pd263-Aug18 mag-web

AUGUST 2018 Volume 1. Issue 263 $11.95

New Force in Congo

• Nzuri Copper… rises to DRC challenge

• West African gold… poised for breakout year

Special preview edition ISSN 1445-3436
07

9 771445 343007

Page 1 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



contents

PAYDIRT (ISSN 1445-3436) 15 NEWS 15
Published by Voices calling for Australia to embrace 18
Paydirt Media Pty Ltd. a downstream lithium sector continue to 26
A.C.N. 063 985 133 grow with the West Australian Government
taking a particularly proactive approach
Head Office: and establishing a consortium involving
Suite 9, 1297 Hay St, West Perth industry to capitalise on the once-in-a-
Western Australia 6005 lifetime opportunity. Mark Andrews was
P.O. Box 1589, West Perth invited to last month’s launch of the first
Western Australia 6872 Lithium and Energy Materials Industry
Phone: (+61 8) 9321 0355 Consortium strategy session
Facsimile: (+61 8) 9321 0426
[email protected] 18 COVER
www.paydirt.com.au Legal changes in DRC have rocked the
sector, bringing widespread condemnation
from the country’s largest miners. How-
ever, while some have turned their back on
Editorial: the country, others have found great op-
Editor: Dominic Piper portunity. Jason Brewer has spent the best
Deputy editor: Mark Andrews part of the last three years in the DRC and
Journalist: Michael Washbourne as a director of Force Commodities, Vector
Photography: Picture This Resources and Winmar Resources he has
Art director: Nick Brown more than a soft spot for the country. Mi-
Contributors: chael Washbourne travelled to DRC to find
Keith Goode (Sydney), Brendan Ryan first-hand about the opportunities Brewer
(Johannesburg), Ross Louthean has uncovered

Advertising: 26 AFRICA DOWN UNDER
Advertising manager: Richa Fuller After a five-year hiatus, Australian min-
Subscriptions: Mitchelle Matambo ing’s love affair with Africa is set to flourish
Phone: (+61 8) 9321 0355 again, with Africa Down Under to provide
Facsimile: (+61 8) 9321 0426 a true reflection of the turning tide towards
the region. This year’s event will see no
Pre-press and printing: less than 35 ASX-listed explorers and min-
Vanguard Press 26 John St, ers presenting their stories, while govern-
Northbridge WA 6003 ments – from both Australia and Africa –
Member of: will be out in full force once again. Paydirt
provides a snapshot of the stories to be
Paydirt Media presented on the main stage this year
Executive chairman: Bill Repard
Finance manager: Giovanny Jefferson 102 REGIONAL ROUND-UP
Accounts/administration: Despite the mid-year market blip, Austral-
Heather Melling ian companies are hitting the ground hard
across the world. This month, Paydirt has
Conferences: Melita Fogarty, tracked stories unfolding in Argentina,
Namukale Nakazwe-Msiska, Chile, Cambodia and Spain

Christine Oelschlaeger

AUGUST 2018 VOLUME 1. ISSUE 263 $11.95

New Force in Congo

• Nzuri Copper… rises to DRC challenge

• West African gold… poised for breakout year

Special preview edition ISSN 1445-3436
07

9 771445 343007

PAGE 1 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Cover image: Eric Jonathan Katenbo
Kabanba, Gedeon Pelesa, Jason Brewer
and Didier Muswata at Winmar’s
processing plant in the DRC

Member of:

Registered by Australia Post PP 643938/0071.
No pages or articles in this publication may be re-
produced in any form without the consent of the
publisher. This includes photographs either taken
by Paydirt Media staff or provided by other parties.

African wheels
begin turning again

In compiling this special Africa Down ty; the latter having settled on Australian mining expertise, strong
Under preview edition of Paydirt, a fre- corporate governance and sustainable practices as the ideal part-

quent query has been “why is it taking ner while the former recognised the resources sector as a diplo-

so long for investor enthusiasm for matic bridge to a continent it had little coverage on.

resource stocks to filter through to The Australian Government was not about to strike deals with

African plays?” governments or promise to undertake nation-building infrastruc-

I think the use of “filter” betrays ture projects but it could provide training and support in the areas

some of the answer. No matter the sit- of taxation, environmental regulation, health and safety and indig-

uation, commodity or location, African projects are still discounted enous engagement.

in comparison to similar projects in other jurisdictions. The miners benefitted from this interest. Hundreds of African

The reasons have both historical and current contexts and Af- public servants participated in short courses and masters pro-

rica Down Under has become a microcosm of Australian investors’ grammes in Australia, returning to their home countries not only

attitudes to and relationships with Africa. with greater knowledge of mining policy and regulation but a soft

Australian companies were late to the party in Africa, choosing spot for their short-term home.

instead to focus their offshore ventures closer to home in places Regulatory certainty, stability and transparency became the

such as the Pacific Islands. When they eventually went in large catchwords of Africa Down Under as Australian miners recognised

“numbers, in the early 2000s, they found a wealth of opportunity in the only way they could be sure of gaining investor support was if
geological settings similar to those they were most familiar with. they could participate on a level playing field.

The first Africa Down Under, in 2003, Post-2014, the commodities down-

was born of this new-found enthusiasm. There is no other turn put a stop to most of the growth in
Among the 60-70 people who turned Africa and by consequence, the con-

up at that inaugural event, there would sector which provides ference itself.
have been few who had not visited the the opportunity for rapid As investors raised their risk pro-
continent for themselves and despite con-
files, African-focused companies

taining a number of enticing projects, the and widespread economic found themselves crowded out. The
company presentations were largely de- transformation of African African discount may have been re-
void of success stories. The problem was duced thanks to a decade of educa-

that the widely held perception from out- societies as mining does. tion and success but it was still in
siders was that the continent was synony- place and dissuaded risk-averse in-

mous with war, famine and disease and vestors from taking on the challenge.

investors were reluctant to involve themselves in jurisdictions they The slump continued through 2016 but this year’s Africa Down Un-

had only seen in small snippets on SBS World News. der will see the repair job started in 2017 continue.

My own conceptions were similar prior to my first visit to Africa The legal changes in DRC and Tanzania are frustrating and seri-

in 2007. Indeed, there was an assumption – one held by many of ous setbacks for the companies operating in those jurisdictions but

the people I spoke to in my early years as a mining journalist – that the continent as a whole has witnessed positive momentum.

miners would only go to the continent because they saw opportu- The last 18 months have seen significant wins for democracy in

nity to exploit the instability. places like Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe, fostering a sense

It quickly became apparent to me (and many of the others who of hope. Political winds may not always blow favourably for the

travelled to the continent for the first time) that Australian compa- mining sector in individual jurisdictions but if changes are occurring

nies were not viewing Africa in this way. Instead, they were at- as part of a democratic process, progress will eventually prevail

tempting to build economic projects despite the instability rather and it will mean less exploitation and more transparency; both key

than because of it. if Africa’s natural resources are to be extracted efficiently, effec-

Anvil Mining in DRC, Equinox Minerals in Zambia, Paladin En- tively and to the benefit of the continent’s people.

ergy Ltd in Namibia, Equigold in Cote d’Ivoire; these companies And, if Australian companies are to be the agents of that pro-

were building operations (all of which still exist today) in difficult cess, they need democratic, transparent environments in which to

or even no-go locations. But, they were doing it with a respect for operate.

community and civil society which went largely unreported by the Sixty years after the start of Africa’s independence era, the con-

mainstream media. tinent is still struggling to fulfil its potential and mining remains its

As the mid-2000s resources boom took hold and created a sec- best hope. There is no other sector which provides the opportunity

ond “scramble for Africa”, investors warmed to the idea of building for rapid and widespread economic transformation of African soci-

projects in Africa, recognising the improvements in security and eties as mining does.

governance and appreciating the vast geological opportunities That remains, and always will remain, the greatest African re-

which existed there. sources story.

Delegate numbers at Africa Down Under steadily rose over its

first 10 years, culminating in an event which attracted more than [email protected]

2,300 participants in 2013. @DominicPiper
By then, African and Australian governments had joined the par-

Page 4 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



news

Ecuador opens
the door wider
Significant changes in Ecuador are set
to see mounting interest in the coun- “The Government in this last month
try’s mining sector.
has approved a tax in benefit for min-
At last month’s second annual Invest-
ing in LatAm Mining Cumbre in Santiago, ing projects and has removed the wind-
Chile, Ecuador vice minister of mining
Henry Troya Figueroa announced an ini- fall tax and taken down the royalty for
tiative which will allow for scout or recon-
naissance drilling within an exploration projects like Solgold’s [plc] Cascabel,”
concession.
Figueroa told Paydirt on the sidelines of
While companies come to terms and
clarify how it relates to their individual Mining Cumbre.
circumstances, Figueroa told Paydirt
his country was striving hard to create “We have removed our rent tax for 15
long-lasting policies conducive to bol-
stering mining and exploration activities years with projects like Cascabel where
in Ecuador.
we can sign a commitment – an invest-
The scout drilling initiative follows the
Government’s call to amend tax and roy- ment commitment – which gives inves-
alty commitments on mining companies,
to encourage investment in the sector and tors the security that the model doesn’t
help Ecuador move away from a heavy
reliance on its hydrocarbon industry. change for 15 years or more.

“We are working to generate long-

term policy that concentrates on gener-

ating economic stability to companies

and for the benefit of Ecuadorian peo-

ple. In this moment, the impact of the

mining sector in our economy is 1.4%,

but with these kind of policies in this

period of government we can increase

that by four points and in 10 years by

12 points. This is the clear signal that

from a hydrocarbon“we are changingEcuador Vice Minister of Mining
Henry Troya Figueroa
country to a mining
We are working to
country.” generate long-term
economic stability
Solgold has

been a standout in

demonstrating the

country’s geologi-

cal prospectivity for the benefit of

in the copper-gold

space and the po- Ecuadorian people.
tential will start to

be further uncov-

ered with increased like gold, copper, lithium and the like,”

activity by the likes Figueroa said.

of BHP Ltd, New- “In our policymaking we are making

crest Mining Ltd, decisions for 20 years’ time with things

Newmont Mining like tax removal and working on social

Corp and Fortes- commitments with communities as short-

cue Metals Group term incentives. From 2015 to 2018, we

Ltd. have gone up 200% in investment in

“Maybe our big- exports generated, which has created

ger incentive to many jobs and taxes for the country.”

investment is that

only 5% of the - Mark Andrews

country is being ex- For a wrap on the Investing in LatAm
plored and we have Mining Cumbre see the September
a lot of proof of the edition of Paydirt
geological poten-

tial of the country,

but we need for the

industry to invest

in exploration to

find more minerals

Page 6 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

bush telegraph

Battling the illegal creep

London-listed Petra Diamonds Ltd has negotiated a solution to the problem
of illegal miners on its property at Kimberley but the agreement looks flawed

and sets an ugly precedent.

The precedent is that to get illegal min- up-front to the artisanals that the ground The deal follows comments by Petra
ers off your property you will have to they now own has a limited life or to find chief executive Johan Dippenaar on April
give up some of it to them because the new ground for them to sustain their op- 23 that production from Petra’s Kimber-
authorities who should be protecting your erations in the future once the floors are ley operations had been disrupted during
legal rights are clearly not prepared to act mined out.” the March quarter through the illegals
– likely reason being the political will to physically blocking access to high-grade
take harsh action against illegal miners is But the chances of that happening are dumps as well as affecting the haulage
lacking. minimal. It’s far more likely the “legal ille- routes used to bring dump material to the
gals” will simply move back onto another treatment plant.
The solution announced by Minister for section of Petra’s ground and carry on
Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe in regardless. Over the past two years, the illegals
early June was to legalise the “illegals” had damaged mine property and equip-
who had invaded portions of Petra’s So, I found it extremely interesting ment; stolen large quantities of copper
ground at Kimberley. when, on July 5 about a month after the cabling which had a significant impact
deal with the illegal miners was revealed, on KEM’s operations and threatened the
The Petra Kimberley operation is a Petra announced it was getting out of the lives of Petra staff; all with seeming im-
JV with Ekapa Mining – the Kimberley KEM JV. punity.
Ekapa JV (KEM JV) – set up to recover
diamonds by retreating old surface mine Petra will sell its 75.9% stake to Ekapa In September 2016, KEM chief execu-
dumps left behind by the operations of for R300 million which is to be paid in 24 tive Jan Hohne pointed out the illegals
former owner De Beers. monthly instalments starting in January were operating in contravention of four
2019. Not only are those attractive terms acts: the Diamond Act (which regulates
The illegals had moved in over the past but Ekapa is paying a fraction of what sales to prevent illegal diamond buying);
four years and were allowed to operate it cost Petra originally to buy those as- the Minerals and Petroleum Resources
by the South African Police Services sets because Petra will take a “non-cash Development Act; the Mine Health and
(SAPS) and the Department of Mineral impairment charge” of between $US35 Safety Act and the National Environmen-
Resources (DMR) despite repeated re- million $US40 million in its results for the tal Act.
quests to remove them and eventually, year to June 30.
legal action, from first De Beers and then At that time, Hohne commented:
Petra. According to a statement from Petra; “SAPS has supported us in dealing with
“the rationale for the disposal is to en- situations where our workers have been
So now, 830 of these illegals have sure a sustainable future for KEM JV threatened but we are disappointed no
been formed into two co-operatives and by placing the operation under the sole further action has been taken to uphold
given permits to mine on some 600ha of stewardship of an operator best suited the law.”
ground surrendered by Petra. The co-op- to maximise its value. Ekapa Mining’s
eratives have also been granted licences extensive experience of operating spe- Asked for his opinion of the current
to deal and trade in the rough diamonds cifically within Kimberley and its ability to situation, Klopper commented: “We are
they recover. solely focus on these assets is expected constrained in terms of what we can say
to provide the right fit for the operation.” about this arrangement but we have al-
One of the key conditions in the deal ways been keen to find a way to legalise
was that former illegals had to make com- Petra added the decision was also be- the operations of the zama-zamas [ille-
mitments that they would stop interfering ing made as part of a review of the asset gal miners].
with Petra’s other extensive operations. portfolio to maximise return on capital
and ensure positive cash flow. The dis- “We believe this is a good deal which
But there’s an obvious question; what posal would also “free up considerable will add value to the nation but nothing
happens when the 600ha of ground they Petra management time” that could be is for free and we have had to give up
have been allocated is worked out and applied to other key assets such as the some 600ha of ground called ‘the floors’
the newly-legalised artisanal miners start Finsch and Cullinan mines. to make it work but this ground is not criti-
looking around for new areas to mine? cal to our operations.”
Finally, the deal would “facilitate the
Petra has made no formal announce- group’s working capital position” and “de- Bottom line for other affected mining
ment about this agreement. In an inter- crease the operational risk in the context companies? You are going to be pres-
view, Gert Klopper, communications of the wider Petra group”. surised into deals like this because the
manager, operations, replied to that South African Government lacks the po-
question: “Mining is a finite business. It I think that last reason is the key one. litical willpower to enforce the country’s
is up to the relevant authorities – led by Petra management has decided the Kim- laws.
the DMR and the Northern Cape Pre- berley situation is simply not worth the
mier’s office – to either make it clear hassle and is getting out.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 7

news

More than
a pinch of salt

Alooming supply gap in the non- Since its inception earlier this decade, A PFS on Erammura is due in April 2019
mainstream industrial salt space has Leichhardt has focused on the industrial
prompted a private consortium of inves- minerals sector and also has a large pot- be completed in parallel and submitted
tors to accelerate plans to establish a ash project in the Northern Territory on to the Environmental Protection Author-
new Pilbara-based operation. its books. ity of Western Australia.

