Bushveld Minerals Ltd. has revealed promising results from its scoping study for expansion of its Mokopane tin project in South Africa and is advancing accordingly onto the next stage of development.
Numerous disseminated tin resources have been identified near Mokopane, which lies on the northern extent of the Bushveld Complex. The recently released scoping study concentrated on five targets, of which two (Groenfontein and Zaaiplaats) have been drilled. The Zaaiplaats tin tailings dump was omitted after Bushveld elected not to pursue its acquisition on the grounds of inadequate size, grade and recovery. The scoping study is based on open pit mining, small-scale gravity, flotation and electrostatic separation and smelting in a straightforward process design capable of producing some 700 tpy 99.5% refined tin.
The study reports a low capital expenditure of US$16.7 million and cash operating costs including royalties of US$14,276/tonne of tin, good scalability, and a realistic route to near-term production, all of which fulfil Bushveld’s criteria for further development. The combined mineral resource has also more than tripled to 18,447 tonnes of tin from its 2012 estimate of 5,995 tonnes, with a two year payback period suggested.
Bushveld Minerals CEO, Fortune Mojapelo praised “…a positive scoping study offering attractive economics, simple processing methods and low capex requirements”
The company are moving onto the next stage of development and is considering additional exploration, sourcing of quality second hand equipment and investigation of potential by-product revenue from tungsten and copper to improve the economics presented in the scoping study. Open pit planning and additional drilling at Zaaiplaats have also been proposed.
