By MARTIN MUSUNKA –

Technical assessments have confirmed Kansanshi Mine’s long-term future by the measurement and indication of 840 million tonnes worth of mineral resources, First Quantum Minerals (FQM) has indicated.
FQM president of the board of directors, Clive Newall said the confirmation is based on the updated National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) technical reports relating to FQM’s Kansanshi mine in Zambia, Cobre Las Cruces mine in Spain and Cobre Panama project in Panama.
The reports recognize measured and indicated mineral resources, inferred resources and proven and probable mining reserves, all of which represent degrees of technical confirmation of mineral
potentials in ore bodies at various locations and at different underground levels.
The technical reports for Kansanshi and Cobre Las Cruces reflected the resources and reserves as previously reported in the 2015 Annual Information Form (AIF) which was filed in March and updated for mining depletion to May 31, this year.
“These figures compare with a Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of 856 million tonnes at 0.72 per centTCu using a 0.2 per centTCu cut-off grade, as at the AIF date of March 31, 2015.
“The scientific and technical information regarding the Kansanshi reserves and resources estimates set out in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Gregory, Group Consulting Engineer for the Company,” Mr Newall said in the statement.
The corresponding Inferred Resource is 670 million tonnes at 0.6 per centTCu. (The AIF figures were stated at a 0.3 per centTCu cut-off grade). The change in Mineral Resource inventory reflects mining
depletion.
“Kansanshi’s Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves are confirmed at 668 million tonnes at 0.7 per centTCu, excluding stockpiles,” he said.
Mr Newall said that on-going grade control and delineation drilling were expected to increase reserves through the upgrading of the Inferred material.
These figures compared with the Proved and Probable Mineral Reserve of 692 million tonnes at 0.7 per centTCu, as reported in the AIF of March 31, this year which excludes stockpiles.
The change in mining inventory reflected the combined effect of mining depletion, applied mining dilution/recovery factors and differences in plant feed type classifications.
The requirements of the National Instrument 43-101 were that only measured and indicated mineral resources could be considered for determining the proven and probable mineral reserves, and for that
reason the mineral reserves and the production schedule shown in the Kansanshi’s Technical Report did not contain any inferred resource.
“Kansanshi’s operating history has shown that the inferred resource has consistently made a positive contribution to ore feed. Historically, conversion of inferred material into the measured and indicated categories has been up to 80 percentin certain areas,” Mr Newall said.Courtesy of SUMA SYSTEMS