Backed by several Australian high net Eramurra was one of three industrial Canaris said the consortium may con-
worth investors and respected private salt projects reviewed by Leichhardt’s sider an IPO following completion of the
equity group Resource Capital Funds, consulting partner, German-based Con- PFS, although he queried whether the
Leichhardt Industrials Pty Ltd is under- Salt GmbH, along with the Yannerie (now ASX had the appetite for industrial salt
taking a $2 million PFS and environmen- Ashburton) project now held by K+S and stories such as Eramurra.
tal studies programme on the Eramurra ASX-listed BCI Minerals Ltd’s Mardie
industrial salt project, about 55km south- project, also located on the Pilbara coast. “An IPO is something we would look at
west of Karratha. for the future, it’s definitely not ruled out,
A robust PFS on Mardie was reported but I’m not sure this commodity is suited
Leichhardt has been working progres- by BCI in June, headlined by a capex of to that kind of platform,” he said.
sively on the project for the past five $335 million to develop a 3.5 mtpa salt/
years and is now fast-tracking efforts to SoP operation with competitive produc- “We see it as possibly better funded
develop an initial 1.83 mtpa operation tion costs of $US19.70/lb FOB. privately, but who knows whether there
to meet growing demand for the hungry will be a future appetite for an IPO for
Asian chlor-alkali markets. In its study presentation, BCI also salt. What we’d really like to do is include
pointed to the looming supply gap for a strategic partner – a salt partner – in
Current Asian demand for industrial industrial salt and flagged a potential the project, so that’s either a buyer or an
salt is about 160 mtpa, with Rio Tinto deficit of 26 mtpa from 2026 in the event Asian chemical manufacturer, to come in
Ltd’s Dampier Salt operations account- all advanced salt projects were to come and participate at the project level.”
ing for about 90% of Australia’s contribu- online and current and expected supply
tion to that total. However, according to capacity is fully consumed. An initial value of $230 million has
data from Roskill Global Industry, a fur- been attached to Eramurra and Canaris
ther 63 mtpa is needed from 2026 to feed Canaris said most generalist investors is confident the project will have a very
expected future demand. would not be aware of the looming sup- quick payback period.
ply gap.
“We could also see that there was a “The lead time to full production is quite
trend coming from the US and Europe for “The salt industry is very opaque to long, but there’s no risky resource drill-
higher spec salt being required by chemi- Australian investors, there really is no ex- out up front to see whether your PFS or
cal manufacturers,” Leichhardt managing posure to the salt industry and you really BFS is going to stack up, so your produc-
director John Canaris told Paydirt. wonder why,” he said. tion model and therefore your financial
model are both very robust in compari-
“There’s been a transition in technol- “The core of Australian exports for in- son to a lot of other resource projects,”
ogy in the chemical business towards dustrial salt is for chemical manufacture. Canaris said.
membrane technologies which are far There is food salt produced, as well as
more power-efficient and less energeti- other salts, but really the big story is in “Capex for these projects can be any-
cally expensive than the old membrane the chemicals and that’s where we see where between $200 million and $300
cells. The chlor-alkali process is an ener- this big supply gap coming from. It’s re- million, but I don’t see that as being a
getically expensive process and the new ally quite startling.” particularly big capex for a project with
membranes have a 20-30% energy sav- these sorts of revenues and yields.”
ing, but they do require a higher purity of RCF is funding the working capital for
salt.” the PFS on Eramurra, with a target date Leichhardt recently picked up some
of April 2019 set for its release. new ground near Eramurra which, if eco-
nomic, could help lift planned production
An environmental assessment will also above 2 mtpa.

– Michael Washbourne

Page 8 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



news

Savannah
to sparkle

again

Panoramic Resources Ltd has begun for stainless steel, so both of those things of Kununurra and Wyndham which are
the search for up to 250 new employ- combined have brought the price back up otherwise heavily reliant on tourism to sup-
ees after locking down debt funding to re- ahead of where we thought it might have port their economies.
start the Savannah nickel mine. rallied.”
“We were the major exporter from the
A $40 million loan facility from Macquar- Macquarie’s funding package includes Port of Wyndham and they used to import
ie Bank was the last box that needed tick- a hedging component of 7,000t nickel at all our fuel as well, so we were a very, very
ing for the company’s board to bring the $8.51/lb and 3,000t copper at $3.71/lb to important customer for them and they have
Kimberley-based operation – which has be delivered between February 2019 and missed our business a lot,” Harold said.
been on care-and-maintenance since May June 2021.
2016 – back online. “The regional impact of a mine closure is
Harold said the banking tender was really important because it did create a bit
While no specific restart date has been an “extremely competitive and very ag- of a hole in that Kimberley economy when
announced, Panoramic hopes to ship its gressive” process and remarkably similar we stopped. The local TOs get a NSR from
first batch of concentrate to China in early to the agreements put in place to initially our operations, but that obviously stopped
Q1 2019. build the mine. when we shut. That royalty went out to
about 100 families and created opportuni-
Nickel was trading around $US6.30/lb at “Fourteen years ago when we financed ties for them in business and education for
the time of print, almost double the price this project we raised $42 million and here kids at school, medical expenses and these
it was commanding when Savannah was we are restarting it for almost the same sorts of things. So, it feels great that we can
mothballed. number,” he said. start paying that again when we restart.”

Panoramic has been quietly preparing “Back then we needed 9,000t of nickel Panoramic will spend the next few
for a restart of the mine since the start of hedging and no copper and this time we’ve months completing its refurbishment of the
the year and managing director Peter Har- done 7,000t nickel and 3,000t copper, so processing plant and bringing other equip-
old said the time had arrived for the com- the total tonnage is about the same but ment on site back online. An upgrade of
pany to officially push the button. the difference is we’re hedging at a nickel the power lines and tailings dam facility is
price over $8/lb, whereas last time it was also on the agenda.
“When we put the mine on care-and- only half that number.
maintenance, we had no idea when it The big work item for the company will
would restart,” Harold told Paydirt. “As it turned out, by the time we started be drilling the raise bore for the ventilation
cranking up to full production in 2005, the at the new Savannah North deposit being
“We always thought it would, but we nickel price had really taken off, on the brought into the mine plan.
thought it might take longer than this be- back of strong demand for stainless steel.
cause at that point in time the electric ve- I think we’re starting to see that again and At full tilt, Savannah’s second coming
hicle story hadn’t really surfaced. It wasn’t now we’ve got a whole new sector which is expected to produce 10,800 tpa nickel,
until probably May last year that the whole potentially could swallow up 400,000- 6,100 tpa copper and 800 tpa cobalt over
battery market thematic started to come 500,000t of nickel in the next few years on an initial 8.3 years of mine life.
through, first in cobalt, but then people an annualised basis.”
started to realise just how important nickel Panoramic struck a new concentrate
was to the story. Panoramic has started interviewing for sales agreement with Sino Nickel Pty Ltd
some of the key operational jobs at Savan- and Jinchuan Group Co Ltd which will im-
“At the same time too stainless steel nah and Harold was hopeful many of the mediately come into play once the mine is
demand has obviously been very good mine’s former employees would return. back up and running.
and that’s underpinning the current strong
demand. There’s no question that people Savannah’s closure two years ago se- – Michael Washbourne
underestimated the strength of demand verely impacted the East Kimberley towns

Page 10 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

REGISTER NOW

23 October 2018

Perth,Western Australia

Presenters to date:

Hon. Bill Johnston MLA, Dan Lougher, Peter Bradford,
Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Managing Director & CEO, Managing Director & CEO,
Government of Western Australia Western Areas Ltd Independence Group NL

John Prineas, Mark Wilson, Ian Mulholland,
Executive Chairman, Managing Director, Managing Director,
St George Mining Ltd Legend Mining Ltd Rox Resources Ltd

Michael Rodriguez, Warren Hallam, Peter Muccilli,
Chief Operating Officer, Managing Director, Managing Director,
Poseidon Nickel Ltd Metals X Ltd Mincor Resources NL

Richard Bevan, Peter Harold, Sarah Mitchell,
Managing Director, Managing Director, General ManagerTechnical Services,
Cassini Resources Ltd Panoramic Resources Ltd Ardea Resources Ltd

Justin Werner, Peter Sullivan, Malcolm Cattach,
Managing Director, Chairman, CEO/Chief Geophysicist,
Nickel Mines Ltd GME Resources Ltd Gap Geophysics Australia Pty Ltd

Sponsors to date:

australiannickelconference.com

To present, exhibit or attend as a delegate please contact Christine Oelschlaeger
on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]

BOOK REVIEW

The (African) cycle

The tedium of crossing borders from companied by his wife when he took on difficult border patrollers and immigration
one nation to the next, the constant the waters of the Atlantic paddling from officials, but on the contrary there were
drain of wondering where the next dollar Morocco to Miami, which illustrates how endless people – government officials,
to keep the dream alive will come from ingrained adventure is in his make-up. sponsors and the general do-gooder on
and the loneliness of outback Africa are the street – that saw his ambition as he
parallels South African explorer Riaan Manser’s greatest personal challenges did and helped him on his way.
Manser can draw with those in the mining were not the grind of stifling heat, torren-
fraternity. tial rain and general lack of home com- And, from this Manser finds inspiration.
forts but the battle against loneliness and “My story is never about me, it is about
In the period 2003 to 2005, Manser desire to be with loved ones. However, the concept of how humans see them-
circumnavigated the coast of Africa on while Manser’s achievement was being selves in what I do, it’s about the guy that
his bicycle – a journey initially thought to the first to ride around Africa, his epic decides to go and do mining exploration
be achievable in one year but which ulti- journey is also a triumph of human spirit. in the middle of the Algerian desert which
mately took two years, two months and he knows is risky and could lose every-
15 days as he covered some 37,000km Along his way, Manser did encounter thing, but see the opportunities,” Manser
across 34 countries. said.
“I was never under the illusion that all I
Manser’s expedition started in relative was trying to achieve was to make my life
comfort as he departed Cape Town and more worthwhile. In my life in 2001/02 I
along the picturesque seaside of Na- was in a space where I felt I was working
mibia, however, much of the ride through for money, I felt I had maybe reached a
West, North and East Africa during that ceiling. I was working for a medical com-
period of time can only be described as pany at the time and running a region
hairy. in South Africa, which was going well. I
thought it was good, but it was probably
“I went to places that people had not the unhappiest I had ever been. I want
been,” Manser told Paydirt earlier this to be the world’s most interesting grand-
year. father one day; that is my goal and my
drive. It sounds basic, but when you deci-
“I went through war zones, I attempted pher it, it is a pretty heavy in the respon-
to go through every single coastal coun- sibility that I have given myself.”
try of Africa with no excuses, no reasons
why I couldn’t go because of danger or – Mark Andrews
visa problems. I chose to make it a real-
ity and that is what kicked off my career Visit riaanmanser.com to find out about
in this exploration and adventure space.” his next expedition and other books on
his adventures
Around Africa On My Bicycle is some-
what of an unbelievable read, consider- Riaan Manser realised his dreams of seeing the Egyptian pyramids during his
ing Manser left a life – the woman of his epic journey. PHOTO: Gallo Pictures Africa
dreams and a well-paying job – many
would be content with, to face the wrath
of unknowns at a particularly volatile time
in the world.

It was for neither love nor money. In-
stead, what compelled Manser to con-
front the vagaries of Africa’s wilderness
on a bike is a question many ask, includ-
ing Britain’s Prince Andrew when the pair
met.

“I explained that my urge to find out
new things was exactly the same as the
thirst for discovery that had impelled my
ancestors to put literally everything they
had on the line and venture into the un-
known. Andrew understood this perfect-
ly...” Manser writes.

Manser believes there is an adventur-
ous spirit inherent in most people and it
is a matter of wanting to find that “uncom-
fortable space and make things happen
or whether you are the person that wants
to find the road”.

Having circumnavigated Madagascar
alone in a kayak then Iceland with a mild-
ly handicapped partner, Manser was ac-

Page 12 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



news

Australia charges ahead
on lithium lead

Australia’s potential in the lithium sector A researcher studies lithium-ion battery components in a CSIRO laboratory
is far reaching and new research has
shown the country is capable of hosting a sense to have something that is modu- proposing is feasible,” Boxall said.
battery recycling industry. lar and smaller scale to move about from Boxall said the Federal Government’s
one place to another. This means using a
Currently, lithium-ion battery waste sort of decentralised pre-processing hub significant shift in strategic thinking about
totals 3,300 tpa and is growing by 20% and then something that goes around to waste management was also a step for-
each year. At the current rate, lithium-ion recover the value,” Boxall said. ward for a potential new recycling indus-
battery waste could exceed 100,000 tpa try in Australia.
by 2036, according to CSIRO’s Lithium “That sort of thing needs to be figured
battery recycling in Australia report re- out in terms of the Australian landscape “There is so much value in these
leased last month. and how it fits with the rest of the market.” wastes they can be considered like little
mini mines, but if we can’t get enough of
Australia has been at the forefront of Following the release of CSIRO’s re- the volume to process then we’re really
adopting solar and battery systems and port, the West Australian Government missing an opportunity I think,” she said.
with all the key lithium-ion battery ingre- announced it was strong-
dients – including nickel, cobalt, lithium ly backing a bid for a Fu- “The lithium value stuff
and graphite – abundant in the country, ture Batteries Industries is one of the big drivers for
the conversation has progressed to capi- Cooperative Research closing the value-chain
talising on a once-in-a-lifetime opportu- Centre (CRC) to be head- for all parts of lithium and
nity to be in the thick of the battery value quartered in Perth. absolutely all of those in-
chain. dustry partners at every
Through the Miner- part of that chain should
Meanwhile, CSIRO is actively re- als Research Institute of be considering what hap-
searching how batteries can be recycled Western Australia and pens with the waste that
and reused. the Department of Jobs, they are generating.
Tourism, Science and
CSIRO research is investigating pro- Innovation ($500,000 “There’s a great oppor-
cesses for recovery of metals and mate- contribution), the State tunity here to close that
rials, development of new battery materi- Government will invest $6 value chain. So, we’re
als, and support for the circular economy million. efficiently and effectively
around battery reuse and recycling. Dr Naomi Boxall recovering the value that
During stage one of the comes out of that bat-
Of the 3,300 tpa lithium-ion battery bid, which ended on July 3, the amount tery waste and what is stopping it from
waste in Australia, a mere 2% is recycled committed by industry and research in- being put back in the front end? There
compared with 98% of 150,000t of lead- stitutions totalled about $27 million, with are technical challenges with that; what
acid batteries sold in 2010. the Federal Government to invest $25 is the impact of the secondary material
million. for the manufacturer of new materials
“The remaining 98% [lithium-ion bat- and on the lifespan of the efficiency and
tery waste] gets stockpiled or informally A decision on the bid will be announced energy density, for example?”
aggregated somewhere and we have is- in Q1 2019, during which CSIRO hopes
sues with people abandoning stockpiles to have made progress on potential recy- – Mark Andrews
and people generally throwing things in cling solutions.
the bin – household batteries and that
sort of thing. That 98% is largely unchar- “There remains techno-economic as-
acterised, but it is likely that it ends up sessment and lifecycle analysis in the
in landfill at some stage,” CSIRO land background to make sure what we are
and water, environmental contamination
mitigation and biotechnology, Dr Naomi
Boxall told Paydirt.

