JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) –The first copper and zinc production from Uppers at the reviving Prieska Copper Zinc Mine in South Africa’s well-endowed Northern Cape is targeted for the end of next year, Orion Minerals reported on Monday, October 19, following the way for this being cleared by financing and offtake agreement finalisation.

The $40-million tranche A financing from Glencore is now unconditional and the first drawdown is expected by the end of this month, enabling key development contracts, site mobilisation and construction activities to progress.

Tranche B financing of $210-million remains conditional, with Orion continuing discussions with funding partners to secure the remaining finance required for the development of the Deeps Mine, also at Prieska.

Prieska’s first phase will target early production from the shallower, higher-grade Uppers, with dewatering of historical underground workings progressing in parallel as the second phase at the more extensive Deeps resource, involving dewatering, shaft rehabilitation and infrastructure provision, is completed.

Exploration will continue alongside development. Five extension targets have been identified at depth and are planned to be evaluated through underground drilling as access improves, providing further potential to expand the resource base and extend mine life.

Over the past year, work at Prieska has been focused on operational readiness, detailed engineering and transitioning the project from planning to executable work packages.

Torque Africa has been appointed to carry out the drilling programme, which is structured to support geotechnical and final mine design definition ahead of mining, while Enprotec has been selected to deliver the 20 000-t-a-month Uppers concentrator under a build-own-operate-transfer arrangement.

Also enabled by Tranche A funding is a start being made on the construction of an accommodation village.

Orion will continue to engage with existing and new funding partners to secure the remaining project financing required to proceed with development of the Deeps in parallel with commencing mobilisation of construction crews and equipment to site.

"While finalising these agreements has been a lengthy and detailed process, our project and operations teams have used this time productively to advance engineering, finalise development plans, select key contractors and establish the systems and processes required for disciplined project execution.

“This puts us in a strong position to commence development activities, with a strong focus on safety, operational readiness, cost control and project governance.

“The world continues to require ever increasing volumes of new copper and zinc production to meet crucial energy transition goals and we look forward to bringing this important South African resource into production and delivering long-term benefits for our shareholders, employees and local communities,” Orion CEO Tony Lennox stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

"We are pleased to assist Orion with financing for it to bring Prieska back to life and become South Africa’s next copper producer,” Glencore’s Toby Spittle added.

The Prieska Copper Zinc Mine, located near Copperton, is on a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit, which between 1971 and 1991 produced 430 000 t of copper and a million tons of zinc when previously operated by South Africa's now defunct Anglovaal.

In addition to the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine, the Johannesburg- and Sydney-listed Orion is progressing Okiep Copper Project, which also has a premier historical copper record in a district that produced more than two-million tons of copper over 150 years.  

At Okiep, drilling results have confirmed ongoing high-grade Flat Mine East copper mineralisation, with intercepts of 7.88 m at 9.24% copper and 3.33 m at 17.12% copper reported.