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Alphamin begins commissioning Bisie tin mine in DRC

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Alphamin begins commissioning Bisie tin mine in DRC

Africa-focused Alphamin Resources (TSX-V: AFM) has begun commissioning its Bisie tin mine in North Kivu, a remote province in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Mauritius-based miner kicked off construction at Bisie, considered one of the world’s highest-grade known tin deposits, in 2017. At the time, an updated feasibility study projected that the mine could produce 152,300 tonnes of tin over its 12-year life for an initial $126.1 million. It also estimated that Bisie would achieve payback in 17 months.

Commercial production is expected in the second half of the year

Construction of the mine, which is surrounded by dense forest, deeply weathered soils and high rainfall, was completed in the first quarter of 2019.

Alphamin said it remains on track to achieve commercial production in the second half the year­­.

Consumption of the metal increased by 2.5% in 2018, compared to 2017. This year, the International Tin Association (ITA) estimates that global demand will contract by 1%, with a usage forecast of 357,000 tonnes for 2019. The industry group also expects a tin production surplus for the first time since 2013.

Over the longer term, tin demand is expected to continue rising as the metal becomes more integrated into various areas of higher-tech production methods related to high-capacity anode electrode materials. Due to increased demand from electric vehicle makers, global consumption could jump by an additional 60,000 tonnes a year by 2030._Mining.com

South Africa’s firebrand mine unionist is headed for a showdown

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South Africa’s firebrand mine unionist is headed for a showdown

One of the most polarizing figures in South African mining, union leader Joseph Mathunjwa, has never hesitated to go head-to-head with powerful CEOs. Now he may have to face down the government.

Mathunjwa’s Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union has upended labor relations in the local mining sector, leading long and crippling strikes as it seized members from a politically connected rival. A relative upstart, the militant union became a household name after a 2012 dispute at Lonmin Plc that culminated in police massacring 34 people at a protest.

AMCU may now face its biggest test yet, after a government official threatened to deregister the union for failing to hold a regular congress and leadership polls

AMCU may now face its biggest test yet, after a government official threatened to deregister the union for failing to hold a regular congress and leadership polls. Mathunjwa has promised to fight the move, which could sharply curb the group’s finances and influence, and insisted it is compliant with regulations.

If a weakened AMCU resulted in fewer prolonged strikes at South African mines, it would be welcome news for producers already struggling with high costs and aging mines. The union was on the back foot even before the deregistration news, after calling off a five-month strike at Sibanye’s gold mines with little to show for it.

For now, though, a dispute with the Labor Department will probably mean more operational disruptions if AMCU members protest against the move to deregister the union. It also ratchets up uncertainty just as the world’s biggest platinum producers are getting ready to negotiate new wage agreements with local labor groups.

“Companies have to decide whether to take AMCU seriously,” said Ross Harvey, a mining analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs. “If they don’t, then AMCU could unleash chaos and the mines may have to close shafts.”

AMCU is not going down without a fight. While it’s prepared to meet the labor registrar this week, the union has also referred the matter to its legal team. It has already told the official it will hold its congress in September, Mathunjwa said, blaming the latest delay on the recent strike and pointing to an unnamed “political agenda” behind the deregistration move.

“Workers are not stupid,’’ he said. “They wanted a genuine union that can fight for their rights. They wanted a genuine union that can change their lives and make a difference in their lives.’’

AMCU was formally registered as a union in 2001 but rose to prominence after a strike by rock drillers at Lonmin Plc’s Marikana operations in 2012. One of Mathunjwa’s rallying cries has been that the National Union of Mineworkers — the group co-founded by President Cyril Ramaphosa — is too close to both mining companies and South African authorities.

In 2013, AMCU dethroned the NUM as the biggest labor group at the country’s platinum mines and a year later led a five-month strike, the longest ever in the sector.

Marked by violence

The relationship between the two unions has been marked by regular violence, with each blaming the other’s members for shootings and murders. Most recently, at least nine people died during the strike at Sibanye Gold Ltd. that was called off earlier this month.

