Dikulushi mine, DRC

 

 

 

By: Carla Fernandes

Published on 8th August 2008

Name: Dikulushi mine.

Location: Dikulushi mine is located 400 km north of Lubumbashi, in the province of Katanga, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Brief history: Copper mineralisation at the Dikulushi mine was first reported in the early part of the twentieth century. Subsequent assessments were made in the 1950s, and later in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1996, Anvil Mining submitted a mining convention application to the government of what was then known as Zaïre, for the Dikulushi deposit and the surrounding area. In 1997, Anvil Mining carried out a comprehensive drilling programme of the ore. The decision to go ahead with the Dikulushi project was made in July 2001. By October 2002, Stage I of the Dikulushi mine had been brought into commercial production. In October 2003, Anvil Mining reached an agreement with Rand Merchant Bank International to undertake the Stage II expansion of the Dikulushi mine.

Brief description: The Dikulushi mine is Anvil's first mining and processing operation. The mine has a workforce of 466 and an expected life-of-mine of six years.

Products: Copper and silver.

Mining method: Underground.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2007, were 41 000 t.

Resources: Total measured, indicated and inferred resources as at December 31, 2007, were 1,4-million tons.

Geology: The Dikulushi mine deposit is a low-temperature (hypogenic), hydrothermal multielement, base and precious metal deposit. The main footwall orebody is hosted in a fault zone, which strikes north-easterly and dips at 65 degrees to the south-east. It has a strike length of 240 m, is up to 25 m wide, and has been defined to a vertical depth of 180 m below the surface and remains open below this depth. The mineralisation is dominantly massive chalcocite nearest the footwall (often for several metres in width) and then is less massive, to the disseminated chalcocite further into the hanging wall. The thickest parts of the orebody measure some 25 m in width with individual one metre assays at grades up to 20% copper, and 600 g/t of silver. The footwall fault transects the sandstone-carbonate contact. Within the carbonates, bornite has precipitated in preference to chalcocite.

Major infrastructure and equipment: The Dikulushi processing facility includes a crusher, two ball mills, and a flotation circuit.

Prospects: The transition to underground mining has been completed. Anvil continues drilling at Dikulushi and in the surrounding area for identification of satellite deposits.

Controlling company: Anvil Mining Limited (90%).

Contact person: Robert La Valliere, investor relations.

Contact details:
Anvil Mining
Tel: +61 8 9481 4700
Fax: +61 8 9481 4800
Website: www. anvilmining.com

--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66