Global
Bisha pays for itself
Canadian-listed
Nevsun Resources
and its Eritrean
partner Enamco,
will self-fund
extensions to its
Bisha zinc-copper
mine in Eritrea.
Edited by Leon Louw
T
he planned extension to Bisha’s open
pit will add 3.3 million tonnes of
high-grade ore to the mill. With the
new extension, the current mine life will be
extended with another four years, resulting
in additional payable production of 470
million pounds of zinc and 52 million pounds
of copper over this time frame. In addition
to incremental production and revenue,
the extension provides time for Bisha to
advance assessment of the Asheli and Harena
underground deposits and to consider further
open-pit extensions.
According to Peter Kukielski, CEO at
Nevsun, the Bisha team has been working
hard to optimise the mine plan and reduce
the operational risk of the deeper ore from
the main pit. “The fact that Nevsun will
self-fund the extension with proceeds from
its current operations significantly increases
the long-term cash flow from Bisha, reducing
requirements for external funding for
construction of our high-grade, high-return
Timok Project in Serbia,” says Kukielski.
“The extension of the Bisha mine life,
combined with the planned ramp-up of the
[10] MINING MIRROR SEPTEMBER 2018
Timok Upper Zone in 2022 and the longer-
term potential of the Timok Lower Zone,
gives us confidence that Nevsun will continue
to produce strong operating cash flows for
many years to come,” adds Kukielski.
Kukielski says that the open-pit extension
is supported by the now fully implemented
metallurgical improvements at Bisha,
combined with continued strength in zinc
and copper prices. “We will have an additional
open-pit extension to consider late next year
and are actively evaluating underground
mining at Asheli and Harena. We continue to
work with our partner, the Eritrean National
Mining Company (Enamco), to maximise
resource conversion to reserves,” he says.
In August 2017, Nevsun decided to reduce
the mine life at Bisha due to the operational
risk of the original large open-pit cut-back.
Since that time, Bisha has increased mining
rates and significantly improved metallurgical
performance, while metal prices have remained
strong, leading the company to revisit the
larger cut-back option. The open-pit extension
accesses a portion of the previously envisaged
cut-back with an additional 3.3 million
Eritrea