strategically located warehouses, it can rapidly supply customers worldwide with the ferrochrome they need.

When it comes to ferrochrome, the market for standard grades is now dominated by the Chinese, who have taken over from South Africa as the world’s greatest producers just recently. “South Africa has 70 per cent of all known chrome ore,” says Malazgirt, “but that hasn’t stopped China investing hugely in its own ferrochrome production. Of course the power shortages in South Africa haven’t helped, as the smelting process is

“Silicon can be removed readily, but neutralising the silicon needs more carbon and therefore more coal” 204 | Be mining

Eti Krom

Entrance to underground mining

extremely energy-hungry.” process. What we don’t need Electricity supply is just for our own purposes will be fed back into the grid.” as critical for Eti Krom In a relatively short period but more under control. of time, the Yildirim brothers The grid supply is reliable have created a group with a but is gradually being very wide range of interests supplemented with Eti Tonnes of proven (10 sectors in all), many of Krom’s own generated reserves which provide synergy for electricity. “Yildirim has the mining and fertilizer been importing coal since 1995,” says Malazgirt, “and operations. Yildirim has its we have a very experienced team which own fleet of 18 ships, of which 9 are tankers knows how to get the best out of its partners. and the rest are dry bulk carriers, so has Next year we shall build a new electricity the means of shipping product to customers generation plant near at Elazig using coal or importing those commodities it needs. In imported from South Africa, Colombia, the case of coal, ore is shipped in wagons or Russia—the best source of coal for the down to the Mediterranean ports for export high temperatures needed in the smelting and then coming back, the wagons will

100

Million

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haul imported coal for the future 200 MW power generation plant. Hence, the synergy will be accomplished by combining all, or most of the steps in the ferrochrome operational supply chain.

Despite these interlocking divisions, Yildirim has yet to take any interest in manufacturing, although it comes as a great pleasure to Malazgirt to note the extent to which Turkey is developing its ability to be self-sufficient. “When the crushing and beneficiation plant was originally built at

Elazig,” he says, “all the technology had to be imported. Now we are seeing that much of what a plant like ours needs can be produced within the country.”

Such improvement in manufacturing capabilities will be good news for the government also. Considering the number of new mining developments that have been seen over the past decades, the mining sector still only accounts for one per cent of the country’s GDP. By 2023, the target is for mining to generate five per cent of the

“Much of what a plant like ours needs can now be produced within the country”

Open pit chromite mining

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Eti Krom

Chrome hauling operations at ETI KROM’s Elazig facilities

country’s wealth. In other words, there will be plenty of work for local suppliers. But for this target to be met, Malazgirt is warning that the country’s bureaucracy needs to become as efficient as its manufacturing.

“Getting approval for anything is a slow process,” says Malazgirt. “We have licenses for 20 other sites all over Turkey that are waiting for development and which could be creating new jobs and export revenue.

Most of the concern is for environmental protection of the countryside, which is admirable, but the process needs to be streamlined.”

Eti Krom already has good credentials in trying to create a sustainable operation.

We’ve already seen that by tapping into Yildirim’s logistics network, coal is being

imported and finished products exported with the maximum degree of efficiency— thereby minimising its carbon footprint.

As electricity is the largest single cost associated with smelting, becoming selfsufficient is high on Eti Krom’s to-do list. In addition to the coal power generation plant underway, the operation is also trying to recycle some of the energy found in the hot gases produced during smelting. A system is currently being built which will collect 600°C waste gases from the smelter, filter them and cool them down to 400°C and then use them to power the boilers. This way it is hoped that 5.5MW of electricity will be produced in a clean, closed circuit.

A by-product of any smelting operation is the impurity carrying slag that forms on

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Eti Krom the top of the molten metal. In the case at Eti Krom, the chrome content is already very low—at no more than four per cent.

Nevertheless, slag is being recycled in order to re-claim as much of the chromium as possible. When the last drop of value has been wrung from the slag, it can still be processed for secondary purposes. Rather than disposing of it as waste, Eti Krom is investigating ways in which the slag can be put to good use, for example, as a wearresistant additive to concrete.

Although there is no shortage of job opportunities in the mining industry in Elazig province, Eti Krom remains the most important employer, with currently around 1,000 people on the payroll. It’s the largest source of tax for the city and the whole of the province and its long history makes it an important part of the countryside’s social fabric.

“Eti Krom has been part of Elazig life for as long as most people can remember,” says Malazgirt, “something that Yildirim is keen to maintain. As well as supporting local institutions such as schools, the group has a major project underway to convert one of the most important historical buildings in the city into a museum, celebrating the region’s mining heritage.”

What a pity the lump of chrome ore that started it all off can’t be available as the principal exhibit.

View of the KEF concentration plant

For more information about Eti Krom visit: www.eng.etikrom.com

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building a better world One of the world’s leading building and construction firms with a rich equipment pool and powerful technical staff

D

ORCE Prefabricated Building & Construction Industry Trade INC., founded in 1982, is a Turkish general contractor, with a vast worldwide experience, which prov ides engineering, procurement and construction services for projects requiring high quality services in extreme environments.

