Signing of USD408 million Lumwana Copper Contract
Bateman Engineering, in a joint venture
(JV) with Ausenco Limited, has been awarded the final engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC) contracts by Equinox Minerals Limited
for the Lumwana Project in north-western Zambia.
The Lumwana Project is one of the largest copper
projects to be undertaken on the African continent. The combined value
of these contracts, which were awarded on a negotiated basis, is USD407.6
million inclusive of funds spent to date and is to be split approximately
equally between Bateman Engineering and Ausenco. The contracts will
become fully effective when Equinox has received the full financing
commitment which it expects shortly.
The project is to be completed by June 2008 and, since January 2006,
Bateman Engineering and Ausenco have completed one-third of the front
end engineering and design for the project on a reimbursable (EPCM)
basis. Orders for the majority of the major equipment items have been
placed and bulk earthworks will soon be finished.
Commenting on this contract, Dr Sivi Gounden, Chief Executive Officer
of Bateman Engineering, said: "This important contract underscores
Bateman's central role in the development of mining resources in Central
Africa and in particular in the Copperbelt. We are pleased to be working
again with Ausenco, with whom we executed the award-winning Sepon
Copper-Gold Project in Laos in 2005."
The new Lumwana concentrator, located 65 km west
of Solwezi, will process 20 million t/yr of ore, producing concentrate
containing about 169,000 t/yr of copper for the first six years of
the project, with the life-of-mine production averaging 122,000 t/yr
of copper over the anticipated mine life of 37 years. The ore will
be obtained from the nearby Malundwe and Chimiwungo deposits, which
will be mined sequentially by open-pit mining methods. Studies have
revealed that the copper content of the ore bodies consists of 95
% sulphide (with only 5 % oxide) and is very consistent. The ore will
be processed on-site by conventional flotation to produce copper concentrates
for transport to off-site smelters. Metallurgical test work indicates
recoveries of greater than 95 % copper.
