Thursday, August 14, 2008

New general manager for Skorpion Zinc Mine

August 14. (MiningNamibia)-Anglo American's Skorpion Zinc mine has appointed Dave Bentley as the new general manager.
Bentley replaces Gerald Boting who has been appointed as project manager for the recently approved pre-feasibility study of the Gamsberg zinc project in South Africa, effective 1 September.
Boting served as the general manager since its commissioning in 2002, and has done remarkable work over the past six and a half years in building a world class operation and team. Under Boting's leadership, Skorpion Zinc received the Anglo American Chief Executive Officer’s Safety Award in 2007 as well as achieving design throughput capacity at the operation in that same year.
Bentley has been instrumental in establishing the discipline of continuous improvement within the zinc division.
John MacKenzie, CEO Zinc, commented, “I would like to thank Gerald for his enormous contribution and dedication to Skorpion Zinc and to the Rosh Pinah community, and to wish him well in this new exciting and challenging opportunity. I would also like to welcome Dave Bentley and look forward to working with him in the future.”

New general manager for Skorpion Zinc Mine

New general manager for Skorpion Zinc Mine
August 14. (MiningNamibia)-Anglo American's Skorpion Zinc mine has appointed Dave Bentley as the new general manager.
Bentley replaces Gerald Boting who has been appointed as project manager for the recently approved pre-feasibility study of the Gamsberg zinc project in South Africa, effective 1 September.
Boting served as the general manager since its commissioning in 2002, and has done remarkable work over the past six and a half years in building a world class operation and team. Under Boting's leadership, Skorpion Zinc received the Anglo American Chief Executive Officer’s Safety Award in 2007 as well as achieving design throughput capacity at the operation in that same year.
Bentley has been instrumental in establishing the discipline of continuous improvement within the zinc division.
John MacKenzie, CEO Zinc, commented, “I would like to thank Gerald for his enormous contribution and dedication to Skorpion Zinc and to the Rosh Pinah community, and to wish him well in this new exciting and challenging opportunity. I would also like to welcome Dave Bentley and look forward to working with him in the future.”

Thursday, August 7, 2008


Energulf completes drilling operations on Kunene

August 7. (MiningNamibia)-EnerGulf today that drilling and logging operations on the Kunene #1 have been completed. The well had significant hydrocarbon shows. EnerGulf believes the results of
the operations to date have enhanced the prospectivity of Block 1711 by demonstrating that hydrocarbons are present. The company said it believes that the Namibe Basin south of Angola, will probably not be a commercial producer. However, Sintezneftegaz Nambia Ltd, which is a partner of the project has determined to test the well for natural gas in a particular zone.
The test is estimated to take an additional 16 days. EnerGulf has elected not to participate in this operation. EnerGulf believes the Kunene well information will allow EnerGulf to evaluate existing prospects and identify new leads and prospects on the block.
Although, EnerGulf has elected not to participate in the testing of the well, per the Joint
Operating Agreement, EnerGulf may elect to pay 100% of its share of the test’s costs it would have incurred had it participated, and an additional sum of the same amount, to reinstate its pro rata rights in a commercial discovery in the interval being tested.

Namcor to built US$ 105 million fuel storage facility, Afrique en Ligne reports

August 7. (MiningNamibia)-Namibia's state-owned petroleum firm, Namcor, said that it had issued tenders for the construction of a US$ 105 million bulk fuel storage facilities at the coastal town of Walvis Bay, US$ 105 million, Afrique en Ligne reported today.
Construction of the fuel storage facilities, the first ever for the country, is expected to start in 2009, Namcor MD Sam Beukes said Wednesday. Namcor, which is wholly owned by the state, said it would fund the construction of the 118, 000 cubic metres storage facility through debt and equity but did not disclose more details on potential equity investors, Afrique en Ligne said.
State-owned Malaysia oil firm, Petronas is being touted as one of the potential strategic partners in Namcor's storage facilities project and petroleum refinery. “Construction tender is currently running and no appointment made yet. Construction is going to commence in the first half of 2009,” Beukes said. Namcor said the storage facility would become its trump card as it focuses on the down-stream of the petroleum market in Namibia, which also involves petroleum refinery. During the construction phase, the project will create about 1,500 jobs when it starts operation. “This facility will be the first in southern Africa to have vapor recovery systems in order to eliminate any vapours in the areas, Afrique en Ligne said.
It will be a huge chance to train Namibians in field, not just to operate, but also to maintain facilities of this magnitude,” Beukes said. Namibia, a net-oil importer, consumes about 70,000 tonnes of fuel monthly. The government has been bending over backwards to encourage oil exploration, especially along the Kunene Basin and the areas surrounding the massive Kudu gas fields.

Forsys confirms deeper uranium mineralisation at Valencia

August 7. (MiningNamibia)-Forsys Metals Corp, which is listed in Namibia, Canada and Germany said this week that a diamond drill hole VAL-152 encountered uranium mineralisation to a depth of 499.7 m, 149 m below the proposed pit bottom at the company's wholly-owned Valencia Uranium project located in Namibia.
The deep diamond drill hole was recently completed in addition to the current infill percussion drilling program underway at Valencia, the company said.
Duane Parnham, President and CEO said: “We are further encouraged that this initial deep diamond drill hole confirms the presence of ore to a depth of 500 m, which is well below the previously defined Valencia ore body. It provides additional exploration potential to expand the pit depth later in mine development. It also opens the possibility to extend the mine plan at depth and complements our percussion drilling program which has been successful in expanding the pit shell boundary.”

Wednesday, August 6, 2008


DRC's copper exporting Katanga wants to export through Namibia's Walvis Bay

August 6. (MiningNamibia)-The Governor of the Katanga Region in DRC, Moise Katumbi (above), held discussions last week with executives of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG).
Katumbi was accompanied by the Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure of the Katanga Region , the Group said.
The benefits of the Port of Walvis Bay and the linkage of the route via Zambia into Lubumbashi, DRC were explained to the governor. The governor in turn expressed the importance of Walvis Bay as an alternative route for the Katanga Region in DRC, the Group said in a statement.
Katumbi's visit resulted from a visit of the WBCG delegation to Lubumbashi in the Katanga Region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September last year where business along the Walvis Bay- Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor has been growing significantly. During this meeting Katumbi was invited to visit Walvis Bay and observe the transport opportunities and infrastructure in Namibia.

Bannerman Resources Increases Overall Resource Estimate at Namibian project by 48%

Bannerman Resources Increases Overall Resource Estimate by 48 percent
August 6. (MiningNamibia)-Bannerman Resources Ltd, an Australian-based uranium exploration and mine development company, has reported an significant increase in total mineral resources at the Goanikontes (see picture below) in the Erongo Region.
The company said the new mineral resource estimate now consists of 66.9 million pounds of Indicated Mineral Resource compared to 12.9 million pounds reported in January 2008 and 39.7 million pounds of Inferred Mineral Resources compared to 59.3 million pounds reported in January.
The new mineral resource estimates and models were completed by Neil Inwood of Coffey Mining Ltd, an independent consultant to Bannerman Resources.
“We are delighted with this upgrade to the Goanikontes resource which now exceeds the original exploration target of 100 million pounds and still offers considerable scope for further resource expansion over the coming year,” said Peter Batten, Managing Director of Bannerman Resources Ltd. “We are also pleased to see that there are very large amounts of metal present at the higher cut-offs. This indicates a strong potential for the project to sustain much higher head-grades over many years. This could have a significant impact upon production rates and the overall revenue generated by this first open pit.”
Production at the Goanikontes deposit is expected by 2011.