Name of the Mine
Khoemacau mine.

Location  
The Ngamiland and Ghanzi districts of north-west Botswana, in one of the most prospective mining regions in Africa – the Kalahari Copperbelt.

Mine Owner/s  
The mine is a joint venture operation between the operator MMG (55%) and a wholly owned subsidiary of CNIC Corporation (45%).

Brief Description  
The long-life copper/silver mine consists of a current operating underground copper mine (Zone 5), and 14 other deposits that have defined mineral resources – several are planned to be mined in the near future.

Brief History  
Mining started at the Zone 5 deposit in 2021, with ore processed through the 3.65-million-tonne-a-year Boseto processing plant. Commissioning of the Zone 5 mine was completed in 2023 to support an expansion project focused on development and mining of three additional areas – Mango, Zeta North East (Zeta NE) and Zone 5 North (Zone 5N) – that will replace Zone 5 production from the processing plant. The study proposes the expansion of production from Zone 5 from 3.65-million to 4.5-million tonnes a year that would be processed through a new processing plant co-located in the immediate vicinity of the existing Zone 5 underground mines.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Copper concentrate.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
Silver.

Geology/Mineralisation  
Copper and silver mineralisation is hosted within the Ghanzi-Chobe Fold and Thrust Belt that forms the southern portion of the much larger Pan-African Mobile Belt. 

In Botswana, the Ghanzi-Chobe Belt is also known as the Kalahari Copperbelt, and it consists of a deformed package of metasedimentary and metavolcanic host rocks, which contains several significant strata-bound, sediment-hosted copper deposits. 

Mineralisation is characterised as sediment-hosted copper, with multistage mineralisation history that includes diagenetic (sediment-hosted) and epigenetic (structurally hosted) events.

Reserves  
Total mineral reserves as at December 31, 2024, were estimated at 51-million tonnes grading 1.8% copper and 22 g/t silver.

Resources  
Total mineral resources as at December 31, 2024, were estimated at 450-million grading 1.4% copper and 18 g/t silver.

Type of Mine
Underground.

Mining Method  
Longhole stoping.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
The mine includes the Boseto processing plant, a haul road, stores and warehousing, offices, workshops, an explosives magazine, a fuel farm, communications and IT service, and accommodation villages.

Prospects  
Using the existing 3.65-million-tonne-a-year processing plant, MMG plans to access the higher-grade areas of the Khoemacau mine working towards a higher production run rate of 60 000 t/y of copper in copper concentrate by 2026/27. This will be facilitated by ongoing mining development efforts to increase mining fronts, operational flexibility and access to higher-grade areas. These efforts will be further enhanced by the construction of a paste fill plant to increase extraction rates and completion of the installation of primary vent fans.

In addition, MMG plans to expand the mine’s capacity to 130 000 t/y of copper in copper concentrate by building a new 4.5-million-tonne-a-year processing plant, increasing Zone 5 output, and developing additional expansion deposits.

Contact Details 
MMG 
Tel +852 2216 9688 (registered office)
Email MMG.information@MMG.com
Website https://www.mmg.com/