TENKE FUNGURUME 22/11/06 5:02 pm Page 3

OPERATION FOCUS

Tenke takes off

The Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt deposits comprise one of the world's largest
known copper-cobalt resources and are capable of being developed into a large
scale, long-life mine demonstrating low operating costs

T
he Tenke Fungurume concessions
contain extensive high-grade resources
that potentially exceed the present
resource estimate of 547 Mt with a grade of
3.5% Cu and 0.27% Co, as they still remain
extensively under-explored. Many years ago, the
deposits were described by Harry Oppenheimer
as the best, known, undeveloped copper
project in the world. That is still true.
Phelps Dodge (PD) exercised an option giving
it the controlling interest on November 1,
2005, with PD holding 57.75%, Tenke
Mining 24.75% and Gecamines 17.5%. PD
says it has had good support from the
government of the DRC and is pleased with
the progress made. PD notes that “projects
like Tenke Fungurume are essential if the
DRC is going to improve the quality of life of
its people and to further enhance the stability
of the country. The DRC government recognizes
this. It was only through the co-operation of
the various elements of the transitional hundreds of immediate Historical photographs of
government that the project could proceed.” jobs preparing roads and work at Tenke Fungurume
In its efforts for sustainable development, other infrastructure. The show interesting old mining
PD has been successful in ending illegal mining company also points out and exploration machinery.
through increased security and by providing that “local towns are

working with us to develop education and

other resources for the people in the area.
These are promising signs.”
Assisting in these efforts, PD has
employed some of the world’s top firms,
such as GRD Minproc (feasibility study),
Golder Associates (environmental), Arcadis
(social) and others.
PD says it is “establishing a baseline so we
can better understand the communities,
what they need, and how we can best work
with them. In the months ahead, we’ll be
able to focus on specifics. Still, we know that
education will be critical, and we’ve already
begun work in this area. We are building
two primary schools: one in Tenke, one in
Fungurume. Each school will accommodate
at least 300 students. We’re providing the
capital and will pay for the teachers; the
cities will own the schools.”

28 International Mining DECEMBER 2006

Document1 6/12/06 9:17 am Page 1

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TENKE FUNGURUME 23/11/06 1:05 pm Page 4

OPERATION FOCUS

Development plans
The size of the concession is 1,562 km2.
Previous studies have rated the ore grades
about 3% or better for copper and about
0.3% or better for cobalt, but PD has not
yet published any figures – though Tenke’s
website has a fair amount of resource infor-
mation. Details will not be known until the
feasibility study is completed and reviewed,
but in general the company expects that
“initial production could be about 100,000
t/y of copper. Employment will be at least
500.”
PD expects to use an agitated leaching
process to treat the ore. Material would be
crushed and milled, then sent to large tanks
for leaching. The resulting metal-bearing
solution is then processed to produce copper
and cobalt products. PD says: “The process the DRC – particularly with infrastructure – Katanga Province has an extensive rail network
is efficient with high-grade ores and produces PD expects to re-invest and expand. “Our that will be of value to the project in the future.
copper-bearing solution in a matter of goal would be to produce 400,000 t/y of However today there are, reportedly, just three
hours, versus the 90 days or so required for copper within ten or 12 years, with associated working locos.
traditional heap leaching. Cobalt is produced increases in cobalt production as well.”
as a by product. The draft feasibility study, prepared by
Construction could begin soon, with Kilborn SNC Lavalin, contemplated an open cathode. This study scheduled 85 Mt of
production commencing in late 2008 or in pit mining operation with initial processing oxide ore mill feed at an average acid-soluble
2009. Peak construction employment would facilities designed to produce 100,000 t/y of grade of 3.19% Cu and 0.29% Co over the
be 1,200 or more. As conditions progress in copper cathode and 8,000 t/y of cobalt initial 15-year mine life.

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30 International Mining DECEMBER 2006

