Sandfire cuts the ribbon at Botswana copper mine
KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Sandfire Resources has officially opened its Motheo copper mine, in Botswana.
A final investment decision on the $259-million Motheo mine was taken in December 2020 and first concentrate from the mine was produced in May this year.
The base-case Motheo operation requires a capital investment of $259-million, and based on a 3.2-million-tonne-a-year operation, would deliver 30 000 t/y of contained copper and 1.2-million ounces of contained silver over an initial mine life of 12.5 years.
The project is expected to ramp up its initial throughput rate to 3.2-million tonnes rate, to produce 30 000 t/y of contained copper and 1.2-million ounces of contained silver over an initial mine life of 12.5 years. Motheo’s inaugural shipment is currently scheduled for August.
Sandfire is now working to increase production capacity to 5.2-million tonnes a year, which will increase yearly copper production to 50 000 t by 2025.
“The official opening ceremony marks an important milestone for Sandfire and provides an opportunity to acknowledge the community, our people and the many contractors who have contributed to the timely and safe development of our newest operation,” said Sandfire MD and CEO Brendan Harris.
“The official opening of the Motheo copper mine solidifies our strategic position in the highly prospective Kalahari Copper Belt. As we sharpen our exploration focus on near-mine targets, we see significant potential to extend the life of Motheo and be a contributor to the local economy for decades to come.”
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
We are responsible manufacturers of essential components. Manufacturing 80 million parts a week, we have over 1 billion parts in stock.
VISIT SHOWROOM
SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
