Mining development company Ironveld’s South African subsidiary Lapon Mining has successfully completed its first blast at the planned opencast pit located on the Altona farm, in Limpopo.

The blast was carried out on June 6 by a licensed drilling and blasting contractor under the supervision of Lapon Mining’s in-house team and management. About 1.5 t of heavy ammonium nitrate fuel oil emulsion explosives were used to establish the initial production bench and create a free face for the continuation of mining activities.

This initial waste blast is expected to have exposed about 3 000 t of unweathered magnetite ore, which will be subsequently blasted and transported to the joint venture (JV) dense media separation (DMS) processing plant for conversion into DMS-grade magnetite.

Over the coming week, the overlying gabro norite waste rock will be removed to the designated waste stockpile, enabling blasting of the exposed magnetite ore into the pit and the start of consistent ore delivery to the DMS JV plant, located 2 km from the Lapon mine site.

Lapon Mining is targeting production ramp-up to 20 000 t a month of unweathered magnetite ore. This will be achieved by extending the current bench to 100 m and establishing a second contiguous 100-m bench, both of which have already had topsoil and free-dig overburden removed and are ready for the next phase of drilling and blasting.

"This [blast] represents a major step forward in developing a consistent and scalable ore supply from the Lapon Mining operation. With mining now under way and ore sales to the DMS plant set to commence, we are well positioned to ramp up production and meet growing demand.

“Our strategic investment and development initiatives . . . are now delivering tangible, value-accretive results. We are operating with strong positive momentum, and I am confident in our ability to continue delivering and capitalising on the . . . opportunities ahead,” Ironveld CEO Kris Andersson said.