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.”

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.”

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.

Rossing Uranium tells former workers to wait for new law before deciding on pension surplus

July 31. The Rossing Uranium Pension Fund has told workers who want a portion of its N$600 million pension fund surplus to wait for a new legislation expected to be passed this year before a final decision on the matter can be made.
Allan Moyce, Principal Officer at the Rössing Uranium Pension Fund said this week that as things stand at the moment, the fund was not able to meet the former workers demand.
Moyce said the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority was currently drafting legislation on the distribution of surplus pension funds and added that the trustees of the fund have put on hold any discussions regarding the issue.
The employees say they are entitled to a share of the surplus because the current workers at Rössing have not contributed anything since 1992 while the surplus has been accumulating.
Namibia has no legislation on the administration of pension fund surpluses, though a draft bill is expected this year.

New MD at Valencia

New MD at Valencia
July 31. Forsys Metals Corp has appointed Jimmie Wilde as general manager of Valencia Uranium (Pty) the local wholly-owned subsidiary of Forsys. Wilde will be based in Namibia and will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the development of the Valencia Uranium Mine, Forsys said in a statement. This appointment is effective1 August.
Forsys said it remains committed to achieving project completion early in 2010 and becoming a substantial uranium producer.

Langer Heinrich production declines

Langer Heinrich production declines
July 31. Uranium production at Langer Heinrich for the quarter June was 568,670 pounds of uranium oxide, a 12% shortfall against the plant design production of 650,000 pounds of uranium oxide per quarter.
John Borshoff, managing director said the construction for Stage II expansion is underway and added that design of Stage III expansion ongoing.

Standard Bank opens branch in copper rich Katanga

July 31. The Standard Bank Group has expanded its operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the opening of a full- service branch in the country’s “second city” of Lubumbashi, the mining centre of the Katanga region. The city has approximately 1.2 million people.
“The opening of the Lubumbashi branch is a natural extension to our operational coverage in the DRC, which had, until now, been restricted to Kinshasa where we have a head office and branch. The strategic positioning of Lubumbashi in the southeast of the country near the Zambian border, its status as a mining, commercial and industrial centre, served by the Luano International Airport and also a major railway junction, make it a desirable representation and growth area for Standard Bank,” said Louis Nallet, MD, Standard Bank DRC.
It is staffed by 16 bi-lingual staff who speak both French and English. In the expansion of services the installation of an ATM is also next on the development agenda.
Nallet said the opening of the branch was a massive undertaking that presented major logistical challenges. The majority of construction materials were manufactured in Johannesburg and transported by road through Botswana and Zambia before reaching the DRC.

Namdeb profits drop in 2007

April 18 (miningnamibia)-The net profit for Namibia's diamond company, Namdeb declined to N$143 million last year from N$305 million in 2006, the company said in financial results for the year ended 31 December 2007 released in Windhoek today.
“Production costs came under pressure during 2007 due to higher than anticipated fuel prices and salary increases granted as well as additional maintenance work required on the sea wall due to adverse weather conditions,” the company said. Namdeb said profit before tax decreased to N$776 million from N$1.2 billion in 2006 mainly due to the reduction in revenue and increased production costs, Namdeb said.
Diamond sales revenue at N$4.56 billion is 15 percent lower than in 2006 as a result of the reduction in carats sold, combined with the effect of the price correction in the rough diamond market in the second half of 2006, the company said.
“Production exceeded 2 million carats for the second year in a row at a 4 percent improvement on 2006 but as a result of production schedules carat sales were 5 percent below those of 2006,” the company said.

Trans Hex may pull out of Namibia

April 18 (miningnamibia)-Trans Hex, the marine diamond company is condidering pulling of Namibia, the company has said.
Trans Hex said its operations in Namibia comprising the group's two deep water mining vessels, continue to make losses and various options for exiting this business are being actively considered, the company said.

