Congo copper comingTuesday, 17 July 2007WITH copper production...

Congo copper coming
Tuesday, 17 July 2007

WITH copper production underway at Anvil Mining's Kinsevere project in the Democratic Republic of Congo and increasing political stability in the country, the prospect of Congo as a more viable mining state is becoming stronger. By Alex Forrest.

Kinsevere is Anvil's third mine development in Congo, and according to Anvil chief executive Bill Turner, recent changes to mining legislation and improved political stability have made the business of digging up rocks in the African nation significantly less complicated.

"In the last six months of last year, the country held its first democratic elections, and they were supported by the United Nations," Turner told MiningNews.net.

"Also, an independent electoral commission from Europe assisted the country to hold its first elections."

By the end of 2006, a newly elected democratic government had been put in place.

What this means for mining, and in particular Anvil and its Kinsevere deposit, is that the Kinsevere operation will operate under new legislation which, according to Turner, will result in more interest in Congo as a viable mining country.

The Kinsevere deposit is 27km north of Lumbumashi, the provincial capital of the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Anvil, which is listed in both Australia and Toronto, began production of commercial copper concentrates after it commissioned a heavy media separation plant as part of the $US35 million ($A40 million) Stage I development at Kinsevere.

"The country's moved along a lot, and because of changes like that, we've seen a lot of increased interest in Congo," Turner said. "[We've also seen] a lot of money raised in international markets for projects in Congo, and a lot of new players coming into places like Congo."

Turner said most of the capital for the project was coming out of Europe and North America.

"The Australian market's been a bit lacklustre in its support for Anvil, and its support generally for Australian companies working in overseas environments," he said. "And you've seen a lot of companies leave the ASX and move over to Canada.

"We moved the company to Canada in mid-2004, and we've done four capital raisings since going there. It's more liquid over there – we trade about $C20 million [$A22 million] worth of stock a week," he said.

On July 9, Anvil named engineering services provider Ausenco as the preferred contractor for work on the $US238 million ($A274 million) Kinsevere Stage 2 Copper Project in the Kantanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Stage 2 development includes the construction of a 60,000 tonnes per year solvent and electro-winning plant, and is designed to produce LME (London Metal Exchange) grade A quality copper cathode directly at the mine site.

The first copper concentrates were produced at the mine on June 9, and by June 30 the company had processed a total of 8365 tonnes of ore through the HMS plant at a feed grade of approximately 9% copper, producing about 1590t of concentrates with an average grade of 30% copper.

Design capacity throughput has been achieved and the company said it was working to ramp up the operation of the three-stage crushing and screening circuit and the HMS plant.

Stage 1 at Kinsevere consists of open-pit mining at the Tshifufia and Tshifufiamashi pits and the building of the HMS plant and an electric arc furnace, which will produce some 23,000-25,000tpa of black copper ingots at 93-95% copper.

The furnace will be commissioned in the fourth quarter of this year.

Kinsevere Project
Owner: Anvil Mining
Location: 27km north of Lumbumashi, the provincial capital of the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Resource: Inferred resource of 20,920,000 tonnes of ore, containing 716,500 tonnes of copper Expected milestone dates:
Construction of an on-site electric arc furnace, to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of this year.
Commissioning of Kinsevere Stage 2, due in mid-2009

http://www.miningnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=101991