Sovereign Metals completes dry mining trial at pilot phase test pit

The test pit covers the planned area of 120 m by 110 m and has been excavated to a depth of 20 m through the weathered ore at Kasiya. This confirms Kasiya ore can be efficiently mined using conventional dry-mining techniques and a simple mobile excavator fleet. The pit is accessible through a 10 m wide ramp constructed at appropriate geotechnical angles.

Frank Eagar, Managing Director, commented:

“Completion of the test pit at this scale marks a significant achievement. The mining, hydrology and geotechnical data collected throughout is invaluable in our understanding of the orebody and the simplicity of a potential dry-mining operation at Kasiya. We now look forward to the next steps of the pilot phase including the hydraulic mining trial, cyclone separation of ore, backfilling of test pits and soil rehabilitation.”

For the test pit, the dry mining fleet consisted of four excavators, 20 trucks and a support fleet including two bulldozers and a motor grader. The saprolite-hosted mineralisation at Kasiya is largely homogenous and has relatively consistent physical properties throughout the 1.8 billion t mineral resource estimate. Data collected from the pilot phase confirmed that no drilling, blasting, crushing, grinding, or milling will be required prior to stockpiling material for processing into rutile and graphite products; an indication of potentially lower mining costs and a lower carbon footprint comparable to hard rock deposits.

Approximately 170 000 bench m³ of material has been mined as part of the test-pit programme. Steady-state operations envisage 24 million t of material being mined annually. The test pit material will be processed through cyclones on-site for deposition testwork.

The main pit will be backfilled with dry material, while material from hydraulic mining will be used to fill rehabilitation pits as part of the rehabilitation phase.

A temporary water storage pond has been constructed and sealed using natural clay from excavated material, minimising the use of conventional plastic lining. The pond is being filled via eight boreholes delivering water to site and is nearing its capacity of 6 million l. Water from the storage pond will initially be used for the hydraulic mining stage.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/26072024/sovereign-metals-completes-dry-mining-trial-at-pilot-phase-test-pit/