India looks at Namibia for uranium supply, UPI says

India said it is exploring the option of sourcing uranium from countries such as Namibia that are not members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, UPI reported.
The government initiated talks with authorities from Namibia and Niger for a long-term relationship in uranium supply. A senior official of the Department of Atomic Energy said India's request has been conveyed to Namibian Prime Minister Nahas Angula.
India is restricted from sourcing uranium from the 45-member NSG, which controls global nuclear commerce, as it is not party to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, The Business Line newspaper reported
Namibia, Niger and Uzbekistan are among the non-NSG countries that produce sizable amounts of uranium. The official said India could face trouble as both countries are signatories to the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty, which aims to establish a nuclear-free zone in Africa.
The Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal, which has run into trouble in India because of opposition from the government's left-party allies, seeks to provide a special exemption to India from the NSG precondition.

Uranium mine's water plans under attack, The Namibian reports

(The Namibian)-A DECISION by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry to allow a planned new uranium mine in an arid area southwest of Usakos to use large quantities of underground water is being challenged in the High Court.
The case questioning the Ministry's decision to grant water abstraction permits to Valencia Uranium was filed with the High Court on Thursday.
Valencia Uranium plans to start a mine at farm Valencia some 55 kilometres southwest of Usakos.
The mine would be one of several new uranium mines being established in the Erongo Region.
As far as could be established yesterday, the case is the first of its kind in Namibia in which a land owner in an area close to such a planned mine is questioning the way in which scarce natural resources are intended to be used by such a new mine.
It has been filed against the company, the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, the Minister of Mines and Energy, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Government and the owner of farm Valencia.
Roger Laine, Chief Geologist of Valencia Uranium and a Director of the company's Canadian mother company, Forsys Metals Corp, refused to tell The Namibian yesterday whether the company intends opposing the application.
The case was with the company's lawyers, he said, while also refusing to say who the lawyers are.
It is however understood that the case is being opposed, and is set to be heard in the High Court tomorrow.
The case was filed by Namib Plains Farming and Tourism CC, a close corporation that is the owner of farm Namib Plains, which is a portion of farm Namib Plaas and is situated about five kilometres from Valencia.
The CC wants the court to order that Valencia Uranium may not extract groundwater from the area for which it has been given water abstraction permits, and that these permits be reviewed and set aside.
In a sworn statement filed with the court, one of the members of the CC, Marieta Engelbrecht, states that their farm is situated in a "totally undisturbed" natural habitat where wildlife and bird species are dependent on natural underground water, which is either pumped to the surface through boreholes or have formed fountains.
Farm Namib Plains borders the Khan River, and part of an ancient underground water reservoir, referred to as a "palaeo channel", lies underneath it, Engelbrecht states.
She states that four permits issued to Valencia Uranium by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry on February 12 this year entitles the company to drill boreholes and extract water on farm Namib Plains and other privately owned farms which are situated in the Khan River and above the palaeo channel.
These permits however were issued without the owners of Namib Plains and other affected landowners from the area being able to give input to the Ministry before the decision was taken.
It was also done without any proper studies being done to first determine what effect the extraction of underground water would have on water tables in the area, Engelbrecht claims.
She states that the permits granted to Valencia Uranium would allow the company to draw up to 1 000 cubic metres of water a day - that is, a million litres of water a day - from the Khan River and the palaeo channel.
This will, or at best for the company and Government and the Ministers being sued, may have "an irreversible damaging effect on the environment", according to Engelbrecht.
"The water table will, or at best may, drop significantly, consequently the trees are bound to die, applicant's existing two boreholes will dry up, and fountains (of which applicant has two) may dry up causing wild animals to die," she states.
She adds that before Valencia Uranium draws any water from the palaeo channel, verifiable empirical data is required.
"Currently, such data is not available.
Prior to that, no meaningful decision could have been made by (the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry)," she states.
Engelbrecht charges that the owners of Namib Plains were given "a distorted, if not deliberately false picture" of Valencia Uranium's intentions on the use of underground water.
In April last year, company representatives first gave assurances that a desalination plant would be built at the coast to produce water for the mine's use and that the mine would not extract underground water for any purpose, she says.
By the first week of December, another representative of the company said that the mine would use 300 cubic metres of groundwater a day during the construction of the mine and the first part of its mining phase, she adds.
By February 12, another company representative informed interested parties that the company had applied for permits to extract up to 500 cubic metres of groundwater a day.
That was the same date that the permits allowing the company to extract up to 1 000 cubic metres of groundwater a day were issued.
According to Engelbrecht, one of these permits allows the company to drill boreholes over the palaeo channel.
The same permit also states that "only once it is conclusively found that groundwater abstraction from this palaeo channel of the Khan River is feasible and sustainable, without any adverse effects to downstream users, may a separate application for groundwater abstraction be submitted for consideration by the Ministry".
A permit allowing the company to draw and use water from these same boreholes covered by that permit was however issued on the same date, Engelbrecht states.
These two permits, she charges, "make a mockery of logic.
It is well known that it has not been shown that no adverse effect will occur to downstream users as a result of boreholes to be drilled in the palaeo channel."
Valencia Uranium has done an environmental impact assessment (EIA) on the effect its planned mine would have on the environment around it.
In a chapter on the geohydrology of the area at and around Valencia, some words of caution are first sounded about the lack of knowledge about the underground water reservoir, in the report referred to as a "paleochannel aquifer", in that area: "The sustainable yield of this paleochannel aquifer is unknown, as no data or calculations with regard to this aquifer could be located.
Overall, very little is known regarding this aquifer and further investigations would be required to evaluate this aquifer's potential."
In the same chapter of the EIA a recommendation is made that this aquifer should be investigated further as a possible groundwater source.
In the application filed by the farm owners, an affidavit by a groundwater expert, geohydrologist Otto Jansen van Vuuren, is also included.
Van Vuuren explains that a "palaeo channel" is, simply put, "a buried stream channel".
He also states: "They are environmental treasures and should be treated with the utmost caution."
He adds that there is "virtually no empirical data available in Namibia in relation to the palaeo channel in the vicinity of the Valencia mine".
Without empirical data being available, he states, extracting water from this aquifer would be contrary to the Constitution's Article 95, which requires the State to adopt policies aimed at the maintenance of ecosystems, biological diversity and the utilisation of natural resources on a sustainable basis for the benefit of all Namibians.
"This principle is called, in environmental terms, the precautionary principle," according to Van Vuuren.
"Without the empirical data available no decision may or should be made."