“It would be a disaster for the platinum industry if AMCU is deregistered”

If AMCU were deregistered, mining companies could move to cancel collective-bargaining arrangements and potentially withdraw its rights to collect union dues, said Brett Abraham, a lawyer at Webber Wentzel specializing in employment law. It wouldn’t prevent AMCU members from continuing to organize collectively and embark on legal strikes, he said.

The union has 60 days to make submissions to Registrar of Labour Relations Lehlohonolo Molefe on why it shouldn’t be deregistered.

It’s unlikely that the authorities will go as far as deregistration, said Albert De Beer, a labor consultant. Still, it’s clear that the union has been weakened by recent setbacks, he said.

“It would be a disaster for the platinum industry if AMCU is deregistered,” said Bernard Swanepoel, a veteran of South African mining who now sits on Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd.’s board. “In my opinion, a ‘cleaned-up’ and well-governed AMCU is the most likely — and best — outcome.”_Bloomberg News

Makomo Resources fails to meet production target

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Makomo Resources fails to meet production target

Makomo Resources, one of the country’s biggest coal producers says production in the first quarter of the year remained subdued, with output only reaching half of the company’s target due to the unavailability of key raw materials.

“Our target was between 200 000 tonnes and 250 000 tonnes a month and we did almost 50% of that in the quarter. In fact, it was only the latter part, the last month of the quarter, otherwise January and February we were very low. We did about 30% or so on average for the quarter, which is way below our target,” managing director Raymond Mutokonyi said.

“We faced operational challenges, especially the high cost of production versus the price of that commodity and unavailability of key raw materials like diesel and explosives, which are being imported”.

“So, first quarter was very subdued. We did not do much, but the situation has slightly improved in the second quarter. But we are still having the same challenges. Fuel is a big challenge as it is still unavailable,” Mutokonyi said.

“We are hoping that somehow, the situation can be improved by availing the fuel at the right price as well as forex for key raw materials”.

“All things being equal, we would want to achieve at least 75% of our total capacity, but I’m not sure whether it’s going to be possible because the first quarter has already gone. But judging from the orders that Zesa wants, we should achieve at least 60% or so in the remaining months, provided the raw materials are available,” he said.

Makomo Resources is the largest privately-owned coal producer in Zimbabwe, and it supplies the country’s thermal power stations, industrial and agricultural sectors._NewsDay

Rushwaya faces another court challenge over ZMF presidency

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Rushwaya faces another court challenge over ZMF presidency

Henrietta Rushwaya the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president(and her Executive) is facing another court challenge after the Zvishavane-Mberengwa Mining Association (ZMMA) filed an urgent chamber application seeking to bar her from representing the interests ZMF.

This was after she had appealed to the Supreme Court against a recent High Court order which stripped her of the presidency of the small-scale miners’ body.

ZMMA wants an interdict barring her from acting as the ZMF president until finalisation of her appeal by the highest court.

She was elected ZMF president in June last year, but a group of small-scale miners under the ZMMA challenged her election.

In a case filed at the High Court in Bulawayo under case number 1652/18, the miners accused Rushwaya of using “unorthodox” means to take over the ZMF leadership.

Justice Nokuthula Moyo granted the order in favour of ZMMA. Rushwaya, however, appealed the judgment arguing that Justice Moyo erred at law and grossly misdirected herself on the issue of locus standi in failing to find and discounting that the deponents to the appellant’s founding papers were properly before the Court.

ZMMA on April 16 filed an urgent chamber application seeking to bar her from representing the interests of ZMF president until finalisation of her appeal.

In a founding affidavit, Thembinkosi Sibanda, on behalf of ZMMA, filed by their lawyer, Mutuso, Taruvinga and Mhiribidi Attorneys, said they had gathered that Rushwaya was representing ZMF at the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

Southern Eye could not immediately verify the veracity of the allegations.

The matter had been set down last week on Thursday with Justice Maxwell Takuva, but was postponed.

