Africa: Metallon Acquires New Equipment for Effective Industrialization

Posted on : Friday , 11th September 2015

Metallon Corporation has acquired new equipment for its subsidiary, Arcturus mine in a move expected to turn around operations at the mine, a company official said. Metallon recently announced its intention to spend over $20 million on new projects this current financial year to increase production volumes as gold prices remain unpredictable on the global market.

Metallon chief executive Mr Kenneth Mekani highlighted the company's focus on the development of Arcturus underground operations. "We have brought in a new crusher and new pumps at the mine to improve our production efficiencies. This is part of our bigger plan to return the mine to profitability. "The group is also working on the underground development of Arcturus mine. So generally we acquired the most critical equipment required at the moment," said Mr Mekani.

Arcturus mine has been operating since 1907, and has produced 1,2 million ounces of gold to date. The mine comprises four underground mining operations; Venus, Gladstone, Ceylon and Viceroy. Underground ore is processed using a combination of crushing, milling, gravity concentration and a carbon-in-solution/carbon-in-pulp circuit.

Arcturus mine was placed under care and maintenance in 2009 but production ramp up has since commenced. The mine's production for 2014 was 8 316 ounces and forecast production for 2015 is 19 749 ounces. Metallon Gold, which is owned by South African mining tycoon Mr Mzi Khumalo boasts of five gold mining operations in Zimbabwe; How Mine, Shamva, Arcturus, Mazowe and Redwing mines.

In its second quarter 2015 financial update, Metallon announced that it will continue to engage with financial institutions for CAPEX funding and is confident that funding at significantly lower cost will be secured. Metallon said during this volatile gold price environment, the company's focus remains on the repayment of debt and outstanding creditors and this will continue as production increases over the next 12 months

Source : allafrica.com

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