The majority of Australia’s battery
waste is shipped overseas and ends up
in landfill, which causes potentially harm-
ful environmental contamination, fires
and risks to human health. Therefore,
CSIRO is leading the charge with indus-
try to identify ways of recycling lithium-
ion batteries domestically.

“We are still determining whether we
should become a regional processing
hub, have one large-scale infrastruc-
ture for the treatment and recycling for
all of these wastes or does it make more

Page 14 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

How far
can WA go?

WA Governor Kim Beazley

July 19, 2018 was a historic day for West- and carbonate products in the State will single supplier or single system of supply,
ern Australia, with the State Government also result in a plethora of job opportuni- so WA has the opportunity to take advan-
tage of those market policies and strategic
and industry participants in the Lithium and ties. imperatives to ensure that we have our
opportunities here in WA. WA is open for
Energy Materials Industry Consortium con- With WA having the opportunity to play business and the Government wants to
actively grow this sector,” Johnston said.
vening for the first time to start discussions a leading role in downstream processing
Reports commissioned by groups such
on WA’s role in what is being touted as the and have an impact in the areas of inno- as the Association of Mining & Exploration
Companies have played a crucial role in
fourth industrial revolution. vation and design of future battery storage highlighting Australia’s importance to and
opportunities in the lithium industry. WA
“This consortium is about initiatives and technologies, Beazley called on the Fed- chief scientist Professor Peter Klinken said
these reports reinforced the fact that WA,
discussion and will potentially focus global eral Government to support the State as it in particular, had a remarkable opportunity
to be more than just a mining state.
attention here and broaden people’s com- built momentum in being more than just a
“It is so exciting for me to see companies
prehension, both here and [elsewhere] of source of raw materials. like Tianqi, Kidman [Resources Ltd], SQM,
Albermale and Nickel West looking at pro-
what our society is capable of,” WA Gover- “We need the active engagement of the cessing and going into that area,” Klinken
said.
nor Hon Kim Beazley said. Commonwealth Government, we need to
“We now have the opportunity to ex-
Thanks to its abundant endowment of capture their imagination,” Beazley said. pand further and say: How much further
can we go? Can we look toward generat-
natural resources, Beazley said WA was “The current review of the tax incentives ing cathodes and anodes? Can we actu-
ally manufacture batteries? Can we go
in the box seat to play a critical role further provides an opportunity to address widely into recycling? This is an opportune time
for us to look very, very seriously at these
down the lithium value-chain, primarily recognised shortfalls, otherwise we are at and make conscious decisions based on
our capabilities and what we have been
downstream processing, while enhancing risk of the continuance of local innovation blessed with.”

Australia’s broader reputation as a global and industry moving overseas. Klinken added that the failed steel and
car manufacturing sectors needn’t deter
energy super power. “The Commonwealth needs to consider Australia’s pitch to participate in the bat-
tery manufacturing industry.
WA alone produces 60% of the world’s us a partner in this opportunity. We have
“I think we need to lift our eyes a little
hard-rock lithium with five operating mines, done many things in this country. We here bit and say manufacturing has actually
changed; it has changed considerably. It is
two further mines under construction and in WA have very rarely managed to cap- more automated and costs are more asso-
ciated with energy and we have abundant
one in the planning and approvals stage. ture the Commonwealth’s imagination on energy,” Klinken said.

Potential investment of $2 billion by the any of the stuff except as a grizzling entity.

likes of global heavyweights SQM, Alber- Frankly, they do not appreciate what it is

male and Tianqi to make lithium hydroxide that we can do for this country,” he said.

Beazley com-

mended the efforts

of WA Minister

for Mines Hon Bill

Johnston for put-

ting the Lithium and

Energy Materials

Industry Consor-

tium in place to see

exactly what WA

could offer.

“There’s impera-

tive around the

world to ensure

Last month saw a historic occasion for WA with the first phase of that supply of bat- – Mark Andrews
consultation between industry and government to discuss the tery materials is not
Lithium and Energy Materials Strategy overly exposed to a

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 15

news

Autonomy takes the wheel

Despite lagging behind other parts of sector would save more than 1,000 lives, Pettigrew said while respondents were
the world, acceptance of electric ve- 30,000 hospitalisations and $16 billion in concerned with whether computers were
hicles and autonomous cars is growing in crash-related costs every year,” Pettigrew able to make better decisions than humans,
Australia, according to John Curtin Dis- said. “However, this research shows most most trusted the abilities of computers.
tinguished Professor Simone Pettigrew Australians are largely unaware of the im-
from the School of Psychology at Curtin. mense public health benefits of autono- “So, until they see evidence to the con-
mous vehicles and some are concerned trary they might continue to believe that,”
While Australia’s largest iron ore min- the vehicles would actually result in more Pettigrew said, pointing to the use of au-
ers have made an almost seamless shift crashes.” tonomous software in aeroplanes.
to autonomous vehicles on their sites in
the Pilbara, the concept is only starting to In Western Australia, the RAC is set to Instead, Australians should be more
resonate in the general public. launch an autonomous taxi fleet trial later concerned about being left behind in the
this year, which will be another step in in- EV revolution.
“It is going to happen incrementally, I creasing awareness of the benefits of such
have a hybrid car for instance, so bit by bit vehicles. “Europe is taking off with EVs and ac-
electric is coming on-stream and it is the tually legislating so you won’t be able to
same as autonomy,” Pettigrew said. “Once people see more of them, experi- buy a petrol vehicle. That has to happen
ence them and read more about them, I here as well eventually,” Pettigrew said.
Pettigrew was the lead in research relat- think we will see quite drastic changes in “Geographically, we are a little more disad-
ing to the health benefits of autonomous the way people view them,” Pettigrew said. vantaged, but battery life has leaped and
vehicles and public awareness and recep- bounded so you can get 400km range out
tivity in Australia. Earlier this year, Curtin University be- of an electric charge now, which means
came the first university in Australia to trial most of us will be charging up once every
A total of 1,624 respondents participated the use of a driverless commercial bus as week or every two weeks.
in a survey conducted by the Bankwest part of research into the safe integration of
Curtin Economics Centre, with the findings the technology into everyday life. “Electric car companies have come to
from research published in the Australian Australia before, the market just hasn’t
and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. Pettigrew said the trial was proving a taken it up which has meant they have left
success and the public’s fear of future again. The forecast, I think, we are look-
The research indicated about half of roads being dominated by robots was also ing at two more companies coming back in
Australians believed autonomous vehi- abating. later this year with models, so quite a few
cles would reduce crashes, emissions and more electric models will be joining Tesla
stress on the roads. “It is a fair point, but that fear is not near- on the road.”
ly as strong as we would have thought,”
“It has been estimated that complete Pettigrew said. - Mark Andrews
automation in the Australian transport

Page 16 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

BMAINTETREA2R0LY1S9

14 -15 March 2019 – Pan Pacific Perth
Western Australia

graphite tin cobalt
nickel
lithium
copper

manganese vanadium
rare earths

www.batterymineralsconference.com

To present, exhibit or attend as a delegate please contact
Namukale Nakazwe-Msiska on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 17

COVER

Opening up Congo’s
battery-powered future

Since returning from the resources wilderness three years ago, Jason Brewer has spent almost
half his time in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And just as quickly as his passport is filling
with stamps, so too is his love affair with a country few are prepared to enter.

Brewer is a director of three DRC-fo- which have been spent on them. the time away reinvigorated his passion
cused companies – Force Commodities “It’s a country with unquestionable ge- for mining.
Ltd, Vector Resources Ltd and Winmar
Resources Ltd – and has been primarily ological potential and is home to some of “I probably wasn’t as battered and
responsible for recapitalising and vend- the world’s largest mining operations… bruised or as downbeat as others [who
ing new projects into each of those enti- but a country which has been held back had remained in the industry], so I came
ties over the past 18 months. because of its perceived sovereign and back into the sector with a lot of energy,
political risk.” with a lot of renewed enthusiasm and all
Winmar was the best performing junior I saw was opportunities, whereas others
resources stock on the ASX last financial Brewer is no stranger to African re- had probably been seeing the opportuni-
year, a feat largely attributed to Brewer’s sources projects. After more than a ties but had just been banging their head
efforts to introduce a near-term cobalt decade working for some of the world’s against the wall for too long to be able to
production opportunity into a company biggest investment banks, largely tasked progress them,” Brewer said.
which had sifted through a multitude
of projects and countries without any “with helping finance projects on the “There’s an incredible amount of
success. It’s a country with shell companies on the ASX where
unquestionable shareholders have either lost faith or
Another DRC-focused company, geological potential and where management have really hit
AVZ Minerals Ltd, was awarded the home to some of the the wall and these companies are just
same honour only a year earlier, world’s largest sitting there looking for a new lease of
suggesting investors are becoming mining operations. life or new energy to be put into them.
increasingly more comfortable tip-
ping their cash into a country with continent, the qualified mining engineer “Coming in with a fresh set of eyes
high security risk and a long history joined South Africa’s Continental Coal as and introducing them to projects
of political unrest. finance director. which are head and shoulders above
what they’ve had in the past just gives
For Brewer, where some see great As a downturn started to unfold in them that new lease of life, and inves-
risk, he senses great opportunity. the resources sector in 2013, Brewer tors are clearly warming to it.”
stepped away from the industry altogeth- Brewer was first exposed to the DRC
“Very quickly I could see a competitive er to become chief executive of Perth through his involvement with boutique
edge for us to get in there and do deals,” Glory Football Club. corporate advisory firm 1620 Capital Ltd,
he told Paydirt. alongside another former Perth Glory
While his two years as a sports admin- chief in John Boardman.
“The competition wasn’t as intense istrator ended on a sour note – Brewer The pair helped raised the capital which
as other, more established countries resigned from his post after Perth Glory allowed Vector to acquire the Maniema
in West Africa and East Africa, so I felt was found guilty of a salary cap breach – gold project in early 2017. While on pa-
there was an opportunity given some of per it was a relatively straightforward
the relationships we’d started to build to transaction, the work behind the scenes
get in there and secure some very at- brought more to the table than Brewer
tractive projects for which realistically we could have ever imagined.
shouldn’t be getting a look in, given their
quality and some of the expenditures

Page 18 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Intrigued by what else the DRC had to Jason Brewer “Management is more often than not
offer, Brewer continued to build up his the biggest asset of any company and it
contact list in country and he was intro- companies that had effectively become was important for us from the outset to
duced to a number of prospective pro- shells. have somebody on the ground who could
jects which were in desperate need of hit it running,” Brewer said.
both funding and technical expertise. Force was one such company and
Brewer joined its board in June 2017 “Being able to get James on board
One of those projects was Kitotolo, an and was instrumental in vending Kitotolo literally no sooner than we had got in-
early-stage lithium exploration play just into the company’s portfolio and forming volved there was a massive coup for us.
outside of a tiny artisanal mining town a JV with state-owned lithium company He knows the area and more importantly
known as Manono. Brewer instantly Cominiere SA. He was also able to lure he knows the local people and the ser-
knew this was an opportunity worth fol- James Sullivan, who completed much of vice providers in the region. Those are
lowing up as it was the same area where the initial exploration for AVZ at Manono, relationships you just can’t walk in and
AVZ was enjoying success with the drill to lead the company’s technical team. establish.”
bit, including an eye-catching intercept of
235m @ 1.66% lithium. Force plans to complete about
16,000m of drilling at Kitotolo over the
“AVZ had already very quickly estab- coming months to follow up on the initial
lished that Manono/Kitotolo region as be- mapping and trenching work reported
ing a tremendous region for lithium poten- late last year which confirmed wide-
tial,” Brewer said. spread, high-grade mineralisation at sur-
face and under some alluvial cover.
“A lot of historical work had been done
by the Belgians and by the French on Brewer, who was formally appointed
the lithium potential, but there was no Force’s managing director in February,
real modern day exploration. So, we said Cominiere’s support would be cru-
moved very quickly to secure that posi- cial to the progress of Kitotolo.
tion because we felt strategically it was a
very important region in the Congo which “What really took me back was just
was about to open up in terms of regional how cooperative and how proactive
development and support by the Govern- Cominiere were in working through a JV
ment.” structure with us in such a very quick and
timely way,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Australia, Brewer had
also been doing his homework on a num- “Partnerships in the Congo are eve-
ber of distressed ASX-listed resources rything and to have such a good start
with Cominiere was fantastic. Under

Artisanal mining on the Kanuka licence
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 19

COVER “Management is more often ka, no modern exploration for
than not the biggest asset of lithium has been carried out
the terms of our agreement, a company and it was important on the licence. Grab samples
they’re going to be introduc- for us from the outset to have of highly weathered shallow
ing two more licences into pegmatites, taken by Force as
that JV upon us meeting the part of its technical due dili-
minimum exploration expend-
iture requirements, which I

think we already have well somebody on the ground who gence, returned grades of up
within the first year of start- could hit it running. to 2.12% lithium oxide.
ing work there. It’s been very
refreshing and surprising how “The intention is to have a
standalone lithium operation,

quick you can actually get on duction opportunity,” Brewer said. similar to what MMR is doing
the ground and do things.” Sullivan liked what he saw and it didn’t for the tin and tantalum,” Brewer said.
“We will look to export any concentrate
Opportunities often arise through as- take long for Brewer to propose a deal out through the same logistics routes
sociations or in the most unlikely of cir- with Indian-backed Mining Mineral Re- they’ve established. It’s not a big explo-
cumstances. For Brewer and Sullivan, it sources SPRL, owner of the ground ration play, so to speak, but definitely a
was very much the latter when it came to which hosted the large pegmatite, allow- cash flow opportunity.”
Force’s second project, Kanuka. ing Force to conduct lithium exploration
over a 194sq km area of the Kanuka li- Drill rigs and associated equipment
During a road trip from Manono to Kito- cence, about 20km east of Kitotolo. arrived at Kanuka early last month for
tolo, the pair drove over what turned out an initial 3,000m RC programme which,
to be a very large pegmatite protruding With MMR – part of the VinMetals according to Brewer, will quickly deter-
through the dirt tracks. Group which has operated in the DRC for mine whether Force can realise imme-
more than two decades – only focused diate value from the ground. Following
“What didn’t cause us a flat tyre in ac- on tin and tantalum production at Kanu-
tual fact found us a very near-term pro-

Page 20 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

this drilling campaign, the rigs will be “Getting to a certain level of trust al-

moved across to Kitotolo. lows you to develop the conversations

The nature of Force’s interactions around other projects, and that’s basi-

with local groups in the DRC has ena- cally where Vector has got to. It’s up to

bled the company to progress much us now to establish ourselves with this

faster than Brewer could have en- pipeline of projects that any gold major

visaged when he came on board 12 in the world would cry for and deliver

months ago. production.”

