Trevali Mining has received positive marks from a pre-feasibility study (PFS) conducted at its 90pc-owned Rosh Pinah mine in Namibia, South Africa, to expand the mine, increase ore production capacity, and reduce operating costs. Rosh Pinah is an underground zinc-lead-silver mine.
The PFS was founded on the concept of expanding the company’s existing throughput from 700,000mt to 1.3mn mt of ore per year. By reforming the processing plant, constructing a paste fill plant, and developing an entrance and ramp to its WF3 deposit, the company will launch the feasibility study in Q1 2021.
Ricus Grimbeek, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said that during Rosh Pinah’s 50-year operating life, the mine has processed almost 30mn mt of ore, with 16mn mt presently in resource. In order to sustain such levels, Grimbeek continued, the PFS recommends growing existing output capacity by 86pc to reach 1.3mn mt annually.
The developments will enable the mine to produce more metal faster and at much lower operating costs, Grimbeek added.
As soon as the project is commissioned, onsite operating costs are anticipated to drop by about 28pc on a per ton milled basis. Mining expenses per ton milled will also decrease because of the mining process variation, which adds paste fill to elevate ore recovery and condense mining dilution.
The fixed costs on a per ton milled basis will also decline as the mine picks up from 700,000mt to the PFS goal amount of 1.3mn mt annually, as a result of greater ore throughput each year.