“It has come to my knowledge that the respondent, on the 14th instant, officialised the national executive, which was allegedly nominated and appointed on the 14th of June to represent Respondent in the upcoming national events to be held at the ZITF, between April 22 to 27. This national executive is led by Henrietta Rushwaya and Wellington Takavarsha,” said Sibanda.

Justice Moyo, in her ruling said: “The court, being a court of law, cannot embrace a willy-nilly departure from one’s constitutional dictates. Not only is adherence to one’s constitution good for law and order, but it is also a good corporate governance principle.

“The reason why there is a constitution in the first place is so that the association or organisation operates within the confines of good order to avoid chaos.”

She said the court could not encourage organisations to breach their own constitutions and do as they wished, and thus the court could not lend a hand to allow an illegality to prevail._NewsDay

RioZim records net loss of US$2,3m

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RioZim records net loss of US$2,3m

One of Zimbabwe’s leading mining group, RioZim reported a net loss of USD2,3 million in the year ended December 2018 from a net of USD8,1 million the previous year due to a 13 percent decline in gold output.

The miner’s gold production dipped to 1,792 tonnes from the previous year’s 2,071 tonnes output.

Last year the company lost production time after it involuntarily shut down all mining operations in the fourth quarter of the year citing inadequate foreign currency allocations by the central bank.

“As a result of these challenges, a whole two months production was lost albeit the fact that the company continued to meet all of its fixed costs and thus driving the business down a path of operating losses,” he said.

Revenue decreased by 15% to US$75,4 million in 2018 from US$88,9 million in the prior year due to low production volumes and inability to complete planned projects which would have sustained and increased production.

The company’s Cam and Motor Mine, which recorded a decline in recoveries, closed the year with a production figure of 758kg indicating a 22% reduction from the previous year’s production.

In the full year, Renco Mine south-east of the country produced 591kg, a 22% decline from prior year due to underperformance in the milling section.

Riozim’s Dalny Mine produced 442kg, an 8% increase from 2017, though it produced lower grades of 2,57g/t against 2,65g/t as the mine could not access the rich ground ore.

The group’s associate Murowa Diamonds posted a profit of US$10 million as diamond production improved to 740 244 carats against 732 045 carats produced in prior year._NewsDay

Chiadzwa robbers granted bail

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Chiadzwa robbers granted bail

Four suspected armed robbers accused of robbing diamond ore from Chiadzwa after working with rougue members of the ARMY and POLICE were granted bail by High Court judge Justice Hlekani Mwayera.

Foster Mukwada (44) from Mhandu village under Chief Marange, Amato Fanuel Zivanai (34) of Makwikwi village in Shurugwi, Munyaradzi Charakupa (43) of Kadoma and Brian Marungamise (33), who are facing 10 counts of robbery, were each granted $500 bail.

They will return to court on May 2 for trial.

The accused persons cocked their AK-47 rifles and ordered ZCDC security details to lie down. The accused persons then used the guards’ shoe laces to tie their hands.

They allegedly entered into the diamond fields and loaded diamond ore into sacks and vanished.

A report was made at Marange Police Station.

In the second count, on March 24, 2018 at around 11:45pm, Misheck Mucheche was manning portal 3 point when he was approached by about 100 suspected panners, six suspected ZNA members and four suspected members of the ZRP who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

Mukwada and Zivanai allegedly grabbed Mucheche and tied his hands from behind.

They entered the diamonds fields and loaded their sacks with diamond ore and went away.

On count three, some of the accused persons, in the company of about 15 suspected soldiers and 40 panners, pounced on dog handlers at ZCDC’s portal A area.

The two dog handlers were ordered at gunpoint to hold their dogs while the suspected robbers looted diamond ore.

The court heard that they used the same modus operandi on several occasions.

However, their luck ran out on April 4 this year when Mukwada and Marungamise drove to ZCDC mining concession for yet another raid.

Police, who were on patrol, received a tip-off and swiftly reacted, leading to their arrest.