It has been a similar story for Vector Perhaps the biggest win for Brewer

chief executive Simon Youds. in the DRC will be with Winmar.

Vector’s efforts to establish rela- Brewer joined Winmar as chairman

tionships with locals and regulators late last year and initially flagged a

ahead of the first drilling programme at change in focus for the company from

Maniema saw the company presented gold in Spain to cobalt in Canada.

with opportunities to review some very However, that plan was thrown on its

advanced gold projects, including Adi- Force head of exploration James Sullivan, head when a mothballed but almost

di-Kanga, Kibali South and Nizi. who also completed the technical due brand new processing plant became

At the time of print, Vector was finalis- diligence for the company’s neighbour available in the DRC.

ing agreements to acquire interests in all AVZ Minerals at Manono The plant, near the established min-

three projects. ing centre of Likasi, was built in 2014

“This all came about because of trust,” period of time and you can’t just step into for $US80 million, primarily for cop-

Youds told Paydirt. “Trust is about estab- the Congo and flick a switch, no matter per production, but never really got go-

lishing a track record of delivery over a who you are. ing. Following some modifications to the

“Opportunities like this don’t come
around too often and have only come
about because we’ve built those
relationships in country.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 21

COVER

Power auger drilling at Kanuka

Brewer with Force director Gedeon Pelesa. leaching and crushing circuits, as well as Brewer said.
A Lubumbashi local, Pelesa is a key point the tailings facility, it will soon be able to “We saw an opportunity to reconfigure
treat up to 250,000 tpa of ROM material
of contact for other ASX-listed companies, to produce 8,000-12,000 tpa of concen- some of the plant to make it more cobalt-
including Vector and Winmar, in the DRC trates grading 30-40% cobalt and 10- focused. You only have to take one look
15% copper. at the plant to see it is in fantastic con-
dition. We’ve had an independent audit
Under a heads of agreement executed and assessment completed on it and
last month with African Holding Invest- we’ve had local Congolese metallurgical
ment Company Ltd and Societe Luapula consultants go through and start making
SARL, Winmar will hold a 50% interest modifications to it and preparing it to be
in the plant and be the manager of the able to treat products.
operation. The company will also be re-
sponsible for sourcing feed from nearby “Let’s face it; opportunities like this
exploration licences, all within 3km of the don’t come about too often and have only
processing facilities. come about because we’ve built those
relationships in country.”
At the time of print, Winmar had re-
ceived firm commitments from private With 65% of the world’s cobalt supply
investors for an $8 million placement to coming from the DRC, Winmar is under
finalise the acquisitions. no illusions of its opportunity to become
one of the ASX’s first recognised cobalt
Recommissioning of the plant is ex- producers, especially at a time when the
pected to take 3-4 months, giving the key battery mineral is trading at all-time
company enough time to finalise offtake highs.
agreements with European and Chinese-
based global trading and commodities However, with concerns continuing to
groups. be flagged about ethical supply and pro-
duction of cobalt from the DRC, the com-
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for the pany is preparing for the extra level of
company to establish itself not just as scrutiny it is likely to face from end-users
an advanced exploration company in and investors.
the Congo, but one that will be able to
process its material very, very quick- “There’s no question we need to be
ly through a plant that it will operate,” able to prove to all our stakeholders, off-
takers, financiers and shareholders that

Page 22 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

the cobalt we mine and produce has
been responsibly mined and produced,”
Brewer said.

“We’ll be working with a leading inter-
national group based in the UK to ensure
that we’ve addressed those growing
concerns from downstream consumers
about the risks of being associated with
cobalt production in the DRC. We’re also
going to be developing and implementing
some clear policies and practices that
are aligned wholly to international stand-
ards and we’ll be working with groups to
ensure that we have independent moni-
toring of our performance.

“We’re going to have quite a very
rapid and significant impact on people
in and around our mining operations so
we have to make sure we’re responsible
in how we go about our business. And
the fact I’m committed to working with a
number of listed companies here in the
Congo means we have to be responsible
for the sake of all of those companies.”

Brewer flagged employing as many
as 600 people across mining and pro-

An exposed pegmatite on Force’s Kanuka licence

MMR’s T. Kumaravel, Pawan Burde and Sharata Kumar Naik at the Kanuka cessing operations for Winmar, with 90-
95% of those to be Congolese.
“ tin-tantalum mining operation. Force has entered a JV with the Indian-backed
group which has been established in the DRC for more than two decades “We’re not a group that’s going to come
over here and overload a management
We’re going to have quite a very rapid and structure and operating structure with a
significant impact on people in and around lot of expats,” he said.

our mining operations so we have to make sure we’re “One thing I’ve found in the Congo is
responsible in how we go about our business. that the skill base is phenomenal. The
experience across mining, metallurgy,
geology, operations and exploration is
tremendous. There’s some truly very
skilled and very capable Congolese peo-
ple who we will be working with and will
have in all key management areas of the
company.

“We operate in Africa and we’re an
African company, so we’ll embrace and
promote all the local employment we
can. If you’re going to operate here, you
have to work within the country and you
have to make sure the benefits accrue to
the local community in a big way.”

The DRC’s resources industry has
been in the news mostly for negative rea-
sons in 2018 due to the backlash created
by changes to the country’s mining code.

While the likes of Randgold Resources
Ltd and other major miners operating
in the DRC have chosen to be very vo-
cal about increased royalties and taxes,
Brewer believes the new terms are not
unreasonable and the time has come for
everybody in the space to move on.

“I’ve been quite frustrated by the ap-
proach taken by a lot of the major com-
panies operating in the DRC and how
they have seemingly taken over the ar-
gument,” he said.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 23

COVER

“We look forward to paying taxes
and royalties in the DRC because
if we’re doing that then we’re making
money for our shareholders.

The Luapula processing plant will process 250,000 tpa of ROM material, producing up to
12,000 tpa of concentrates grading 30-40% cobalt and 10-15% copper

Page 24 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

“Any junior exploration

development company is

dependent on market sen-

timent and support to raise

the equity funds to allow

us to move forward in our

activities. So, hearing a lot

of the major mining compa-

nies complain about taxes

and royalty rates and so on

is frustrating, particularly

as the old mining code was

incredibly advantageous to

mining companies operat-

ing in the DRC, with royal-

ties and tax breaks below

some of the DRC’s peers

in Africa. Winmar acquired this mothballed processing plant near the established mining centre of Likasi
“The investment environ-

ment was very conducive

to attracting that invest- ing that then we’re making money for our to be,” Brewer said.

ment, but it had certainly reached the shareholders.” “It’s very quickly attracting a lot of in-

point where it needed to be fairer and Should Brewer get his wish and noise vestor interest, so hopefully we’ve man-

more equitable to allow for some of the around the DRC mining code softens to aged to get a reasonable foothold in

broader development in the country. And a dull roar, more junior companies could there already which ensures we still re-

most projects are such that they can op- follow the likes for Force, Winmar and main competitive to pick up some more

erate very effectively within the new fis- Vector into a country which still remains of these outstanding projects.”

cal regimes. relatively unexplored. – Michael Washbourne
“We look forward to paying taxes and “Could the DRC be one of the final

royalties in the DRC because if we’re do- frontiers? It’s certainly got the potential

Brewer has established a strong network of local contacts and supporters since first
setting foot in the DRC

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 25

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

African romance set to
blossom again

After a five-year hiatus, Australian mining’s love affair with Africa is set to flourish again.
Ahead of the 16th edition of Africa Down Under, Paydirt looks at a breakout year ahead.

African aligned ASX-listed compa- Paydirt chairman and Africa Down There is also a severe lack of good
nies suffered even more than their Under organiser Bill Repard is excited by exploration ground available in Australia
and a chronic shortage of good devel-
Australian-focused peers during the last the turnaround in sentiment. opment and growth stories among the
domestically-focused juniors.
commodities downturn and even as the “It has been a tough five years for
In contrast, Africa boasts all three in
rebound took hold domestically, African many companies and investors in the Af- abundance yet the few established ASX-
listed gold producers in Africa are un-
companies remained unwanted by local rican resources space but there is now dervalued compared to their Australian
equivalents. Even despite their solid start
investors. genuine signs the tide is turning,” Repard to 2018, Resolute Mining Ltd (19.9%) and
Perseus Mining Ltd (50.88%) have un-
Activity in the first half of 2018 points to said. “This year’s Africa Down Under will derperformed against the likes of Sara-
cen Mineral Holdings Ltd (78.35%) and
a reversal of that trend; several African- highlight that trend with at least 35 ASX- St Barbara Ltd (89.77%) by some dis-
tance.
focused IPOs have landed on the ASX in listed explorers and miners presenting
At the junior end of the gold sector, ex-
the last nine months and the region’s es- their stories on the main stage. Investor plorers are proving West Africa remains
one of the world’s hottest exploration
tablished players are enjoying long over- interest in the conference has more than destinations. West African Resources
Ltd and Cardinal Resources Ltd have led
due market interest. Further evidence doubled and government participation – the way in the past 12 months but behind
them the likes of Azumah Resources Ltd,
will come at Africa Down Under, with this from both Australia and Africa – will once Predictive Discovery Ltd, Golden Rim
Resources Ltd and Taruga Gold Ltd have
year’s event set to be the biggest since again be strong.” posted impressive drill results which are
only just beginning to resonate with inves-
2013. Challenges remain on the continent tors.

with a number of countries’ relationship Progress is not confined to gold, with
West African and Cardinal joined in the
with their mining sectors fraught with development ranks by the likes of Mod
Resources Ltd and Orion Minerals NL
conflict. However, as a clutch of junior which boast two of the most robust base
metals development assets on the ASX.
miners in DRC are proving, negative
Jupiter Mines Ltd’s $240 million IPO
headlines are not always barriers to proved the ASX is once again a preferred
destination for African resources projects.
exploration and development success.

And, while DRC and Tanzania govern-

ments continue to agitate in the sector,

the dropping of investment barriers in

South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe and

Angola point to renewed interest.

Their timing could be prescient.

Australian-focused mining companies

have enjoyed a stellar run over the last

few years as commodity prices, led by

gold and lithium, continued their up-

ward trend. However, with many Aus-

tralian miners breaching their record

valuation marks, investors are begin-

Bill Repard with West Australian Premier ning to look offshore for the next op-
Mark McGowan at the 2017 Africa Down Under portunity.

Page 26 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

The mix could prove intoxicating for This year’s event will comprise more than 60 presentations and panel discussions and 80
investors willing to take the first-mover exhibition booths as well as numerous side events, functions and meetings
advantage.
of mines developed in West Africa and nity now,” he said. “The market is obvi-
Warwick Grigor was at the vanguard despite changes in political leadership, ously discounting West Africa too much.
of the last great Australian-African in- places like Burkina Faso have continued You have got junior companies with
vestment push in the late 2000s and to move forward. Burkina Faso has seen 500,000oz resources around Kalgoorlie
early 2010s. continual development of mines while in with larger market caps than companies
Cote d’Ivoire Perseus has just opened a like Golden Rim which have 1 moz re-
During his time at BGF Equities, new mine. The legitimacy of the region sources in West Africa. There is no rea-
Grigor arranged several investor tours has been established.” son – economically or geologically – for
to West Africa to witness first-hand the not going there. People should be refo-
progress being made by the likes of An investor who is always prepared cusing on West Africa.”
Gryphon Minerals, Adamus Resources, to back what he believes is a good
Ampella Resources, Perseus, Azumah story, Grigor is starting to see ample – Dominic Piper
and Orbis Gold. opportunity again in West Africa.

The recent success of West African “I think there is a buying opportu-
and Cardinal as well as new players
such as Mako Gold Ltd and Tietto Min-
erals Ltd has Grigor drawing compari-
sons to that period.

“It is a similar situation to a decade
ago but even better,” Grigor told Pay-
dirt. “Back in the late noughties West
Africa wasn’t on anyone’s radar; it was
a real frontier. At the time, Perseus
looked fantastic and the only way to
make sure was to visit site. There were
major logistical challenges so I took it
upon myself – with the help of wonder-
ful Donna Lee – to organise a trip for
brokers and investors to the region.
That opened a lot of eyes up to West
Africa and there was quite a boom sub-
sequently.”

Those original BGF trips were de-
signed to demystify the region as a whole
but Grigor doesn’t see that as necessary
this time around.

