Minnovare has announced its involvement with the Khoemacau Copper Mining Zone 5 underground copper and silver mine in Botswana. Minnovare’s Production Optimiser™ technology will be implemented on a drill rig of contract miner client Barminco that is currently operating on site. Full remote implementation and training of the Production Optimiser™ system will be led by Minnovare’s Technical Support and Training Team. The company said: “We look forward to working with the team at Barminco, in delivering further value to Khoemacau Copper Mining at Zone 5.”
The system, suitable for installation on all production rig makes & models, substantially reduces blast hole drilling deviation – which in turn reduces average dilution and downtime (including reduced secondary drill and blasts), whilst improving overall fragmentation and ore recovery.
Khoemacau is wholly owned by private company Cuprous Capital Ltd, which in turn is owned 87.9% by Cupric Canyon Capital LP, a company majority owned by funds managed by Global Natural Resources Investments (GNRI) and 11.9% by Resource Capital Fund VII LP. Barminco is the mining contractor for the Zone 5 underground mine –a 3.65 Mt/y new development from three separate mines each producing on average 1.2 Mt/y with three twin decline systems, each servicing one mine. The operation is using long hole open stoping, transitioning to backfill. Road haulage of ore is 35 km from Zone 5 to the Boseto process plant (initial throughput 10,000 t/d) using 140t road trucks on a surface road. Initial production will be 60,000 t of copper and 2 Moz of silver per year.