The suspects reportedly had US$1 320 which was meant to mobilise illegal panners to join in the heist.

The duo reportedly sold out their accomplices._NewsDay

Illegal miner suffers amputation of legs in freak accident

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Illegal miner suffers amputation of legs in freak accident

An alleged illegal miner had both his legs amputated by a digger in the City Deep area of Johannesburg on Sunday morning, paramedics said.

“The 35-year-old man apparently fell unseen into the hole they were digging with heavy machinery. The digger continued, amputating both legs, one below the knee and the other just above the knee,” said ER24 spokesman Ross Campbell.

He said ER24 paramedics and the provincial services had arrived on the scene at 10am to find the man still in the hole.

“A scoop was used to extract him before tourniquets were applied to both limbs and the patient taken straight to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital for emergency treatment.”_Sowetan Live

Hwange audit exposes Tundiya corruption

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Hwange audit exposes Tundiya corruption

The Forensic audit at Hwange Colliery has exposed suspected acts of sabotage carried out by Shepherd Tundiya with a view to taking over control of the coal miner.

Tundiya last year allegedly attempted to remove Mota Engil from mining coal in Hwange and to fraudulently offer businessman James Goddard the Chaba Coalfields concession which HCCL holds under special grants.

Tendai Muza of Ralph Bomment Greenacre and Reynolds said in the audit that the Mota Engil contract was standing on soft ground in 2018.

“Mota Engil is contributing not less than 78% of current year (2018) tonnage, and there is a possibility that the significant drop in the Mota Engil output in the months of September 2018 to November 2018 was a result of preparing to pack and go due to possibilities of termination of contract.”

The audit said Mota Engil was facing pressure from someone acting fraudulently, or scandalously trying to replace the company.

“Tundiya allegedly mendaciously prepared a contract between HCCL and JR Goddard. He acted as an HCCL boss, who previously was the man in charge of HCCL from the President’s Office.”

A synopsis of the fraudulent activities by Tundiya began with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between HCCL (represented by Tundiya) and JR Goddard
Contracting (Pvt) Limited, which was about giving Goddard the Chaba coalfields concession.

In the MoU which Tundiya crafted, he said Goddard had the capacity, equipment, trained staff and technical expertise to undertake drilling, blasting, loading,
hauling and dumping of overburn and coal at HCCL.

The scope of work to be done would includes bush clearing for the pit to be mined, stripping top soil, drilling, blasting, loading, hauling and dumping of
overburn and coal, the maintenance and dust suppression of haul roads relating to the mining works, dozing and management of the overburn waste dumps, lighting
of the mining works, levelling and preparation of benches of drilling and blasting.

In a letter dated September 24, 2018, Goddard then replied Tundiya after a meeting was held at his (Goddard’s) Gweru offices to discuss the Chaba concession.

In the letter, Goddard said the equipment envisaged could produce 40 000 tonnes of coal per month and five teams would be needed to achieve the ultimate
production target of 200 000 tonnes of coal per month.

“We offered to mobilise team one and two within our existing resources at Ngezi Mine, from November 1, 2018, and the establishment charge would be US$1 million
per team,” the letter read.

“For the mobilisation of the subsequent teams three, four and five, an advance payment of $5 430 000 per team would be required to purchase equipment, plus we
would require an estimated charge of $500 000 per team. The advance payment amount would need to be paid to our equipment suppliers in South Africa.”

In another letter from Goddard to Tundiya dated September 7, 2018, the Bulawayo-based businessman then thanked him for the offer to mine 200 000 tonnes of coal
per month at Chaba Mine for HCCL, but said since Mota Engil was still working there, he did not believe they should be disrupted at that time.

Goddard had projected that when his company begins mining at HCCL, they would charge between $20 and $24 per tonne of coal mined._NewsDay

Zimbabwe to announce more PGM investors

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Zimbabwe to announce more PGM investors

Government will, in the next few weeks, announce at least two more investors that are expected to deploy huge foreign capital in the country’s platinum sector as scores of local and foreign investors fall in love with the Government’s “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra.