“Things have completely changed;
there is nothing scary about the re-
gion now,” he said. “We have seen lots

Resolute Mining managing director John Welborn will be among the 40-plus Warwick Grigor senses an opportunity to repeat
executives speaking at this year’s Africa Down Under the West African gold rush of 2008-2012

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 27

6 - 8 September 2017

Perth,Western Australia

Tuesday 28 August 2018
17:00 Welcome Reception, Lobby Lounge

Programme Day One Wednesday 29 August 2018

07:15 Arrival Tea, Coffee and Registration

Session One:

08:15 Welcome: Bill Repard, Executive Chairman, Paydirt Media Pty Ltd (5)
08:20 Opening Address: Hon. Bill Johnston MLA, Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Government of Western
Australia (15)

08:35 Ministerial Presentation TBA (20)
08:55 First Quantum Minerals Ltd, Speaker TBA (20)
09:15 John Welborn, Managing Director and CEO, Resolute Mining Ltd (25)
09:40 Errol Smart, Managing Director and CEO, Orion Minerals Ltd (15)
09:55 Questions (5)
10:00 Morning Tea, Exhibition Area, sponsored by South African Airways (20)

Session Two:

10:20 Chief Olusegun Obasanjo PhD, Co-Chair Africa Progress Group and Former President of Nigeria (20)
10:40 Tim Carstens, Managing Director, Base Resources Ltd (20)
11:00 Hugh Morgan AC, Director and Louisa Lawrance, Consultant Geologist, Comet Minerals Ltd (20)
11:20 Lynda Burnett, Managing Director, Sipa Resources Ltd (15)
11:35 Richard Hyde, Managing Director, West African Resources Ltd (15)
11:50 Dean McPherson, Head of Global Mining, Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange (20)
12:10 Questions (5)
12:15 Lunch, Exhibition Area, sponsored by PCF Capital (40)

Session Three:

12:55 Panel Discussion: Meet the Ambassadors (45)
Dominic Piper, Australia’s Paydirt (Convenor); Adam McCarthy, South Africa; Andrew Barnes, Ghana;
13:40 Alison Chartres, Kenya; Paul Lehmann, Nigeria; Bronte Moules, Zimbabwe; Neil Hawkins, Egypt;
14:00 Jenny Dee, Mauritius; Berenice Owen-Jones, Morocco
14:15 Hon. Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Republic of Ghana (20)
14:30 Archie Koimtsidis, CEO and Managing Director, Cardinal Resources Ltd (15)
14:45 Stephen Wetherall, CEO and Managing Director, Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd (15)
15:00 Adam Smits, Chief Operating Officer, Nzuri Copper Ltd (15)
15:15 Bertrand Montembault, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills (15)
15:20 Stephen Stone, Managing Director, Azumah Resources Ltd (15)
Questions (5)
Afternoon Tea, Exhibition Area, sponsored by Geodrill (20)

Session Four:

15:40 Ministerial Presentation TBA (20)
16:00 Tim McManus, Chief Executive Officer, Bass Metals Ltd (25)
16:25 John de Vries, CEO and Managing Director, Black Rock Mining Ltd (15)
16:40 Ben Gargett, Partner, PwC (15)
16:55 Brendan Borg, Managing Director, Celsius Resources Ltd (15)
17:10 William Witham, Chief Executive Officer, Australia Africa Minerals and Energy Group (AAMEG) (15)
17:25 Clément Faure, Senior Business Developer, TOTAL eren (15)
17:40 Questions (5)
17:45 Cocktail Function, Exhibition Area

* This programme is subject to change

Conference WiFi Password: KUSAMOTU

www.africadownunderconference.com

6 - 8 September 2017
6 -P8erSthe,WpteestmernbAeurst2r0al1ia7
6P-er8thS,Wepestteermn Abuesrtra2li0a17
PPreortgh,rWaemstermn AeustDraaliay Two
Programme Day Two TThhuurrssddaayy3300AAuugguusstt22001188
Pr0o7:g30raAmrrimval eTeaD, CaofyfeeTanwd Roegistration Thursday 30 August 2018

07:30 Arrival Tea, Coffee and Registration

Ses0s7i:o30n FiAvreri:val Tea, Coffee and Registration
Sess0i8o:3n0 FivHe.:E. Oumarou Idani, Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Burkina Faso (20)
Se0s08s8:i3:o500n FHiOv.Ewe.:eOnuHmeagraorutyI,dEaxneci,utMiveiniCstheariromf aEnn,eErgMy,RMCinaepsitanl d(2Q0)uarries, Burkina Faso (20)

00898:5:13000 OHJuw.lEeian.nOHHuemagnaanrratoy,u,MEIadxneaacnugitini,vgeMDCinihriesactiertmor roa, fnME, OEneMDrgRyR,CeMsaoipnuietrasclea(sn2d0L)tQd u(2a5rr)ies, Burkina Faso (20)
00998:1:30550 JuOTlewiarennHcHeaenMgnacarC,taMyr,atEnhaxygei,cnuCgtoiDvneisruCelchttaonirt,m,MWanO,hDEitMeRResiCvoeuarprscitEeasxl p(L2lto0dr)a(2ti5o)n Pty Ltd (25)
001909:3:10500 TJCeurlaeiaingncMeHaMacncknCaaay,,rMtMhaanyna,agCginiongngsDuDilritreaecncttto,orWr,,MGhOiotelDdReRniveResroimsuErRcxepsloLrutardtci(eo2sn5L)Pttdy(L15td) (25)
10109:0:13055 CTLrieanridgesnMacyeacRMkeaceyCd,a,MrCtahhnieayfg,EinCxgeocDnusiturielvtceatnoOtr,ffGWiceohrl,ditMeniRnRbiviomesrsREexsopulorrcaetsioLntdP(t12y5L)td (25)
1100:1:5400 LCQinrudaesisgatyMioRanecske(da5)y, ,CMhieafnEagxiencgutDivireeOctfofric, eGr,oMldiennboRsimReRseosuorucercseLstdLt(d25(1)5)
1100:4:1405 QMLuinoedrsntsiaonyngRsTe(e5ea)d,,ECxhhiiebfitEioxencuAtriveeaO(2ff0ic)er, Minbos Resources Ltd (25)
1100:4:450 MQourensitnigonTsea(5,)Exhibition Area (20)
Ses1s0i:o45n SiMxo: rning Tea, Exhibition Area (20)
Sess1i1o:0n5 SixP:anel Discussion: Women in Mining - Panellists TBA (45)
Se1s1s1:0i:5o50n SPiHaxno: enl. DWisincustsosinoCn:hWitaonmdeon, MininMisteinr oinf gM-inePsaanndelMlisintinsgTDBevAelo(p4m5)ent, Republic of Zimbabwe (20)

111:25::0105 HSPoanmn.eWHl Doinisssactcuoksn,sMiCoahnni:atWgainngodmDoi,reeMnctionirni,stPMerroiosnfpiMencgint eR-sePasnoadunrMecleinlsiisnLtgtsdDT(e1vB5e)lAopm(4e5n)t, Republic of Zimbabwe (20)
11212:1::50205 STHarmoenvH.oWor sBianecsnkts,ooMnnaC,nEhagxiietncaguntDidvieroeCc,thMoari,rnPmisratoensr,poWefcMatlkRinaebsoauntrdcReMessinLoitundrgc(D1e5se)vLetldop(m15e)nt, Republic of Zimbabwe (20)
1122:2:14500 TPSrahemviloEHrdBomseancnskdo,snM,, PaEanxraetngcuienrtgivEeDnieCrrehgcaytior+mr, RaPners,ooWsupraeclecksta,RbGoeisulboteuRrretcse+osuTLrotcdbeis(n1L5Lt)adw(y1e5r)s (20)
11232:4:0250 PTQhruielevEsodtrimoBnaesnnd(s5so),nPa, rEtnxecruEtniveergCyh+airRmeasonu, rWceasl,kGabilobeurttR+esTooubricnesLaLwtdye(1r5s)(20)
11332:0:40050 QLPuuhenilsctEhido, mnExsah(ni5bd)itsio,nPaArtrneear, Espnoerngsyo+reRdebsoyuTrcoerso, nGtiolbeSrttoc+kTEoxbcinhaLnawgeyearnsd(2T0S)X Venture Exchange (40)
1133:0:050 LQunucehst, iEoxnhsib(i5ti)on Area, sponsored by Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange (40)
13:050 LWuonmche,nExinhibLietioandeArrseha,ipspoLnusnocrehd, bOyrTigoinrsoRnteostSautoracnkt Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange (40)
13:00 Women in Leadership Lunch, Origins Restaurant
Ses1s3i:o00n SeWvoemn:en in Leadership Lunch, Origins Restaurant
Sess1i3o:4n5 SeMveinni:sterial Presentation TBA (20)
Se1s13s4:4i:o055n SMeAivnedisnrt:eewriaSlpPinrekse, nMtaantaigoinng TDiBreActo(r2, 0K)ibaran Resources Ltd (15)

11434:0:42550 ARMnuidnsrsiesetwlel rCSipalailnrPkkr,seC,shMeienafntEaaxgteinicogutnDivieTreOBctfAofirc,e(Kr2,i0bK)aarsabnahReRseosuorucrecseLstLdtd(1(51)5)
1144:2:305 RBAurnsosdnerwlelwyCnlSaBprikanr,knCseh,iseM,f ENanxoeancg-uiEntxgiveeDcuOirtefivfcietcoeCrr,h, KaKiirab,saIbnradahniaRnReaessRooeuusrroccueersscLLettsddL((t11d55)()15)
1144:3:250 BSRrauonsnjswievlylBnChBlaaasrirknn,eCsh,ieNf oEnx-eEcxuetcivuetiOveffCichear,irK,AIafnrsdAbiashinaaRBReaesnoskou(ur1cr5ec)essLLtdtd(1(515) )
11445:5:305 SBQarnuojeinvswtBioyhnassBi(an5r), nCehise,f NExoenc-uEtxiveecuOtifvfeiceCrh, aAirf,rIAnsdiiaanBaanRkes(1o5u)rces Ltd (15)
11545:0:150 QSPuaensjeitvlioDBnihsac(us5i)sns,ioCnhi:efAEfxreiccuati’vsePOeffoicperl,eAPfruAzsizaleBa: nBku(1il5d)ing National Workforces for the African
1155:1:05 PMQaunineislntDgioiIsncsduu(s5s)itorny,: Aspfornicsoar’sedPbeyopGlleobPeu2z4z-l7e(:4B5)uilding National Workforces for the African
15:1505 MPAiafntnienerglnDIoniosdncuusTstesriayo,ns:pAonfsroicraed’sbPyeTGoelprorlbeaemP2iu4nz-A7zul(4es5t:r)BaluiailLdtidng(2N0)ational Workforces for the African
15:55 AMftinerinngooInndTuestar,ys,psopnosnosroerdebdybTyeGrrloambein2A4-u7st(4r5a)lia Ltd (20)
Ses1s5i:o55n EAigfhtte:rnoon Tea, sponsored by Terramin Australia Ltd (20)
Sess1i6o:1n5 EigHhotn:. Abubakar Bawa Bwari, Minister of State for Solid Minerals, Federal Republic of Nigeria (20)
Se1s16s6:1i:o535n EHRigoihcnht. :aArbduTbaayklaor,BCahwiefaEBxewcuatirvei,OMffiinciestr,erTeofrrSatmateinfoAruSsotrlidaliMa iLntedra(l1s5, )Federal Republic of Nigeria (20)

1166:3:1550 RTHiciomhna.WrAdibTtuhabeyarlo,kCra,hrCieBhf iEeafxweEcaxuetBcivuwetivOaefrfOiic,fefMirc, eiSnryi,smTteebrroorlfaMmStiantienAgfuoLsrtSrdoa(l1ida5M)Ltidne(1ra5l)s, Federal Republic of Nigeria (20)
11676:5:0305 TRKimiecvhWianriUdthrTeaamry, laCoh,riSe,efCnEhioxierfcAuEdtxviveisecouOrtitfvofeicteOhref,fSiPcyreemrs,bidToeelnrMtr,aiAmnfiinrnigcAaLnutdsDt(re1av5lei)aloLptdm(e1n5t)Bank – TBC (20)
11776:0:2550 KTReoivmgineWrUBirtahxmetrae,,rC,SheCinehfiioeErfxAEedxcveuictsiuovrteivtOoe fOtfhicfefeircP,erSer,ysMimdeibnnoet,lrAMalfsirniCicnaognuLnDtcdeilv(S1eo5lo)uptmh eAnfrticBaan(2k0–) TBC (20)
1177:2:4055 RAKoeygvoeidrneBUlearxKatmuesraa,,mCSheoientfiouEr,xAeCdchvuiatsiovrrme tOaonftfhiacenedrP,rHMeseianddenroatf,lsCAChfrinoicauanPncraDilcSetiovceul,tohKpuAmsfearmnictaoBt(ua2n0&k) K–uTsaBmCot(u20()15)
11778:4:25050 AQRyouogedesertlieBoKnasxut(s5ea)rm, Cohtieuf,ECxheaciurtmivaenOafnfidceHr,eMadinoefrCalhsinCaoPurnacitlicSeo, uKtuhsAamfroictau(&20K)usamotu (15)
11878:0:40055 QCAuoyeocskdtteioalenilsKF(u5n)sacmtioont,uE, xChhiabiirtmioannAarnedaH, sepaodnosfoCrheindabPyraEcMticRe,CKaupsaitmalotu & Kusamotu (15)
1188:0:050 CQouckesttaiiol nFsun(5c)tion, Exhibition Area, sponsored by EMR Capital
18:05 Cocktail Function, Exhibition Area, sponsored by EMR Capital

* This programme is subject to change
Confe*rTehnicseprWogirFaimPmaseswisosrudb:jeKcUt tSoAcMhaOngTeU
Confere*nTcehisWpriFoigrPaamssmweoirsds:uKbjUecStAtMo cOhTanUge
Conference WiFi Password: KUSAMOTU

wwwwwwwww...aaafffrrriiicccaaadddooowwwnnnuuunnndddeeerrrcccooonnnfffeeerrreeennnccceee...cccooommm

6 - 8 September 2017 Friday 31 August 2018

Perth,Western Australia

Programme Day Three

08:00 Arrival Tea, Coffee and Registration

Session Nine:

08:30 Ministerial Presentation TBA (20)
08:50 Woodside Energy Ltd, Speaker TBA (20)
09:10 Greg Walker, Executive Director and CEO, Birimian Ltd (15)
09:25 Elias Daudi, National Director of Geology and Mining, Republic of Mozambique (20)
09:45 David Flanagan, Managing Director, Battery Minerals Ltd (25)
10:10 Len Kolff, Chief Geologist, IronRidge Resources Ltd (15)
10:25 Questions (5)
10:30 Morning Tea, Exhibition Area (25)

Session Ten:

10:55 H.E. Ato Assefa Kumsa, State Minister for Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Federal Democratic Republic
of Ethiopia (20)

11:15 Bill Oliver, Managing Director, Tando Resources Ltd (15)
11:30 Jason Brewer, Managing Director, Winmar Resources Ltd (15)
11:45 Manie Swart, Principal Geologist, West Wits Mining Ltd (15)
12:00 Louis Calvarin, Managing Director, Avenira Ltd (15)
12:15 Dr Graham Forward, Founder/CEO, Australian Doctors for Africa (15)
12:30 Questions (5)
12:35 Lunch, Exhibition Area (50)

Session Eleven:

13:25 H.E. General Mohamed Ahmed Ali Ebrahim, Minister for Minerals, Republic of Sudan (20)
13:45 Peter Ledwidge, Managing Director, Mako Gold Ltd (15)
14:00 Vector Resources Ltd, Speaker TBA (15)
14:15 Dave Manning, Global Head of Hybrid, Juwi Renewable Energies Pty Ltd (15)
14:30 Emmanuel Sherman, Deputy Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Republic of Liberia (20)
14:50 Questions (5)
14:55 Afternoon Tea, Exhibition Area (25)

Session Twelve:
15:20 H.E. Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Federal Republic of Somalia (20)
15:40 Force Commodities Ltd, Speaker TBA (15)
15:55 Yared Mandefro, Deputy Director, The SUMM Project Ethiopia (15)
16:10 Questions (5)
16:15 Panel Discussion: Africa – The Battery Minerals Hotspot (45)
17:00 Closing Drinks, Lobby Lounge, sponsored by PwC

* This programme is subject to change
Conference WiFi Password: KUSAMOTU

www.africadownunderconference.com

Page 30 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

West Wits ready
for right conditions

After years of struggle, West said. “It is hard to assess if there
Wits Mining Ltd may be has been any change in culture

about to find its production feet within the DMR but our meetings

with perfect timing in South Af- with the department have been

rica. very constructive.”

