The Austrian firm had secured a mining licence from the government for its $279 million Motheo Copper Mine in the Kalahari Copper belt. The 1,000-kilometre belt running southwest to northeast is found to contain millions of tonnes of copper and silver resources, but its heavy sands and lack of grid electricity have kept developments at bay over the decades.
The first pre-strip material was mined at the T3 Open Pit deposit in late March, approximately one week ahead of schedule against the project execution plan, with mining currently making excellent progress. Sandfire managing director and chief executive officer, Karl Simich said developments at Motheo are proceeding on schedule and budget with the first production expected in the first half of 2023. “We have also made important progress with the construction of the process plant and other site infrastructure, putting us on track to deliver the first production from Motheo in the first half of next year,” he said. “Earthworks for the process plant now 98% complete and plant civil works progressing well, with foundations progressing for the primary crusher, SAG Mill, tails thickener and reclaim tunnel vault.” Simich added the start of open-pit mining operations represents another important step on the road to production, and to have achieved this milestone ahead of schedule was a testament to the hard work of the project execution team in Botswana. Meanwhile, Simich revealed they are also nearing completion of the feasibility study for the 5.2Mtpa expansion case at Motheo, which is due for completion in June this year. He said the entire infrastructure currently under construction at Motheo is being built to support this proposed expanded capacity, supporting Sandfire’s plans for Motheo to become the heart of a major new processing hub in the Kalahari Copper Belt.
Motheo is a substantial new long-life copper mine and one of the few new copper mines under construction. It is expected to become the cornerstone of a long-term copper mining hub for Sandfire in the world-class Kalahari Copper Belt.
Sandfire had earlier told this publication that they were eyeing copper exports through Walvis Bay, Namibia, a distance of 1,000 kilometres west by road, where the base metal will be loaded into shipping containers and sold into the “robust, deep and mature global concentrate market”. By then Sandfire executives said they would already have a strong customer base built through eight years of production and trading from the group’s other mine, DeGrussa located in Western Australia.
