The Motheo mine in Botswana is undergoing construction in an attempt to increase its production capacity. At present, the mine can supply more than 300,000 tonnes of copper annually over a 12.5-year period based on a 3.2 million tonne per year processing facility. Sandfire intends to improve these estimates by utilising the resources of the A4 satellite deposit.
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Sandfire Resources, an Australian mining company, released the first declaration of probable ore reserve for the A4 find, which is located 8 kilometres from its Motheo copper mine in Botswana, which is now under construction. The construction project started on on September 22, 2021.
A4 has 9.7 million tonnes of ore grading 1.2% copper and 18 g/t silver, equivalent to 114,000 tonnes of metal copper and 5.7 million ounces of silver.
Sandfire completed a pre-feasibility study for the A4 deposit to include it into the Motheo project. The results show that the company can increase Motheo’s annual processing capacity to 5.2 million tonnes, up from 3.2 million the previous year. This will need a $71 million investment, bringing Motheo’s total development capital to $366 million.
When mined at 5.2 million tonnes per year, Motheo’s lifespan reduces from 12.5 to 10.5 years. Revenues, on the other hand, are expected to increase by 47% to $ 3.6 billion. It’s worth mentioning that a feasibility study has been launched to fine-tune and better incorporate these statistics. It should be noted that a feasibility study is planned for the third quarter of 2022 to modify these figures and appropriately integrate the most recent data on the two properties.
The mine now under construction has a capacity of more than 300,000 tonnes of copper per year, which will increase when resources from the A4 deposit are integrated. As a consequence of the expected income, Botswana should be able to continue diversifying its sources of government funding.