The ASX-listed junior built it- Giving Quinert further confi-

self a portfolio on, as its name dence is Ramaphosa’s pro-in-

suggests, the remnant gold re- vestment stance. Despite indus-

sources at the western end of the try and government still being at

Witwatersrand Basin. The origi- loggerheads over the make-up of

nal plan was to get into easily the country’s new mining charter,

accessible areas, recover the re- he continues to preach patience.

maining gold and in the process “The issue for the President

rehabilitate areas near Soweto is how to keep progress going,”

which had become an eyesore, Quinert said. “He has identified

environmentally troublesome that economic recovery will come

and a hive of dangerous, illegal through business and foreign

mining activity. But, like so many investment but his challenge is

South African business strate- managing that while keeping oth-

gies over the last decade, those er groups in check.

plans were frustrated by regula- “He is probably not moving

tory blockages and shifting politi- with the alacrity some in the West

cal dynamics. think he should but it is a fine bal-

Now, however, new President ancing act and it is probably bet-

Cyril Ramaphosa’s business- ter this way. I draw the compari-

friendly policies could see West son to the Hawke Government’s

Wits achieve those original ob- restructuring in Australia in the

jectives. 1980s. Only a Labor Government

In June, the company an- could have achieved what it did in

nounced it had lodged its full liberalising the economy, it need-

mining right application, a move ed to be a Labor Government in

which could eventually lead to Recent drilling has added a further 428,000oz to West Wits’ order to bring the Left along. It is

West Wits ramping up produc- global resource in South Africa the same in South Africa; it has to

tion on its Witwatersrand Basin be the ANC because the Demo-

project to nearly 100,000 ozpa. to foreign investment in the country’s once cratic Alliance wouldn’t bring the

West Wits chairman Michael Quinert great mining sector. Left along with it. And, if Ramaphosa

told Paydirt he was hopeful of receiving West Wits has retained its patience and goes too quickly, there are a number of

approval of the mining right in the first half Quinert believes the company will soon groups poised to create rifts.”

of 2019. begin to feel the benefit of its persistence. Ramaphosa’s more welcoming ap-

“The timing of the mining right, for the “We can’t really change it much and it proach has been recognised interna-

second quarter of next year, is perfect will only get delayed if we cut corners,” he tionally but many investors are waiting

and marks the start of our transforma- for clear-cut evidence that policy

tion into a genuine junior gold miner,” changes will be sustained, although

Quinert said. “It is still on track with Jupiter Mines Ltd’s $240 million IPO

the DMR having accepted our appli- on the ASX earlier this year pointed to

cation. We now go through a period of a change in market sentiment.

consultation with stakeholders, includ- “I think attitudes are changing,” Quin-

ing community, infrastructure holders, ert said. “Certainly in the UK we have

landowners and developers. That pro- had a lot of interest.”

cess has been going since April. While regulatory and political varia-

“Then we move into completion of bles remain out of its control, West Wits

the environmental application and that can actively engage at the project level.

is more than 50% finished already.” In July, the company announced

Approval timeframes have blown out an updated resource for the Witwa-

in South Africa over the last decade as West Wits chairman Michael Quinert (left) with tersrand project, increasing the global
former President Jacob Zuma and his principal geologist Manie Swart who will present resource by 428,000oz gold to 3.67
government became ever more hostile
the company’s story at Africa Down Under moz gold.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 31

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

The additional ounces came following
work on the K9B reef, part of the Kim-
berley Reef on which West Wits plans to
focus initial open pit operations.

The Kimberley Reef was largely ig-
nored during Witwatersrand’s zenith
due to its lower grades (4-7 g/t gold
compared to 15-20 g/t elsewhere).

“There was a fair amount of mining on
the old DRD leases we control but not at
all on the Rand leases [site of West Wits
proposed Kimberley East pit] before it
was all closed in 2000,” Quinert said. “In
certain areas, there is already a bit of in-
frastructures prepared so we’ve picked

“a lot of that up.”
I think attitudes
are changing,
...certainly in the UK
we have had a lot
of interest.

The nature of the Witwatersrand’s ge- The Pilbara may be hosting a new conglomerate gold rush but West Wits is still
ology means adding additional ounces finding plenty of ounces on the original; the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa
was always a possibility for West Wits.
West Wits’ current operations are yielding ounces and environmental rehab outcomes
“This is one of the largest, most pre-
dictable orebodies in the world, it is not
hard to find large blocks of resources so
it was of no surprise at all to us we were
able to increase the resource,” Quinert
said.

“It will eventually form part of our Kim-
berley East project. The plan has always
been to first mine from surface because
there is quite a bit of open-pittable
material available. We can mine via
open pit for three years and the money
generated from that can be applied to
development of the underground from
Year 3.”

West Wits can already rely on cash
flow from existing modest operations.
The company has been mining for 12
months under granted mining permits.
The operation has produced an aver-
age of 805oz gold a month at cash
costs of around $US1,000/oz, generat-
ing $U160,000/month for West Wits.

“We keep the open pit operations go-
ing under the mining permits we have
until the mining right is awarded. The
mining permits allow us to mine in 5ha
areas. We are currently operating under
one and should have another granted in
October and a further one granted be-
fore the end of 2018. That could allow
us to at least double production.”

– Dominic Piper

Page 32 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

Orion shines on

Orion managing director Errol Smart is beginning to see signs of an exploration rennaissance in South Africa

One of southern Africa’s most active proposal and the response to the draft through and establishing a new mining
explorers, Orion Minerals Ltd, is cer- mining act and code has so far been well act and mining code is well advanced.”
tainly in a sweet spot at the moment. received.
Orion hasn’t been one to wait on leg-
The company is months away from “The first draft that was published a islation changes and has pushed ahead
completing a BFS on the historic 29.4mt few weeks ago is way better than what with highly detailed studies at Prieska
@ 3.8% zinc and 1.2% copper mine in was published 12 months ago,” Smart and started to expand its scope of work.
South Africa’s Northern Cape, and it is said.
keeping drillers occupied. Support has been forthcoming, with
“It has been done in a way that is more an oversubscribed $11 million placement
“We have 19 drilling rigs operating as sensible and open to debate. I have been to sophisticated and professional inves-
we speak and for the first time our drill- actively involved in the negotiations and tors in June, which followed a $12 million
ers are telling us that if we need more represent the junior sector of the Miner- placement the month before.
rigs we need to let them know because als Council in South Africa, effectively
equipment is being committed else- representing 250 junior players in South Tembo Capital has been right behind
where, such is the uptick in [exploration] Africa.” the company and now holds 22%, while
activity in South Africa,” Orion manag- Independence Group NL topped up its
ing director Errol Smart told Paydirt last Smart said the importance of the min- investment with $5 million earlier this
month. ing sector to the country was resonating year to also have a significant 11.1%
with new Minister of Mineral Resources stake in Orion.
“In the whole of Southern Africa we Gwede Mantashe and he was confident
are probably the most active [explorer], the industry would be backed in. The company is well placed to execute
but there are others that are starting to its priority of fast-tracking development
get going and starting to get some po- “Minister Mantashe gets it and under- of Prieska, within the Areachap Belt,
sitioning done. There are a lot of good stands it, and knows we need an inves- while near-mine and regional exploration
things happening in the coal space in tor-friendly environment. He knows the programmes can also be conducted.
South Africa at the moment.” opportunity, because there are dozens
of projects like ours to be developed in “We also sold our Queensland assets
South Africa’s mining sector appears South Africa and if the investment cli- for $2.5 million, so we put a big chunk of
to be emerging from the doldrums, as mate ratifies I think there will be a flood change in the till at just the right time so
relations between industry and govern- of investment into South Africa,” Smart my team have leg room and space to get
ment continue to strengthen ahead of a said. on and execute their jobs without looking
two-day national summit where 1,000 over their shoulders,” Smart said.
stakeholders were to gather to debate “I think people are a lot more comforta-
the proposed new mining charter in mid- ble than they were a year ago with South “We are starting to see a lot of interest
July. Africa. There is a little bit of maybe over- and a number of larger mining compa-
enthusiasm that came through in the nies coming through to look at our stuff.
Smart heads a committee which has past couple of months, but that is blunt- I am actually going on site with one com-
helped the Chamber of Mines with a ed a little bit now. The process of going pany today again. The world’s geologists
have woken up to the fact that we have

Page 34 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 35

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

something exceptional and there aren’t tor plates and if you compare it to some “Hopefully the market has recovered
many opportunities like this anywhere in of the best intersections we got at Jaco- from the little bit of a pull-back it has
the world.” mynspan – intersections of over 1% nick- gone through; we don’t see this as a
el in a couple of places and in fact we long-term drop, we see this as a short-
Having just received prospecting rights have massive sulphides up to 4% nickel term correction. So a couple of months
to prospective targets within the main – we are also looking at 2,000-3,000 from now, I think we could be sitting in
Prieska orebody, Smart is excited to get conductors [plate conductance] where the perfect place.”
stuck into drilling. In the meantime, the we are going to be drilling, so that is very
market can divulge the nickel sulphide encouraging,” Smart said. – Mark Andrews
story unfolding at Jacomynspan.

Fixed-loop EM surveys over nickel-
copper targets at Disawell, also in the
Areachap Belt, have identified five tar-
gets for immediate drilling.

Orion believes there is higher con-
ductance over the priority targets than
the sulphide resource of 6.8mt @ 0.57%
nickel, 0.33% copper and 0.03% cobalt
at Jacomynspan.

“There is such a frenzy on for nickel
sulphides at the moment and this is
one of the largest nickel sulphide bod-
ies around and it’s probably the one that
has had the least testing and not benefit-
ted from any modern exploration tech-
niques,” Smart said.

Prior drilling at Jacomynspan 40-50
years ago was done on the back of IP
and magnetic targeting, with Smart say-
ing high-powered EM was revealing
more.

“We are seeing definite high conduc-

Page 36 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 37

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

Nzuri rises to copper-
cobalt challenge

Nzuri Copper Ltd is more than comfort- “I can’t think of a licenced area was being erected.
able with having the smallest house better place to be The Lycopodium Ltd-managed FEED
in arguably the world’s best neighbour- for copper and cobalt.
hood for copper and cobalt. study wrapped last month, marking com-
panies realise the potential of the DRC’s pletion of about 40% of the total engi-
Despite having the highest-grade copper and cobalt resources. neering design. A contract for construc-
cobalt resource reported on the ASX, tion of a sealed road between Kalongwe
Nzuri’s Kalongwe copper-cobalt project “I can’t think of a better place to be for and Ivanhoe’s Kamoa project was due to
in DRC is only a fraction of the size of copper and cobalt,” Nzuri chief executive be awarded at the time of print.
some of its more prolific neighbours on Mark Arnesen said.
the celebrated Central African Copper- “We want to ensure that when we pull
belt. Nzuri has begun early site works at the trigger everything is in place and we
Kalongwe, about 60km south-west of the can progress as soon – and as smoothly
However, the company is primed to Lualaba provincial capital of Kolwezi, to – as possible,” Arnesen said.
make considerable returns for its share- ensure the company can move swiftly
holders from fast-tracking Kalongwe into full-blown construction as soon as “From my point of view, this is a pro-
into production over the next 18 months, project financing is secured. ject that really deserves to see the light of
with Nzuri able to leverage off the in- day. It’s a great little project, it’s got really
frastructure already put in place by the When Paydirt visited the project in compelling economics and while I call it
likes of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd, Glencore and June, a small modern camp with 16 new a little project, I’m quite comfortable that
Sicomines. rooms and full kitchen was being in- it will see growth.”
stalled. Concrete footings for a Vodacom
Some $US10-15 billion has been in- 3G communications tower were also be- Nzuri released an updated DFS for the
vested in the Kolwezi region – affection- ing poured and a wire fence around the proposed staged development of Ka-
ately termed “ground zero” of the global longwe in April after implementing only
battery metals boom – over the past two major changes to the original feasi-
decade as more and more foreign com- bility study completed last October.

Instead of trucking concentrate from

Page 38 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Preliminary economics suggest Stage

2 will lift Kalongwe’s NPV to $US340 mil-

lion and keep the operation ticking over

for another six years.

“It was really the first time we’ve done

conceptual numbers around what Ka-

longwe can grow to,” Arnesen said.

“The economics prove the DMS is

lucrative and can fund future capex.

We essentially get a second bite of the

cherry with the mineralised rejects and

the cobalt-only stockpile. The econom-

ics work and it’s a more favourable re-

turn to the shareholders adopting that

approach.”

Nzuri is confident of beginning formal

construction of Stage 1 within 12 months

of securing project finance. Such a mile-

stone would cap a remarkable come-

back for a company seemingly on its

knees less than three years ago.

Arnesen, the former finance director of

Moto Goldmines prior to its takeover by

Randgold Resources Ltd, was parachut-

ed in to resuscitate the company (then

Senior geologist Freddy Ngoy tests the grade of a core sample from known as Regal Resources) in late 2015

“ recent drilling at Kalongwe at the request of its major shareholder
Tembo Capital.

