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REGIONAL NEWS - AFRICA Perkoa Zinc Project to Begin Concentrate Production Blackthorn Resources reported in November that the Perkoa zinc project in Burkina Faso would produce its first concentrate in midDecember. The project is a joint venture between Glencore International (50.1%), Blackthorn (39.9%), and the Burkina Faso government (10% free carried). It will be the first large-scale, underground, base metals mine in the country. A total of 3,655 m of mine development, including ramp development, had been achieved at Perkoa as of midNovember. Sinking of the ventilation shaft was complete, and the shaft had been established as a secondary escape-way. Water pumping tests from the Seboun dam, located 20 km from the mine, had been completed, and water is now being pumped directly to the processingwater dam. Three 2-MW generators have been commissioned and are supplying sufficient power for current operations. A fourth generator has been delivered to the mine, and commissioning of this unit was ready to begin in mid-November. The Perkoa project is located 120 km west of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital city. The project has a JORC-compliant probable ore reserve of 6.3 million mt at a head grade of 13.9% zinc, using a 9% zinc cut-off. Plant throughput is planned at 720,000 mt/y over a mine life of 9.5 years. Concentrate production is planned to total 170,000 dry mt/y at a concentrate grade of 53% zinc. The Perkoa deposit is a classic VMS deposit hosted by the Lower Proterozoic Birimian Belt. The deposit is unusual for its high concentrations of zinc and barium mineralization and relatively low levels of lead and copper. The prospective Birimian rocks in Burkina Faso are the same sequences that host major gold deposits in neighboring Ghana and Mali. Blackthorn acquired 100% of the project in January 2005. Snowden Mining Industry Consultants completed a bankable feasibility study in December 2005. Blackthorn transferred a 10% interest in Perkoa to the Burkina Faso government in March 2007 in accordance with statutory requirements upon agreement of an exploitation license. In late 2010, the Percoa joint venture was formed between Blackthorn and Glencore, allowing construction to advance the project toward start-up. Blackthorn is an Australian junior company headquartered in Sydney. The company is also exploring for gold in Burkina Faso and for iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) mineralization at its Mumbwa project in Zambia. Blackthorn Resources, co-owner and operator of the Perkoa zinc project in Burkina Faso, reports that it has 42,000 mt of ore from open-pit and 20,000 mt from underground mine development stockpiled on the run-of-mine pad for use at the processing plant, which was expected to begin concentrate production in December 2012. 28 E&MJ; • DECEMBER 2012 Strikes End at Anglo American Platinum Anglo American Platinum reported on November 15 that striking workers at its Rustenburg, Union and Amandelbult operations in South Africa had accepted the terms of a company offer and returned to work. The strikes were the last to be settled among major South African precious metals producers following three months of disruptive labor disputes. Employees at Gold Fields KDC East mine had returned to work November 6, and all three Gold Fields mines in South Africa were back in production at that time. While strikes at South African mines were for the most part at an end as of late November, labor issues were not entirely settled. On November 23, Harmony Gold confirmed that two of its employees had been killed and a third person injured on the previous day in the vicinity of its Kusasalethu mine, near Carletonville. Kusasalethu's operations were not unaffected. However, Harmony, in conjunction with the South African Police Service, increased its vigilance and security at the mine to ensure the safety and security of employees. Anglo American Platinum's offer applied to all employees in the bargaining unit and will benefit approximately 48,000 employees. Elements of the offer included reinstatement of all dismissed Rustenburg employees; a once-off allowance of R4,500 (pre-tax) [1 SA Rand = about US$0.11] payable in two tranches, the first payment of R2,000 hardship allowance to be paid two days after employees have returned to work and the second payment of R2,500 being a safe start-up allowance to be paid two weeks after employees have returned to work and commenced actual work; a monthly allowance of R400 (pre-tax) that will be added to base salaries; and an undertaking by management to re-open wage negotiations early, recognizing that any agreements reached would be implemented in July 2013 in order to maintain the wage negotiation cycle. As of mid-November, Anglo American Platinum had lost 191,359 oz of platinum production, equating to R3.4 billion of lost revenue. www.e-mj.com