Operations and Assets
ERG operates on the African continent as ERG Africa with operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. ERG Africa mines copper and cobalt under the following assets:
Boss Mining
Acquired in 2009. Boss Mining, a copper cathode & cobalt concentrate producer, is one of the Group’s core assets. Its operations include open cast mines, crushing, beneficiation, concentrator plants and an electro-winning facility.
Facility Description
Open cast mining with heap leach, agitation leach followed by solvent extraction (SX) and electrowining in the production of copper cathode. In addition, there is dense media separation (DMS) and flotation in the production of cobalt concentrate.
Products
Grade A & B Copper Cathode, High Grade Export concentrate (HGE), Cobalt Oxide concentrate (CNE) and Cobalt Sulphide concentrate (CNS)
Capacity
40,000 tpa Cu cathode in 2014, expansion to 60,000 tpa Grade A Cu cathode on the back of the Boss50 project
Comide
Facility Description
Open pit mining operation with two dense medium separators
Products
Cu contained in DMS concentrate
Capacity
250,000 tpm of ROM ore
Key Markets
Concentrate sold to Luita for heap leaching (DMS conc.) and agitation leaching (fines conc.) and processing in SX/EW
Frontier
Acquired in 2012. Frontier is a cornerstone of the Group’s copper business and is provided with the necessary infrastructure which makes it a unique enterprise in the DRC. In addition to mining the Frontier operations comprise processing to produce sulphide concentrate.
Facility Description
Open pit mining operation with two dense medium separators
Products
Cu contained in DMS concentrate
Capacity
250,000 tpm of ROM ore
Key Markets
Concentrate sold to Luita for heap leaching (DMS conc.) and agitation leaching (fines conc.) and processing in SX/EW
Metalkol RTR
Construction started in June 2015. The RTR Project is the comprehensive low-cost hydro-metallurgical facility to reprocess the old tailings dumped into the environment from mining activities in the 1950’s.
Facility Description
Reprocessing of tailings with SX/EW
Products
Cu cathode with Co by-product
Capacity
Metalkol Project RTR is a half-built copper/cobalt tailings treatment project in Katanga, DRC using established technology and proven equipment; Following 18-months of construction and once commissioned RTR will produce 77ktpa of Copper Cathode and 16ktpa Cobalt Hydroxide in steady-state operation; Construction kicked-off in February’17. Production to start in late’18
Key Markets
Cu metal sold to 3rd parties and Co concentrate transferred to Chambishi
Chambisi (Zambia)
Acquired in 2010. A copper and cobalt metal producer with feed sourced from Frontier and Boss Mining.
Facility Description
Roaster, acid plant, Copper and Cobalt leaching with Solvent extraction (SX) and separate electro winning tank houses
Products
Co and Cu metal
SXEW Capacity
55,000 tpa Cu metal, 6,800 tpa Co metal
Key Markets
Cu and Co metal sold to 3rd parties