Copper 360 restarts South African Rietberg Cu mine

South African mining firm Copper 360 has restarted mining operations at its Rietberg mine in South Africa's Northern Cape province, the company announced this week.

Ore from the mine is being processed at the Nama Copper modular floatation plant (MFP), with a start-up target of 12,000 t/month. Production is expected to increase to 45,000 t/month within four months, as a second MFP should be commissioned in the next two months.

Rietberg's current measured and indicated resource estimate is 4.78mn t at 1.27pc Cu, representing 60,800t of copper metal.

Rietberg was previously closed in 1983 and its reopening marks the first time in over four decades that copper is being mined in the Okiep copper district.

Rietberg is the first of several dormant mines initially developed by gold mining firms Newmont and Gold Fields. The mines all have defined ore bodies and established underground infrastructure, which Copper 360 plans to reopen as part of its cluster mining model, the company said.

Copper 360 anticipates that 80pc of its revenue will now come from copper concentrate, as it transitions from previously only producing copper plate, company chief executive Jan Nelson said.

By Roxana Lazar