The Sunday Mail

The platinum sector is one of the few sectors in the economy that is expected to create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly through the provision of additional technical expertise from the local market and other key services.

The move is part of Government efforts to fully utilise the country’s mineral deposits as one of the key strategies to feed into President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030, by which time Zimbabwe should attain upper middle income earning status with a per capita of US$3 500.

The mining sector is largely expected to drive this vision and the President has set a US$12 billion annual export target for the sector, up from US$3, 2 billion achieved in 2018. It is against this background that a lot of investment luring strategies are being undertaken premised on the President’s “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra.

The impending announcement comes hard on the heels of an historic US$4,2 billion investment by Cyprus based Karo Resources into the country’s PGM sector that is expected to make Karo the country’s biggest PGM producer.

Government envisages that Karo could even produce more platinum than the already existing miners, Zimplats, Mimosa and Unki, combined, a development likely to trigger competition in the production of the mineral in the country.

Said Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando; “We do have four geological platinum ore bodies in the country, the snake’s head right at the top, the Muchingwe area where Mimosa is mining, in between we have two other platinum geological complexes which are the Shurugwi ore body and the Ngezi Geological complex.”

He added; “In simple terms one can look at the Ngezi geological complex and it can be subdivided into four, the area which is held by Zimplats, the area which has been granted to Karo Resources and two others which I won’t mention.

“The whole idea of the development, which is to ensure that all the ore bodies in the Shurugwi geological complex and the Ngezi geological complexes are made operational and that certainly will be achieved, which means the two others in the Ngezi geological complex and the one other in the Shurugwi geological complex in a few weeks will be concluded and made public.”

Other minerals expected to feed into the US$12 billion export target include gold, lithium, diamonds, and chrome among others.

In the gold sector, production is being primed to jump from a record breaking 33,2 tonnes to a projected 40 tonnes this year and ultimately 100 tonnes by 2023, according to the Government strategy.

In diamonds, state miner, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) is expected to haul 4,1 million carats this year up from 2,8 million last year and has been working on a deliberate capitalisation programme to boost conglomerate diamond mining.

In the chrome sector, international interest has already started and the decision by the International Chrome Development Association (ICDA) to hold their 35th annual meeting in Victoria Falls early next month is a sign of global chrome players’ interest in the Zimbabwean market.

Platinum is used in catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, platinum resistance thermometers, dentistry equipment and jewelry._The Sunday Mail

Peace Mine illegal miners evicted

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Peace Mine illegal miners evicted

MINERS who had been illegally carrying out operations at Peace Mine in Silobela were on Tuesday evicted from the mine by the Sheriff of the High Court with the assistance of the police who have since sealed off the mine.

Heavily armed support unit police officers moved in and evicted everyone from the mine and threw out their equipment including hammer mills and transformers. 

The illegal miners operating under the banner of Silobela Community Ownership Trust led by Ms Sibusisiwe Moyo who claims to be the rightful owner of the claim, had been involved in a wrangle with Chief Sigodo (real name Appollo Mhlope) over the ownership of the mine. 

Ms Moyo claimed the traditional leader wanted to abuse his authority to illegally grab the mine claiming it was benefiting the whole community.

Despite the High Court ruling in favour of Chief Sigodo and ordering the illegal miners to vacate the mine, the miners kept conducting operations, going against the order. Silobela Member of Parliament Cde Mthokozisi Manoki Mpofu confirmed the sheriff moved in and removed all the people and equipment from the mine. The eviction order dated 4 April 2019, ordered the removal of Ms Moyo and her team from the mine to pave way for the peaceful entrance of Chief Sigodo into the mine.

About 40 hammer mills and transformers were part of the equipment moved out by the sheriff.

Ms Moyo could not be reached for comment. Contacted for comment, Chief Sigodo said, going forward, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development will have to carry out an assessment first before giving a go ahead for resumption of mining activities._The Sunday News

 

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