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Prieska Mine Definitive Feasibility

Location & Client

Prieska, Northern Cape, South Africa Orion Minerals.

Mining Method

Underground various methods.

Study Accuracy

DFS (+5% -15%) Longitudinal and transverse LHOS, DAF and Low profile DAF

Introduction

ABGM have been closely involved in the Prieska Underground Copper Mine feasibility study for Orion Minerals. The intention is to progress the project to implementation and execution. The historical flooded mine shows potential for re-opening and ABGM was asked with the mining engineering and LOM planning of the underground Copper/Zinc reserve. The Project’s base-case underground plan during the Foundation Phase is to de-water and refurbish the shaft, establish new underground infrastructure and start mining the hypogene ore body. The target rate for the underground production of 200ktpm RoM material

Challenge

The ore body is severely un-uniform in terms of geometry and width, therefor making planning of extraction quite challenging as various mining methods require to be designed and scheduled within the mineable reserve with different costs

Solution

ABGM in conjunction with the Orion mining team developed a detailed and feasible, from a practical and economical point of view, mine design and production schedule. The ore body was defined and demarcated/split into four zones and each zone was designed according to its selected mining method. The designs was combined and practically aligned to facilitate production scheduling. The selection of the mining methods was determined by ABGM, based upon the local width and dip of the ore body. After several re-iterations a practical and achievable schedule, as per the requirements of the study, was produced which showed positive NPV results.