TENKE FUNGURUME 23/11/06 1:05 pm Page 5
There are extensive resources on the
concessions that are not included in the
mine plans contained in the feasibility study
as well as many untested target zones. With
additional drilling and engineering, further
open-pittable oxide reserves are likely to
become available together with reserves of
mixed and sulphide ore that underlie the
oxide zone. Mixed and sulphide mineralization
is known to extend over 500 m below surface
in the areas tested with a possible strike
length of up to 80 km. Much of the mixed
and some of the sulphide ores are likely to
be accessible by open pit methods. The
Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt deposits are
typical of those that collectively constitute
the Central African Copperbelt, one of
the great metallogenic provinces of the
world.
The deposits lie on the northern edge of
this belt of folds, which are generally
overturned to the north. In common with all
other stratiform copper-cobalt deposits in
the DRC, the deposits are hosted in two
parallel, bedded sedimentary units close to
the base of the Mines Group in the Katanga
Sequence. The rocks form a thick succession
of shallow-water shales, dolomitic shales
and reefal dolomites and the mineralized
sediments display remarkable lateral continuity
in thickness and metal content. Outcrops of
the copper-cobalt deposits have been
mapped over 300 km2 on the concession.
The copper-cobalt mineralization is mainly
confined to two sedimentary beds, each 5 to
15 m thick, on either side of a resistant hard
siliceous dolomite bed. In the weathered
zone the principal mineralization is malachite
with subordinate pseudomalachite and
chrysocolla, whereas the main cobalt minerals
are heterogenite, sphaerocobaltite and
erythrite. Oxidation generally extends
50-100 m below surface in the Fungurume
deposits and 100-150 m in the Tenke
deposits. In the mixed zone oxide minerals
progressively give way to sulphides with
increasing depth. Supergene enrichment is
common in parts of the oxide zone.
Chalcocite, with associated digenite, is the
major copper mineral in the mixed zone,
where it is also associated with an increase
in the dolomite content. The principal
copper minerals within the sulphide zone are
chalcocite and digenite with subsidiary
bornite and chalcopyrite. Carrolite is the
principal cobalt sulphide mineral.
12/06
Processing plans
Process facilities will use standard copper
oxide ore treatment technology including
crushing, grinding, acid leaching, SX and EW
for production of both copper and cobalt.
Recent studies have concluded that production
will commence at the Kwatebala deposit –
measured and indicated resources 77.5 Mt
at 2.64% Cu and 0.38% Co. The project
site development completed in the 1970s,
east of the Fungurume deposits and 20 km
from Kwatebala, included the foundations,
and crushing house chambers for the instal-
lation of a 42”-65” primary gyratory crusher
located to the north of the Fungurume
deposit (measured and indicated resources
54.6 Mt at 4.25% Cu and 0.37% Co). As
the haul distances from Kwatebala, Fwalu
(measured and indicated resources 49.9 Mt
at 2.32% Cu and 0.17% Co) and Goma
(measured and indicated resources 53.1 Mt
at 2.93% Cu and 0.27% Co) to the original
Fungurume site are excessive, current
development plans contemplate a new plant
site just north of Kwatebala.
The preferred grinding technology is a
SAG circuit owing to the relative costs and
the simpler circuit for operational control
DECEMBER 2006 International Mining 31
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OPERATION FOCUS

and maintenance. The mill will be in semi- Gecamines, the state-owned mining company, signed a definitive merger agreement under
open circuit to produce a cyclone overflow then took over. In July 1996, the Lundin Group which FCX will acquire Phelps Dodge to
product sizing sufficient for high recoveries was awarded the right to negotiate a joint form the largest North American-based mining
of copper and cobalt. venture agreement after an international tender. company. On a pro forma basis for 2006,
Nilsson and Arik’s report1 notes that The joint venture was approved (55% Tenke, the combined company's production would
“current practice offers the choice between con- 45% Gecamines) by the Zairean parliament approximate 1.68 Mt of copper, 1.8 Moz of
ventional and hi-rate thickening/clarification. in November 1996 and Tenke Fungurume gold and 31,300 t of molybdenum. IM
Benefits in the throughput per unit area are Mining SARL (TFM) was incorporated. Prior
to be realized if hi-rate technology is to TFM's involvement, there had been some Reference
incorporated, with the subsequent capital 176,000 m of drilling, 12 km of underground 1. Nilsson, John (Nilsson Mine Services) and Arik,
cost savings. However, in the case of a new development and 125 km of surface trenching Abdullah (Mintec Inc.), Resource Estimate Summary
installation with inexperienced operating and pitting carried out on the property. Report for the Tenke Fungurume Project, Katanga
personnel, the operational risk is considerable. As IM goes to press, Freeport-McMoRan Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 20, 2006.
“A conservative conventional settling Copper & Gold and Phelps Dodge have http://www.tenke.com/i/pdf/Fungurume_43-101.pdf
approach has been considered appropriate
with potential for cost savings by converting
the conventional thickeners to a hi-rate mode
of operation when the operators will have
gained sufficient experience. This approach
has been recommended on the thickening
START HERE. FIND MORE. SAVE TIME.
duties associated with cobalt purification.”
A more conservative approach has been
WWW.HOSSEQUIPMENT.COM
recommended for post leach and effluent
treatment residue thickening due to variability
in the available test data. “The thickeners
should be sized for conventional settling but
supplied with hi-rate operational internals.”
To date consideration of solid/liquid
separation technologies has been limited to
a choice between counter current decantation
thickening (CCD), pressure filtration and
horizontal belt filtration.
“Oxide ore will be treated initially by
leaching. A bulk leaching approach is therefore
considered for treatment of the uncomplicated
malachitic oxide ore with moderate gangue
acid consumption. Following agitated leaching
the slurry is once again thickened. After
leaving post leach thickening, the discharge
is sent to agitated re-pulping tanks where it
discharges directly into the tanks to be
mixed with copper SX raffinate.”

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DECEMBER 2006 International Mining 33