It is not an easy time to be starting a mine but fortunately zinc is now in fashion because it has been unloved for so long, Vedanta CEO Tom Albanese said late last month at the first blast of the $630-million Gamsberg zinc project, in the Northern Cape.

Ground breaking at Gamsberg signals the start of the development of a 250 000 t/y opencast zinc mine, concentrator plant and associated infrastructure at Vedanta subsidiary Black Mountain Mines at the mining town of Aggeneys, 113 km north-east of Springbok.

Vedanta Resources is developing the mine as part of its overall three-year $782-million Southern African Gamsberg-Skorpion integrated zinc project, which includes the development of an integrated roaster at the Skorpion Zinc refinery, in Namibia, to enable it to treat zinc sulphide deposits from Gamsberg mine to produce high-grade zinc, and also extend the life of the Skorpion zinc operation, which had previously been earmarked for closure this year.

Responsible capital allocation has never been more important, which Vedanta’s phased approach is recognising.

“We’ve taken the first small steps and in the coming months we intend taking similar steps at Skorpion, in Namibia. In the next three years, we’ll feed the first ore into the crushers,” Albanese told three plane loads of politicians, bankers, journalists and service providers, who flew to Gamsberg for the ground-breaking event.

“We’re looking at this being fit for purpose at the right time,” Albanese said of the Gamsberg mine, which is scheduled to be producing zinc in 2018.

He sees the area – which extends from Gamsberg to Skorpion and, which arguably has the highest concentration of zinc on the planet – as a potential springboard for more development, anchored around Gamsberg.

“We’re particularly excited about the potential from Gamsberg, which will replace depleted production from other mines,” was the comment of Deshnee Naidoo, CEO of Zinc International, a Vedanta subsidiary involved in mining, processing, refining and selling zinc concentrates.

The blast signified Phase 1 of a multiphase project towards the development of a megapit, with further potential to go underground at the Gamsberg East portion, Naidoo outlined.

At Skorpion, two concentrates and a high manganese fraction will be processed.

The Skorpion refinery is being converted to treat the sulphide concentrate from Gamsberg, in addition to the oxide ore currently mined and processed there.

The project also extends the life of the Skorpion operation.

The mining method will be standard opencast truck and shovel mining from the north and south pits with mining operations made up of drill and blast, excavator loading and dump truck haulage.

The steady state production rate is planned at four-million tons a year run of mine. A concentrator with matching capacity will produce 450 000 t of zinc concentrate a year containing 250 000 t of zinc metal in concentrate a year.

The compliant resource is 134.7-million tonnes at 5.82% zinc at Gamsberg North and the reserve is 48.6-million tonnes at 6.6% zinc.

Rand Merchant Bank is engaged in capital raising for the project.

Roux Mining has been contracted to do the prestripping and BME to provide the explosives and drilling.

Gamsberg is being developed 20 km from the Black Mountain Mines, which have been operating for 30 years with Gamsberg providing the opportunity for zinc mining to continue in the area for at least another 20 years.

As pleased as Punch about the new development is Deputy Minerals Minister Godfrey Oliphant, who himself hails from the Northern Cape – and the Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas enthused that “we’re the one province where companies are still investing in mines”.

The London-listed and India-rooted Vedanta has exercised great care in planning Gamsberg, which Oliphant described as the outcome of full cooperation between government and the company for the benefit of the region and global production.

Unique succulent Karoo biodiversity covers 83 000 km2 of arid South Africa and Namibia and contains the largest number of succulents for a region of this size. Conservation and nursery work is under way to ensure that all plants are replaced during the rehabilitation process.

“We want to use this project to show how biodiversity and mining can work together,” said Naidoo.

“This is a landmark occasion for all of us,” was the comment of Vedanta VP Projects Satish Kumar.

Part of the project involves the development of a 150 000 t/y roaster at Skorpion, with the Gamsberg–Skorpion integration central to Vedanta’s long-term aspirations for Southern Africa to become one of the most important suppliers of refined zinc globally and a cornerstone of Vedanta’s operations in Africa.

Gamsberg will create 1 500 jobs during construction and 500 permanent jobs when in operation and is expected to grow to eventual production capacity of 450 000 t/y and beyond in three phases.

The first ore production is scheduled for 2018, with the Southern African region poised to become one of the world’s most important suppliers of refined zinc.

Vedanta, which bought Anglo Zinc for $1 338-million in May 2010, has already achieved full payback of the original investment through underground and near-pit development since 2012.

Anglo American sold at a time when China seemed in perpetual oversupply mode and small operations abounded.

But China is no longer supplying as it did in the past and there continues to be anticipatory price improvements for zinc owing to supply leaving the market.