Vedanta's Skorpion, BMM operations report solid FY17 results, Gamsberg development on track

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Production at diversified miner Vedanta Resources' Zinc International business fell by 31% year-on-year to 156 000 t for the financial year ended March 31.

This was mainly the result of the ramp down of the Ireland-based Lisheen mine, which was closed in November 2015 following 17 years of operation.

Excluding Lisheen, full-year production increased by 8%.

Metal production at the Skorpion mine, in Namibia, was 4% higher year-on-year at 85 000 t, despite the impact of lower feed grade and recoveries.

Production at Black Mountain Mining (BMM), in South Africa, rose 11% year-on-year, as a result of better recoveries and grades.

Meanwhile, first production at Vedanta’s Gamsberg project, in South Africa, remains on track for mid-2018. Vedanta broke ground on the project in July 2015 and prestart activities and waste-stripping are progressing well.

Vedanta reported on Tuesday that about 15.5-million tonnes of waste rock had been excavated to date, that all major orders had been placed and that major contractors had been mobilised to site.

The first phase will include a four-million-tonne-a-year opencast mine and a 250 000 t/y processing plant.

Meanwhile, Vedanta’s Zambia copper operations produced 94 000 t of mined metal in the 2017 financial year, a 24% year-on-year decrease. Production in the fourth quarter of the year was 48% lower year-on-year as a result of lower trackless equipment availability at the Konkola mine's Konkola Deep Mining project. The Nchanga operations were negatively impacted on by throughput constraints at the mills and maintenance breakdowns at the tailings leach plant.

Process improvements have been put in place and Vedanta expects the Zambia copper operations’ performance to significantly improve in the quarter to June 30.