Several months of intense

Kalongwe to Lubumbashi, We’ve gone from being a negotiations followed, eventu-
some 400km away, Nzuri is company with a very fractured ally culminating in Nzuri be-
now planning to send its prod- ing recapitalised and lifting its
uct to Kolwezi where at least project ownership ownership stake in Kalongwe
two hungry SX-EW cobalt to having now had quite a few from 30% to 85%, with Con-

plants are seeking feed. golese partner GICC retaining

“Obviously in Africa, lo- achievements, all in a fairly 10% and the DRC Govern-
gistics kill you, so the closer ment a 5% interest.

to home the better and that short period. Upon finalising the restruc-
made a big difference to the ture and rebadging the com-

economics,” Arnesen said. pany, Arnesen appointed his long-term

Nzuri also updated its economics to re- alongside the updated DFS, with cash offsider Adam Smits as chief operating
flect Cannacord Genuity’s long-term out- flow from Stage 1 to fund development officer. Together the pair have put Nzuri
look on cobalt. The DFS now assumes of the additional $US220 million SX-EW back on the map and worked hard to
life-of-mine copper and cobalt prices of circuit for processing DMS-generated make the market sit up and take notice of
mineralised rejects and cobalt-only ore. their achievements.
$US3/lb and $US36.93/lb respectively.
“We’ve gone from being a
Stage 1 development of Ka-
company with a very fractured
longwe will comprise a conven-
project ownership to having now
tional open-pit mine and on-site
had quite a few achievements, all
1 mtpa DMS processing plant.
in a fairly short period,” Arnesen
The estimated $US53.12 mil-
said.
lion capex required to build the
Smits added: “We’ve definitely
mine and plant was unchanged,
added some value, and building
although C1 cash costs were
this project and continuing to ex-
reduced from $US1.35/lb to
plore is only going to make it bet-
$US0.85/lb, based on average
ter. We’ve put the house in order
production of 18,657 tpa copper
to allow the project to be built,
and 1,370 tpa cobalt over an ini-
because it should be built.”
tial eight-year operating life.
Kalongwe hosts a proven and
Other key financial estimates
probable reserve of 7.99mt @
from the updated DFS were pre-
2.94% copper and 0.34% cobalt
tax NPV of $US186 million (post-
containing 234,868t copper and
tax $US130 million) and pre-tax
27,102t cobalt. The main pit has
IRR of 99% (post-tax 76%).
been minimally picked over by
Nzuri also published its first
Exploration geologist Teboho Sebetlela inspects an artisanal miners and no cutbacks
economics for Kalongwe Stage 2
artisanal shaft near the proposed open pit are required to access first ore.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 39

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

It is also just the starting point for Nzuri, signed in 2015.
with near-mine prospects such as Ka-
longwe SW and Monwezi 2 offering the Arnesen said having
company plenty of exploration upside.
Ivanhoe as a JV part-
Nzuri is tipping at least $4 million into
regional exploration this year, with more ner, on top of the Robert
than 7,000m of RC and diamond drilling
to be completed. Friedland-led company

Diamond drilling at Kalongwe SW has being one of the Kolwezi
all but confirmed the prospect as a poten-
tial satellite resource, only 800m from the region’s most dominant
main pit. Best intercepts reported in late
June included 5.4m @ 0.45% cobalt from players, carried immense
37m, 2.7m @ 0.25% cobalt from 48.75m,
12m @ 0.2% cobalt from 34m, 12m @ benefits for Nzuri.
0.33% cobalt from 49m, 23m @ 0.21%
cobalt from 13m, 3.2% @ 0.24% cobalt “I’m the first to say
and 0.44% copper from 43.8m and 14m
@ 0.12% cobalt from 39m. that Kakula-Kamoa has

Nzuri is planning a resource drill-out brought us many benefits
of Kalongwe SW in the coming months,
while continuing to explore at Monwezi 2, and hopefully will contin-
about 2.5km along strike to the west of
the main pit, and other targets such as ue to,” Arnesen said.
Mamba, Kambundji and Kasangasi.
“They’ve been a huge
“While the engineering work we’ve
done has been very much focused on the help on the infrastructural
DMS, the layout and the planning takes
in that second stage,” Smits said. side and they’ve certainly Kalongwe is the highest-grade cobalt project
been extremely beneficial listed on the ASX
“Our SX-EW footprint is not just for on the exploration side.
processing those mineralised wastes,
but also to potentially feed in other sourc- Dave Broughton, who sales are increased from 2% to 3.5% and
es. It’s been set up deliberately like a re- still consults for Ivanhoe and was cred- the DRC Government rules cobalt to be a
gional hub for that very purpose.” ited with discovering Kakula-Kamoa, “strategic substance” and lifts that royalty
has been extremely helpful to our team. to 10%.
Nzuri’s planned $4 million explora- He’s been on our site three or four times
tion spend is part of its 80% earn-in of in the last year and he’s taken our team Arnesen said the changes had forced
the Fold & Thrust Belt JV with Ivanhoe, to Kakula-Kamoa to check out their core the company to reconsider its original
as well. It’s been a fantastic relationship project financing model.
with Ivanhoe. Without a doubt, it enhanc-
es our story.” “I’m still hopeful there will be some
concessions made on the funding side
Nzuri is now ramping up project financ- because the DRC, like any other coun-
ing discussions, although Arnesen con- try, obviously needs to attract funding,
ceded talks had been slowed by the pro- but I think the proposed amendments
posed changes to the DRC mining code. in respect to funding aren’t very project-
friendly and could be detrimental to pro-
In its updated DFS, the company de- ject financing in the DRC,” he said.
clared both its NPV and IRR would drop
back to $US175 million and 95% respec- “It’s not a fatal flaw – we will still be
tively if state royalties for copper product able to fund the project – but it means we
have to approach it somewhat differently.

Camp construction manager Kevin Griffin tests out Kalongwe’s new kitchen facilities

Page 40 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

There’s always more than one way to skin
a cat. From our point of view, it hasn’t re-
ally dampened the interest of some of the
debt funds that we’ve been speaking to,
it’s just now a case of how do they adjust
their terms to deal with this.”

While the changes have upset some of
the bigger players in the DRC, Arnesen’s
enthusiasm for the country’s copper and
cobalt has not waned. And with 65% of
the world’s cobalt and 10% of its cop-
per coming from the DRC, Arnesen said
there was no substitute for the potential
on offer.

“If you want copper and cobalt, I can’t
think of place you would rather be than
the DRC.”

Drilling at Kalongwe SW has returned
some encouraging cobalt intercepts

“I’ve always been a copper bull, it’s
just such a vital commodity, and anything
that reflects world growth is going to lead
to a direct positive impact on the copper
price,” he said. “Copper is a little bit off
right now, I think because of uncertainty
in respect to the trade wars, but my gut
feel is it’s temporary and we will see the
copper price move again.

“If you’re bullish on electric vehicles,
which you have to be, even if there’s go-
ing to be a reduction in the amount of
cobalt that is consumed in the process,
there’s still a huge expected increase in
the consumption of cobalt.

– Michael Washbourne

Trenching has proved to be an effective starting point for some regional prospects
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 41

Mining Prospects aplenty
in Zimbabwe

The world watched on as Robert Mugabe resigned as president of Zimbabwe in November and there remained
great interest in the southern African nation as its people headed to the polls at the time of print.

Mugabe’s departure immediately brought new hope to Greaves has been a long-time participant in Zimbabwe’s rich
Zimbabwe, however, as political campaigning intensified in mining sector and has noticed a healthy surge in interest
late June, it was reported by Reuters that the defeated faction from peers in the field. Prospect’s fellow ASX entity, Latitude
behind president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF – the Consolidated Ltd is one such company to have made an early
party linked with Mugabe’s wife – was behind a grenade attack move into Zimbabwe on the back of the Mbeta lithium project.
targeting Mnangagwa.
Latitude announced it would acquire a 70% interest in Mbeta in
Two people were killed at the rally and many injured, with Zimbabwe’s south in April.
the deadly incident cause for concern ahead of the July 30
presidential election and parliamentary poll. “There is a rush in Zimbabwe right across the board, not just for
the battery cycle minerals and not just in mining ” Greaves said.
A poorly run election would be a massive step backwards
for the country, which appears to have come so far in a short “A lot of juniors are coming in looking for gold opportunities, there
amount of time. are several gold plays that have changed hands recently, which
is very good news. Obviously there is quite a bit of heat in the
“If this election is deemed free and fair and there’s a stable battery space, with another Aussie junior [Latitude] announcing
outcome, the number of people that we have seen coming they had some ground not that far from us. We certainly have
through the country in the last six months will only grow, but been approached by a number of vendors and are evaluating
many of them are waiting for the outcome of this election,” half a dozen other projects; there is huge activity in the mining
Prospect Resources Ltd executive director and Zimbabwean space at the moment.”
Harry Greaves said.

Page 42 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Zimbabwe has an illustrious history in the platinum and gold sectors “We have seen very strong demand from off-takers and we are negotiating
and with the likes of Prospect and Latitude demonstrating the country’s with several off-takers on future supply, which is very encouraging. There
variety in mineral wealth, political stability will determine prosperity in the is a lot of interest for more resources, while we are also actively involved in
resources sector. looking for other opportunities in both lithium and cobalt,” Greaves said.

A drawback for Zimbabwe in attracting mining investment has been the “Ground is being snapped up and people are taking positions, the
indigenisation policy in place, with the requirement for foreign mining Government has a real understanding that this is their time and they need
companies to list in Zimbabwe and open up ownership of operations to make this work. I think there is a general acceptance of the industry, we
to locals. had a workshop recently in Vic Falls specifically on lithium to bring the
industry and government officials together to learn from the four different
“The Government has both removed requirements for indigenisation and lithium players in the country and it was absolutely jam packed.
the proposed requirement for a compulsory local listing . However, it is
recommended that companies coming to Zimbabwe should carefully “I think there is this pent up desire to get the industry up and running right
select and involve local partners at some level ,it is just sensible,” suggests across the board, the are multiple opportunities for Zim – gold, nickel,
Greaves . copper – all sorts of stuff,” he said.

Back in 2013, Prospect negotiated 70% ownership of Hawkmoth Mining Greaves said it was refreshing to have the Government throw its support
and Exploration Pvt Ltd with the Zimbabwe Investment Authority and behind the mining sector, with the entire ministry particularly helpful in
ticked the boxes in accordance with indigenisation legislation at the time. engaging with the power utility and local councils to accommodate the
effort made by Prospect thus far.
The deal is still in place, with Prospect 70% owned by offshore investors
and 30% held by locals, including Greaves and executive director Paul “Mines Minister Winston Chitando and his team remain very much on side
Chimbodza who was the original owner of the Arcadia lithium project. in assisting us and we have been rolled into the second 100 day rapid
results initiative out of the president’s office, which has been key for us,”
Prospect can be somewhat of a model for others to follow in terms of Greaves said.
how to operate in Zimbabwe, with ground to be broken at Arcadia in the
near future. While Prospect has managed to make great strides already in country, an area
which needs to be developed to help others unearth the country’s mining
In May, the company reported financing for the $US55 million first phase potential is in the data room. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe’s political history of
of Arcadia would be a mix of equity and pre-payment off-take, with the last 50-60 years has meant very little modern day data is available.
additional finance offers of foreign debt and equity, off-take prepayment,
as well as, local borrowings were being considered and lithium concentrate “There is actually excellent historical data – pre-1980/90 – but there has
production ready for export on track for June 30 2019. been very little exploration recently outside of platinum,” Greaves said.

DRA has been appointed to provide engineering services and design of “The platinum guys on the known platinum camps along the Great Dyke
the Arcadia plant, while JRG Goddard (Pvt) Ltd have been awarded the went and did the exploration and have been phenomenally successful.
earth moving/mining contract . Outside of that there hasn’t been that much exploration; lots of drilling
and exploration is needed. I think that is the big opportunity, naturally
Prospect has been able to dictate terms of the build since taking back the there’s a time lag between the exploration and ultimate production
contract from Sinomine. As Prospect took back control of the build and which requires political stability, but the opportunities are huge.”
finance timetable, Sinomine completed a $10 million placement at 6c/
share while off-take was reduced to about 70% of phase one production However, the big opportunity in front of Prospect at the moment is
with Sinomine Resource (Hong Kong) International Trading Co. Ltd over delivering the Arcadia project in timely fashion.
seven years.
As Prospect plans the next 12-18 months, the ability to meet its goals will
The amendments to the $US557 million off-take agreement were due be entirely predicated on the owners’ team being recruited. A project
to spodumene and petalite pricing, which has seen the NPV at Arcadia team with the pedigree and experience to lead the project through its
increased by $US61 million to $US401 million, while Sinomine Resource phases have been identified and are undergoing, allowing Prospect the
has agreed to make a $US10 million pre-payment upon installation of the certainty to deliver on the project goals.
ball mill under the new off-take structure.
Zimbabwe has a vast network of hard rock mining experience and skills,
Harry Greaves of which Prospect will select carefully but quickly to ensure the execution
phase of the project is delivered with confidence.

Regarding the operational readiness of Arcadia, there have been significant
advances in the last few months, with all key personnel now identified.
This will allow Prospect to ensure Arcadia management commit the funds
and resources to ready the team for the operational environment by
investing in the systems and process consistent with an operating asset.
The priorities and demands of both the project and operation are now
receiving the full attention of the prospect executive team.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 43

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

Tight call on Zim election

Zimbabwean President Emmerson the national total, will punish Mnangagwa saying it was costly for the country.
Mnangagwa’s bid to seal his position in any more than they did Mugabe in the Mnangagwa’s officials declined to com-
a July 30 election is meant to mark a break past.
with Robert Mugabe’s violence-tainted rule. ment on how he would deal with Guku-
But in an election under international ob- rahundi and did not respond to a written
But, massacres that took place decades servation for the first time in years, he may request to interview him.
ago are coming back to haunt him. need them more than Mugabe did.
The President’s loyalists say he is a
Mnangagwa, a longtime Mugabe lieu- Mnangagwa’s role during Gukurahundi man of his word and point to his launch of
tenant who took over after a coup last year, is not clear; his critics say that at the time, a livestock programme that gave villagers
narrowly avoided a grenade attack in June his security ministry passed on intelligence thousands of cattle in the cattle ranching in
which wounded one of his vice presidents used by soldiers to target victims; officials Matabeleland South Province as sign that
and a minister at a rally in Bulawayo. did not respond to requests for comment. he cares about their welfare.