Weatherly International records US$1.2 million loss

April 4-(miningnamibia)-Interim Financial results for Weatherly International plc for the six-month period to 31 December 2007 show that revenue from its operations during the year amounted to US$41.5 million. Weatherly recorded a net loss of US$1.2 million or US$0.29 per basic share during the period.
Weatherly is an AIM-listed resource company with copper mining and smelting operations in Namibia.
Rod Webster, its CEO, said despite the modest loss, he was satisfied with Weatherly's performance as it continues to build up its production capability.
“During the financial period production costs increased, largely due to underground development work at Otjihase, mine commissioning expenses in our Northern Operational Region (Namibia), and to a lesser extent increases in oil, coal and power costs. At Otjihase, time was spent backfilling the mined-out areas of a high-grade block known as Karuma. This will allow for the safe extraction of a number of remaining pillars over the next five years. The Tsumeb West mine was commissioned at the beginning of the half year and the nearby Tschudi mine was commissioned in October,” he said.
On the smelting side, Webster said the focus is on the two-stage expansion project, which has progressed well. Re-commissioning of the first stage, the “Ausmelt” furnace, is progressing on schedule.
He said this would increase the yearly smelting capacity to approximately 35,000 tonnes of copper blister. Stage two includes the commissioning of an oxygen plant in mid-2009 that will conservatively increase yearly production capacity to approximately 50000 tons, he said.