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KORPION Zinc is located 85 km northeast GEOLOGY a bankable feasibility study to develop a mine
of Oranjemund and 25 km north of the The deposit is situated in the southernmost part of by September 2000. The study was completed in
town of Rosh Pinah in southern Namibia, the Namib desert. Weakly metamorphosed clastic conjunction with Bateman Engineering by the end of
and stands out from other zinc operations sediments and limestone host the orebody, which is 1998 and the metallurgical problems solved through
for two main reasons. covered by a 20 m layer of windblown sand, boulders an innovative hydrometallurgical testing and SX-EW
First, it exploits zinc carbonate and silicate and calcrete. The deposit is part of the Skorpion process designed by Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas and
minerals from an oxide deposit, not a zinc sulphide. belt – a series of zinc-lead and copper-barytes Union Miniere of Belgium.
Secondly, it produces high grade finished zinc metal mineralisation, hosted in volcano-sedimentary rocks In 1999, Anglo then purchased the entire
for sale instead of concentrate, using an innovative of the pan-African Gariep complex. The Skorpion shareholding of Reunion Mining to obtain 100%
solvent extraction electrowinning (SX-EW) metal- zinc deposit itself represents a rifting phase and ownership of the project. Following additional drill-
lurgical process. associated subaqueous, mixed siliciclastic-carbonate ing and bulk sampling for a pilot plant, the decision
The operation consists of an open-pit mine, sedimentation. to proceed was made in September 2000, approving
comminution, leach, purification SX-EW plants, plus a The ore-body is unusual in the zinc industry as the project at a capital cost of US$454 million. Two
melting and casting section. Commercial production it is an oxide deposit formed from the weather- new companies were formed – Skorpion Mining Co
started in May 2003. The zinc ingots are exported ing of primary zinc sulphides. The zinc occurs in to run the mine and Namzinc (Pty) Ltd to operate the
through the port of Luderitz to Asian, European and silicate and carbonate minerals such refinery.
North American markets in about equal proportions. as smithsonite (zinc carbonate), Construction commenced
The production results for the six months to June hemimorphite (hydrous zinc silicate “The Skorpion in January 2001, with the main
2006 saw the mine operating at its full capacity of
12,500 t of SHG zinc per month. However, this was
hydroxide) and hydrozincite (zinc
carbonate hydroxide).
zinc deposit EPCM contract awarded to a
joint venture between Bateman
followed by a setback in August 2006, when an itself represents Engineering and SNC Lavalin.
OWNERSHIP AND
impurity excursion caused a severe disruption in
the electrowinning plant and a temporary drop in DEVELOPMENT a rifting phase Anglo commenced with full
commissioning in early 2003
production. The deposit was originally discovered
in the 1970s by Erongo Min-
and associated and the first metal was produced
on May 2, 2003.
Aerial vie w of Sko rpi on com plex ing & Exploration (an Anglo subaqueous,
American subsidiary) but was
not mined at that time due to
mixed siliciclastic- EQUIPMENT AND MINING
The mine now regularly runs at
the metallurgical complexities carbonate outputs greater than the design
associated with the unconven-
tional silicate/carbonate ores. sedimentation” capacity of 12,500 t of zinc per
month. The refinery is fed with
The orebody itself was also approximately 130,000 t of ore
considered too small to be per month from the open pit
economic in the market at the time. (typically from a total tonnage mined of 800,000 t of
The UK’s Reunion Mining then entered the rock, including limestone. The mine itself is now 1
picture, forming an agreement with Anglo km long and 800 m wide at the extremities.
American under which it could earn a 60% Mining equipment at Skorpion is dominated by
interest in the deposit for conducting further Caterpillar models. The fleet includes two excavators
drilling, geological work and producing Continued on page 12