He was quick to absolve the locals of At two consecutive rallies in Gwanda town Mnangagwa promised to re-open closed
any blame, pointing a finger at disgruntled and Bulawayo on June 22 and 23, Mnan- industries in Bulawayo and make it Zim-
Mugabe loyalists instead. But, the location gagwa did not mention the army crackdown. babwe’s industrial hub. A hospital shut in
was significant: rights groups say army He instead cast himself as a reformer, prom- 2004 in Bulawayo would be opened within
offensives in the area in the 1980s killed ising to devolve more power and bring eco- weeks with help from Indian investors, he
20,000 people and memories remain raw. nomic development to the region. said and he also commissioned construc-
Mnangagwa was in charge of national se- tion of a stalled $1.5 billion power plant in
curity at the time of the 1982-87 assault in Although he was the front-runner in Ju- the western Hwange town, which he said
Matabeleland, and analysts said the Bula- ly’s polls, he faces a substantial challenge would create 7,000 jobs.
wayo rally blast could have been calcu- from 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, leader
lated to implicate Mnangagwa’s Ndebele of the opposition Movement for Democrat- Despite the promises, to some Mnan-
opponents and stir up trouble. ic Change. gagwa remains defined by his role during
Gukurahundi.
Asked whether Bulawayo people were An unofficial survey released in Bulawayo
responsible for the blast, Mnangagwa told in early June by Mass Public Opinion Insti- “Mnangagwa is the face of Gukurahundi,
state television: “The people of Bulawayo? tute put Mnangagwa on 42% and Chamisa he can’t deny that. Mugabe was the body
No. They love me. (It’s) people outside on 31%, with 25% giving no preference. but Emmerson is the face,” Mbuso Fuzwayo,
Bulawayo.” secretary of a Bulawayo-based group that
That means Mnangagwa could do with seeks to preserve sites where massacres
That helped ease worries of a security the Matabeleland vote to get the 50-plus- occurred, said. The group is called Ibetshu
crackdown. one percent required to win the first round. Likazulu, Ndebele for “Last Hope”.

But voters in Bulawayo remain distrust- In the previous election in 2013, Mugabe Mugabe has called Gukurahundi a “mo-
ful of their new leader, who is known by his polled 25% of the vote in Bulawayo and ment of madness”.
nickname “Ngwena”, Shona for crocodile, 40% of the total Matabeleland vote. Politi-
an animal famed and feared in Zimbabwe- cal commentator and ZANU-PF critic Ibbo Asked about it at the Davos meeting
an lore for stealth and ruthlessness, Mnan- Mandaza said Mnangagwa was unlikely to of world leaders in January, Mnangagwa
gagwa says he is soft as wool. fare better than Mugabe. said: “What has happened has happened.
What can we do about the past?
“It is good that Mnangagwa realises that Political analysts also say Mnangagwa
people in Bulawayo are peaceful and will lacks Mugabe’s charisma and may strug- “Wherever wrong was committed, the
not use violence. I hope the Government gle to connect with voters, noting he lost to Government of the day must apologise.
will not use this terrorist act as an excuse a little known opposition candidate in par- Wherever any community has suffered
to target those who oppose this regime,” liamentary polls in 2000 and 2005. any injury, if it is that injury that has to be
Thamsanqa Dube, a 36-year-old resident repaired, we do it.”
of Emganwini suburb in Bulawayo, said. Mnangagwa, desperate to end Zimba-
bwe’s isolation by Western powers, has Henry Khabo, 67, from rural Bubi, 70km
The army massacres, known as ‘Guku- invited foreign observers, absent since from Bulawayo, wants an apology and
rahundi’, Shona name for ‘early rain that 2002, and is not seen relying on the in- reparations.
washes away the chaff’, are a major rea- timidation tactics and violence employed
son Matabeleland’s voters have rejected by Mugabe in the past to win the election. He says he was rounded up by Fifth
Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party in national The run-up to the polls has been largely Brigade soldiers in Bubi and airlifted to
elections since 2000. Many of them want peaceful so far. Tsholotsho, 200km away, where he was
an apology. tortured for days and saw bodies being
George Charamba, Mnangagwa’s dumped in a huge pit.
With no reliable polls, it is not clear spokesman, said the promise of more
whether the area’s 861,701 voters, 15% of power to provinces was no political gim- On the final day, together with six other
mick and officials were working to produce men, he was lined up naked for execution
a policy on how it would be shared. by firing squad. The last thing Khabo re-
members is staring at the barrel of a gun
“Expectations are that by the time elec- and then waking up in a hospital three
tions are over, the national vision on de- days later. He had been shot but survived.
centralisation will be presented to the new
government as a blueprint for the next five “I cannot vote for him,” Khabo said, fight-
years,” he said. ing tears and pointing to a scar on his left
cheek where a bullet entered and exited
Devolution was made mandatory in the below the ear.
constitution in 2013, but ZANU-PF govern-
ments have resisted its implementation, – MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

Page 44 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

Young Zimbabwe hopes to be free

There are great expectations for the peo- aries have passed away and Mugabe’s abolishment of the indigenisation policy
ple of Zimbabwe, subject to the running mates have died,” Williams said. which has hindered investment.
of free and fair elections.
According to CIA World Fact Book 2017 “It still applies to platinum and diamond
At the time of print, Zimbabweans were estimates, 91% of Zimbabwe’s population sectors, but by allowing foreign companies
headed for the polls, however, there was of nearly 14 million people is aged 54 and 100% of projects, 70% of revenue is go-
no clear-cut favourite to lead the country under, with 31.9% aged 25-54. The me- ing to be spent internally on hiring people,
out of the misery left by Robert Mugabe. dian age in country is 20 years – male 19.6 purchasing vehicles, buying food, gener-
years and female 20.4 years. ally contributing to the economy,” Williams
“All Zimbabweans want free and fair said.
elections; the youth want investment and “What Zimbabwe does have is human
jobs,” Bill Williams, Member of the Zimba- capital resources, natural mineral resourc- “In the fullness of time, that should be
bwe Stock Exchange, told Paydirt. es and agriculture resources; what it lacks scrapped, I am hoping that 51% will dis-
though is the financial capital and that is sipate eventually. If elections are stamped
Williams, who last lived in Zimbabwe be- where the opportunities lie for people,” Wil- free and fair, I would expect things to hap-
tween 2013 and 2017, said many of the eli- liams said. While a lot hinges on the elec- pen very quickly across the board [busi-
gible voters in the country would not have tion outcome, there have been positive ness investment]. There is a general op-
remembered the civil war which ended in developments in the mining sector with the timism, the World Bank and IMF want to
1980 and he hoped the younger genera- move in and help out. There are a lot of
tion would make their vote count. projects waiting to go ahead. I think the
Zim [index] will be up in a year and up
“A child born in 1970 would not remem- again in three years [subject to free and
ber the war and the [Ian] Smith regime, fair elections]. There is a lot of pent up op-
many people have not experienced white portunity provided FDI comes in.
majority rule before. A 48-year-old male or
female will have never experienced white “Given its [mining] potential, serious stuff
majority rule. What is their life like and can happen,” he said.
what will their children’s life be like? Are
we going to be servants to the ZANU-PF – Mark Andrews
for the rest of their lives? All the revolution-

Page 46 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



Johannesburg-based Nucleus Mining Logistics has
focused and specialised on offering tailor-made lo-
gistics solutions to mining projects in Africa for more
than 14 years. Nucleus has in-depth knowledge on
how to achieve results and make those developing
projects in Africa a success based on service deliv-
ery, innovation, adaptability and workable cost effec-
tive managed solutions. We spoke to chief executive
Iain Clark about the company’s success

After a long hiatus, the African resources sector is be- EPCM company long before the construction phase, we
ginning to see a return of development and construction understand the project requirements in advance and de-
projects. What are Nucleus’ particular capabilities during velop sound knowledge of the suppliers products and how
the construction and early production stages of mining the EPCM will be pacing orders which allows us to be in
projects? early discussion with the EPCM and their suppliers, fabri-
cators, etc. to best manage cost-effecting logistics solu-
Nucleus spends a lot of time with our customers from tions based on infrastructure and optimal structure supply
as early in the project as we can. We start by getting an dimensions by having comprehensive up to date route sur-
in-depth knowledge of the project, the commodity, the cus- veys in place combined with local knowledge.
tomer, the geographical area and the infrastructure. Gener-
ally, we already have good information of the area as we Costs pressures are acute during the construction stage
have been operating in majority of Africa for many years, of projects. How does Nucleus assist miners in ensuring
often in remote and difficult to access areas. Nucleus has logistics costs do not get out of control?
spent a lot of time developing local representation that is
fully compliant in local regulations and procedures. By Each project is unique and Nucleus develops set of pro-
building relationships with the project owner/developer/ cedures based on the project – we don’t try and fit the pro-
ject to match a standard set of procedures. Nucleus is not
Page 48 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT a corporate, it is an owner-managed business that prides
itself on sustainable and longstanding partnerships with
our customers, and the ability to make quick decisions
with our dedicated project key account managers and sen-
ior management fully involved. We build our understand-
ing of the requirements and the project from A-Z and then
we build transparent and cost-effective solutions. That
said, as projects develop their requirements often change,
but Nucleus prides itself on being adaptable to ensure we
move with developments and stay up to date with the cur-
rent situation on site, through permanent or regular site
representation and regular interaction with all parties.

Import and customs certification often lead to unwanted
delays in importing plant and equipment for African mining
projects. How does Nucleus assist clients with these issues?

It all boils down to planning in advance, understanding
the project and the manufacturers, fabricators and suppliers
and regular interaction with the EPCM and the local authori-
ties. Preparation and in-depth understanding of local regu-
lations and customs is key to projects in Africa. Nucleus’s
longstanding history of managing supply chains and com-
plex construction projects in Africa sets us apart – we have
learned from the school of hard knocks over many years.

Many African jurisdictions have a paucity of infrastruc-
ture. How does Nucleus help clients overcome these
unique challenges?

This is all down to local knowledge, planning and under-
standing the project and requirements. Almost every situa-
tion has a solution; you must be prepared and plan ahead.

Transportation and exporting of final products are the Having been a late adopter, the mining industry is now
ultimate goal for all mining operations. Does Nucleus pro- rushing to embrace data analysis in all aspects of opera-
vide particular insight into these processes? tions. What technical support can Nucleus offer clients in
this regard?
Nucleus is well versed in managing the supply chain for
the export of final products and has done this in multiple Nucleus has spent the last year developing a new CRM
countries with multiple commodities. Working closely with system that gives our customers and their suppliers pass-
mine production and logistics, Nucleus closely matches word access to all documentation, warehouse reports and
commodity stockpiles with inbound loads for quick truck tracking which also allows us to pull detailed reports as
turnaround and ensuring all paperwork is ready. Docu- required. It is important in an ever developing technical
mentation integrity on both import and export goods are world where various parties in the project sit in different
critical to the success of any project or operation and it is countries and time zones that we don’t have delays due to
where Nucleus places maximum focus. information and communication.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT AUGUST 2018 Page 49

AFRICA DOWN UNDER PREVIEW

Angolan changes to give greater
diamond freedom

Lucapa Diamonds Ltd is hopeful a new ral Resources and Oil, previously kept owned and operated in-country JV ve-
Angola presidential decree will open
the country up to greater diamond mar- at arm’s length by Sodiam and its par- hicle Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo (SML)
keting channels.
ent Endiama, which had great influence held 2,755ct at June 30, up 61% on the
Lucapa has been operating success-
fully at its Lulo alluvial diamond opera- under previous president José Eduardo previous corresponding period.
tion in Angola for three years but restric-
tions placed on producers have seen dos Santos. The increased inventory comes de-
diamonds sold at below-market prices.
The Ministry will, according to the draft spite SML selling $US15.9 million of dia-
Angola plans a new system for sell-
ing rough diamonds as part of President decree, have the power to appoint inde- monds during the half-year, up 3% from
João Lourenço’s efforts to increase in-
vestment, production and govern- pendent evaluators to intervene in any the previous period. SML sold 9,656ct
ment revenue, a draft decree shows.
disputes and set more transparent cri- in the half-year, receiving an average
Diamond producers say they have
struggled to make money in An- teria by which Sodiam selects buyers, $US1,642/ct, both up on the same period
gola due to a marketing system that
obliged them to sell at below inter- giving priority to polishers and jewellery in 2017.
national prices, leading many estab-
lished miners to largely shun one of makers over middlemen that just resell Wetherall declared that he was pleased
the world’s most exciting prospects
for the precious stones. with Lulo’s recent performance.

Reuters reported in late June that “It was a very good quarter and half
the draft presidential decree includ-
ed a plan to set the price of rough year, with Lulo hitting targets in both
diamonds against an international
benchmark and give producers great- physical and sales terms. Those sales
er influence to pick their own buyers.
figures also excluded the parcel we are
Reuters also reported that Ango-
la’s largest diamond mine – Catoca currently exporting and the 114ct stone
– estimated it lost $US464 million
over the past six years by having to we recovered last month,” he said.
sell through state-owned diamond
trading company Sodiam which often Lucapa has started discussions with
chose politically connected buyers
able to negotiate prices below fair JV partners Rosas & Petalas and En-
value.
diama over declaring further loan re-
The new legislation looks to fix this
by allowing producers like Catoca to payments and profit distributions before
sell up to 60% of their production to
companies of their choosing, including the end of the year. Those discussions
to their own trading divisions, breaking
Sodiam’s total control to select buyers. will also incorporate exploration, with

In another significant change, the new the ASX-listed miner keen to step up
system will price stones according to a
benchmark based on a sample of typical the hunt for Lulo’s hard rock source.
nationally-produced stones, along with
an evaluation using a price list “in line “The plan has always been to use the
with the international market”.
cash flow from the alluvials efficiently to
Angola will also introduce sales ses-
sions for pre-approved diamond buyers, find the hard rock source because once
along the lines of “sights” held by dia-
mond group De Beers, while particularly we find that, the alluvials will pale into
rare stones will be individually sold via
auction. insignificance,” Wetherall said.

The planned legislation also foresees The rate of exploration has not al-
stricter oversight by the Ministry of Natu-
ways been to Lucapa’s liking but a new

structure for exporting samples is now

in place which should ensure a regular

return of results.

Wetherall remains convinced the

Stephen Wetherall hunt for a kimberlite source will be re-

warded.

the stones. “I can’t tell you which day we will make

Lucapa chief executive Stephen Weth- the discovery but we have got the right

erall told Paydirt the company wel- plans, the right structure and the right ex-

comed the new proposals. ploration team in place,” he said.

“We believe the winds of change are Lucapa has been the only active dia-

blowing into the Angolan diamond sec- mond explorer in Angola for five years

tor which will result in better marketing but Wetherall expects the implementa-

structures for producers,” Wetherall said. tion of new regulations to open up the

“This is very positive news for Angola.” country to new investors. He is welcom-

Such is Lucapa’s confidence that the ing, rather than hostile, towards new en-

decree will be executed, it has held back trants.

a number of large diamonds ahead of the “There is potential for more ground to

structural changes. open up as a result of those new chang-

“We are holding back more inventory es,” he said. “While it would be nice to be

than previously in anticipation of new the only explorer in the country, it needs

marketing channels,” Wetherall said. junior investment in exploration and de-

In July, the company reported its 40% velopment and majors’ investment in

Page 50 AUGUST 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT