JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining contracting company Aveng Moolmans is building on its 15-year presence in Botswana with its latest appointment – at Lucara's Karowe diamond mine. 

It has been appointed for a six-year period to provide mining services that include all drill, blast, load and haul functions for both ore and waste at the wholly owned Lucara mine, where mobilisation is under way to ensure a timely start of mining activities from early March.

A member of the Lundin Group, Lucara is listed on the Toronto, Nasdaq Stockholm and Botswana stock exchanges.

As reported by Mining Weekly Online last month, Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed eXtract subsidiary Eqstra Botswana announced that its five-year opencast mining contract at the diamond mine had been terminated on December 13 after two years.

Lucara president and CEO William Lamb said that since then, ore from the south and centre lobe stockpiles continued to be processed, which is keeping the mine in line to achieve its 2017 production and operating guidance. 
 
Aveng Mining operating group MD Stuart White said his company was looking forward to adding value at the diamond mining operation, which has yielded 1.8-million carats that have generated revenue of $1.02-billion at an average price of $566/ct.

Last month Aveng Moolmans won a contract to establish and mine the Gamsberg opencast zinc operation, which is being developed by Black Mountain Mining, a Vedanta Zinc International operation, in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.