DORCE stands out with its ability to quickly mobilize & operate in the harshest conditions in several countries at the same time.

“ DORCE owns one of the largest prefabricated steel structures manufacturing facilities in the world” 210 | be directory

DORCE owns one of the largest prefabricated steel structures manufacturing facilities in the world.

The manufacturing facility located in Ankara – Turkey, has 100.000 m2 total area (55.000 m2 workshop area).

DORCE Prefabricated Manufacturing Capacity • 160,000 m2 panelized prefabricated building production / month or, • 3,600 modular units (accommodation containers) / month • 1,900 tons production of heavy industrial steel buildings / month.

DORCE’S CRITERIA OF SUCCESS • Timely, in budget project completion • P rov iding highest qualit y construction services • Highest standards in health, safety and environment • DORCE considers it’s personnel as

Dorce

its most valued asset which brings success to the company.

Projects in Following Countries •M iddle East: Iraq, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Yemen, Iran •A sia: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan •E urope: A lbania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Kosovo, Ireland, Macedonia, Moldavia, Romania •A frica: Algeria, Cameroon,

Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea ( Malabo Island), Gabon, Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Niger, Mauritania, Morocco, Republic of Congo, Sudan • South America: Venezuela • Australia dorce Asagi Ovecler Mahallesi 1325. Sokak No: 6 Çankaya, 06460 Ankara / Turkey T +90 312 472 82 10 www.dorce.com.tr

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SAFER DUST CONTROL Helping mining operators develop ventilation solutions for difficult dust control problems

D

ust generated by mining process operations at crushing, screening, and conveyor transfer points is often controlled by process ventilation systems. Process ventilation involves capturing and controlling dust emissions using exhaust ventilation hoods and ductwork.

Engart Dust Extraction Technology™ is a process ventilation approach used by Joe Finn, President of Finn Equipment Sales Inc., to help mining operators develop solutions for difficult dust control problems such as where moisture or combustible dust conditions exist. “Engart dust

“ Engart dust extractors are operating at surface and underground mining operations worldwide” 212 | be directory

extractors use water to scrub dust out of the air and discharge it continuously to a secondary disposal point,” Finn explains. “This eliminates a fire and explosion risk as soon as the dust is wetted. Additional advantages include delivering maintained airflow in the ducting so that dust accumulation buildup is eliminated, low maintenance and no internal bags to maintain or to blind up due to moisture.”

Working as a contract engineer for Engart, Finn has designed well over 100 process ventilation systems for coal fired power plants, coal and non-coal mining sites and other heavy process industry operations. He explains that designing process ventilation systems is an engineering approach that starts with an evaluation of the mining operation to look at points where dust is generated.

This is followed by examining each control point to develop an exhaust hood concept. Equipment and location

Finn Equipment Sales Inc

are selected based on operating conditions. Ducting is then routed from the collection points to the equipment location. Duct velocity, pressure drop, and other system design factors are also used to develop a successful system design.

Engart dust extractors are operating at surface and underground mining operations worldwide including coal, limestone, gypsum, potash, silver and gold and at other heavy process industry operations. The photo shows a 50,000 CFM Engart wet dust extractor

installed at a coal reclaim tunnel to eliminate the fire and explosion risk inherent in the original and much larger fabric filter baghouse and centrifugal fan that it replaced.

Finn Equipment Sales Inc PO Box 1013 Mauldin SC 29662 USA T 1-864-525-1421 E jcf@finnequipmentsales.com www.finnequipmentsales.com

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We flex to your specs Spreading quality and standards around the world in the field of chemical reference materials

H

eadqua r tered in Christiansburg, Virginia, Inorganic Ventures is a producer of chemical certified reference material (CRM) specializing in preparing custom inorganic standard solutions designed for a variety of applications. These include ICP, ICP-MS, ion chromatography, and atomic absorption.

These highly regulated and highly sensitive processes require incredibly accurate and consistent measurements, which mean your testing equipment requires extremely accurate and

“ We will grow the business by introducing Inorganic Ventures to people all over the world” 214 | be directory

consistent calibration. We specialize in the formulation of custom inorganic solutions and we excel in providing service and support tailored to our customers’ specific needs. In short, ‘we flex to your specs’.

“Our speed of delivery and turnaround times,” explains executive vice president, Michael Scott, “are second to none and really help differentiate ourselves from others in the industry.”

For over a decade, Inorganic Ventures has been ISO Guide 34, ISO 17025, and ISO 9001 accredited.

It was the first inorganic certified reference materials manufacturer to be accredited to ISO Guide 34.

These quality standards are the core of the analytical testing community and Inorganic Ventures continues to lead the industry in obtaining and developing these quality standards.

Our vast experience in custom

Inorganic Ventures

blending allows us to create precise, distinctive CRM blends quickly and ship them anywhere in five business days or less. If your needs are not unique, we offer a wide selection of stock inorganic CRMs that ship the day you order.

