In the Kolwezi district of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a copper exploration project for a locally owned company has delivered exciting potential after many years of diligent investigation.
In 2015, a mining company acquired a large concession from state-owned mining company Gécamines. The mining company then engaged SRK Consulting DRC, based in Lubumbashi, to oversee the exploration programme. According to SRK Consulting DRC chairman Dominique Sambwa, SRK’s role was to monitor the programme to ensure that international best practice was applied.
According to Sambwa, the mining company is a pioneer in the DRC, being one of the first locally-owned private companies to invest directly in a mineral project. One of SRK’s responsibilities was therefore to make the client fully aware of the risks involved, alongside the appropriate levels of encouragement, based on the data available.
From scratch
“We took the process from scratch,” he said. “It is never possible to know what to expect when exploring, but we knew Kolwezi was ‘elephant country’ – where some world-class deposits were to be found.”
With the miner’s holding company involved mainly in non-mining activities, SRK was called upon to share its extensive experience in mining in Africa. According to SRK DRC country manager Susa Maleba, this meant being involved in ongoing discussions with the client from an early stage.
“This also included visits by then-chairman of SRK DRC, Roger Dixon, to the client in Kinshasa,” said Maleba. “He was able to share insights into what this project would involve and what the clients should expect during the process.”
This helped build the strong foundation upon which the contract between the client and SRK was then signed.
High risk
“In this region, very few of the concession fragments have historically been found to be barren,” said Sambwa. “The potential was high, but of course exploration is always a high-risk venture.”
The client was able to assess the opportunity and decided to move forward with SRK’s technical assistance. This began with SRK drawing up the initial exploration programme and setting up a protocol for the client to chart the various phases that would need to be conducted over time. A mapping exercise would be followed by pitting and trenching, to establish whether a drilling programme would be warranted.
Preliminary exploration and mapping had been conducted in the area by Gécamines in the 1950s and 1960s, and this historical data also contributed to a valuable starting point. This allowed the mapping phase to be completed within about six months during 2017. This included conversion of data from the old Gécamines reference system into the current Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) WGS84 coordinate system.
Drilling begins
“Finally, the drilling stages that everyone hoped for could be started in August 2017,” he said. SRK staff – including professional geologists and technicians – were based permanently on site, while Sambwa also spent a couple of days a week there to audit the progress in detail.
The results soon delivered very inspiring results. While the full extent of the prospect had a strike length of more than 5,000 m, exploration works showed mineralisation on a strike of some 3,500 m, the full extent of which fell inside the client’s property. Results from the second hole were particularly good, intersecting over 80 m of mineralisation grading more than 2% copper on average – with some grades being over 5%.
“The results were sufficient to justify firstly wide-spaced drilling, followed by infill drilling to further substantiate the mineral potential,” he said. With the appointment of an exploration sub-contractor, SRK’s role was to ensure that all activity was conducted to the necessary high standard to mitigate risk and optimise the results of the exploration investment.
Focus
“Given the scale of this deposit, it required some decisions on where best to focus our work,” he said. Fortunately, SRK relied on its extensive experience in the region from previous works to better guide the client. These insights informed decisions on where to start, and the focus fell on the western portion. The property still shows prospectivity since the eastern portion of the property can be targeted in the near future.
While encouraging results allowed the operation to proceed, caution was ever the watchword. A budget was set for 6,000 m of drilling to demonstrate that the area was attractive. Selecting the best drill locations was essential. It was discovered that there were in fact two superimposed fragments, both dipping north.
Drilling to depths between 400 and 700 m, the two drill rigs each achieved 700-1,000 m per month and the first drilling campaign was completed in about four months. This allowed the development of the first geological model and progression to the next decision point. Based on the promising results, the client released a second budget, then a third, until the company reached its target potential.
“The project’s journey was guided by a results-driven exercise plan, where the results of the previous stage informed the strategy for the next stage,” said Sambwa. “The programme went on to finally accumulate some 268 boreholes totalling more than 83,800 m of drilling to understand the geology, the structures and the distribution of mineralisation.”
Resource estimate
After collecting the data, SRK built a consolidated and validated database, conducted the data processing along with quality assurance and control – to generate a geological model. SRK then prepared a Mineral Resource estimate under the guidelines of the JORC Code, with SRK’s investigations having confirmed the existence of a viable resource that shows promise for future commercial exploitation. The final report was issued in May 2021.
“The client now plans to move forward to the feasibility study, which will require firstly a scoping study – with which we are currently engaged – and secondly a pre-feasibility study,” he said.
To facilitate other important permitting processes, SRK DRC is also conducting the required environmental and social impact assessment and preparing the environmental management plan. Maleba highlighted that SRK’s office in Lubumbashi holds the necessary government licences for a range of mining-related work.
“We comply with the DRC requirement to be licenced for the submission of feasibility studies, as well as for conducting environmental studies – both for the Ministry of Mines and for the Ministry of the Environment,” he said.
Steps to growth
He noted that new entrants to mining in the DRC, especially local companies with limited experience in exploration and mining, faced many difficult decisions when starting out. There were technical, commercial, regulatory and partnership issues.
“SRK’s wide base of mining-related expertise allows us to guide our clients in the many steps toward success,” said Maleba. “For instance, we can point out the key skills that they need to acquire and grow within their own business – so that they have the capacity to effectively manage their partners and service providers.”
Sambwa concluded that, while the wider SRK group often deals with large global miners, there is considerable scope for SRK DRC to partner with smaller local companies in that country. The government’s strategy is to support many small and even artisanal miners to develop into formal mining operations.
“We are looking at these opportunities, as many artisanal miners are working on valuable prospects,” he said. “They have the right to transform their properties into fully fledged mining permits, but the value of the concession must be proven. It’s not easy, but we hope to help these players to achieve that transition to an industrial scale of mining.”