Our European distribution center is being relocated from Madrid to Santander, to serve as a gateway for any international orders and to provide our customers with fast delivery at competitive transportation costs anywhere in the world. With distributors in more than 50 countries, Inorganic Ventures is targeting the international

stage for its next growth opportunities. “The way we will grow the business in the short-to-medium term is by travelling, by introducing Inorganic Ventures to people all over the world and by building long-lasting relationships with customers,� says Scott.

Inorganic Ventures T 1.800.669.6799 T 1.540.585.3030 F 1.540.585.3012 E info@inorganicventures.com www.inorganicventures.com

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Consulting engineers After 90 years of serving South Africa, J&G has become increasingly involved in the field of mine infrastructure across Africa

J

effares & Green, popularly known as J&G, is a South African consulting engineering firm with a complement of some 300 engineers, environmental scientists, specialist professionals and administration staff working together to provide the highest quality of consulting engineering services for the benefit of the community and the environment.

For the mining industry, J&G’s projects include the design of haul roads, road deviations, road crossings, water supply schemes, airports, civil infrastructure, geotechnical investigations, environmental services and construction monitoring.

J&G offers design and construction monitoring services for all types of roads, from freeways to gravel roads.

Typical road projects undertaken for

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mining houses include the realignment of public roads to increase reserves, access roads, circulation roads and heavy-haul roads, including roads catering for 80t mine vehicles and others catering for 400t road trains.

J&G offers geotechnical and environmental services, including slope stability, materials investigations, f o u n d at i o n i n v e s t i g at i o n s , environmental impact assessments, permitting and mine rehabilitation, and has also been responsible for bulk earthworks for mine and process plant infrastructure.

J&G has undertaken a number of potable water supply and plant water augmentation schemes for mines both in South Africa and north of our borders. J&G has the expertise to offer services in the collection and treatment / disposal of both domestic and industrial wastewater.

Jeffares & Green (J&G) Group

Expert teams also offer hydrology and geohydrology, groundwater monitoring and modelling, and contaminated land assessment and remediation. The group has also been responsible for the development and management of tailings dams.

J&G has a specialist division that deals with integrated solid waste management, including on-site development and management of waste dumps as well as the design of transfer stations. A team of environmental scientists and civil, process and environmental engineers undertakes environmental footprinting, a measurement that goes beyond that

of carbon footprinting, to include the potential impacts of water and waste, thereby establishing a holistic picture of the environmental impact.

J&G has also undertaken the development of airstrips, including feasibility studies, planning, design and licensing, for mines in various countries.

Jeffares & Green (J&G) Group T +27 (0)21 532 0940 F +27 (0)21 532 0950 E jgict@jgi.co.za www.jgi.co.za

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Resources for resources Providing temporary and permanent recruitment across all mining and resource disciplines

R

ed Dirt Personnel was founded in 2002, with the sole focus of meeting the unique needs of the resource industry. In other words, we aren’t a large recruitment company that dabbles in mining. At Red Dirt Personnel, mining is all we do, resulting in our name becoming synonymous with temporary and permanent recruitment across all mining and resource disciplines.

Growing in synergy with the mining industry in Western Australia has given us acute, first-hand knowledge of our individual clients’ needs. Importantly, each of our team members has a mining background, giving them invaluable experience, insight and empathy in the world of mining beyond the four walls of the recruitment office.

Every day across WA, companies rely on Red Dirt Personnel to deliver both temporary and permanent

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skilled workers, particularly in the area of fixed plant processing and maintenance, via what we believe are the most competitive rates in the industry. It’s our role to ensure all placements occur as efficiently as possible, leaving you free to focus on other aspects of your business. As employees are a company’s biggest asset, we strive to evolve all candidates into permanent employees.

Acquiring new staff can be a costly and time-consuming business, so Red Dirt ensures all pre-employment processes and procedures such as medicals, drug & alcohol screens, MWHS testing and reference checks are undertaken for every candidate selected for employment prior to commencing on site (costs covered

by Red Dirt).

As a dedicated mining recruitment provider, it’s not surprising to discover that we take our occupational health

Red Dirt Personnel

and safety responsibilities extremely seriously. Nothing is more important than the safety of our team members, our candidates, our clients and the general community in which each sector operates.

We have comprehensive injury management systems in place to manage our workforce around the clock, and are fully insured, with coverage for workers compensation, public liability and professional indemnity.

Our services have been fine-tuned over a decade of working closely with our clients, identifying areas where we can add value within and beyond

the recruitment process. As all Red Dirt Personnel team members have formerly worked in mining, all services are seamlessly provided within a mutual understanding of rosters, work conditions, and the like.

Red Dirt Personnel Unit 3, 85 The Promenade Mount Pleasant Western Australia 6153 T (08) 9316 4166 F (08) 9316 4150 www.reddirt.com.au

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Included The BE Mining Directory showcases leading mining organisations from across the world, ranging from big corporations to junior mines and their supply chains.

Be seen throughout our portfolio of magazines: •BE Mining Directory •BE Mining •BE Weekly •BE Monthly •

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