Name and location
Kamoto-Virgule Oliveira (KOV) copper/cobalt mine rehabilitation project, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Project description
The large-scale project involves the rehabilitation of the KOV openpits, one of the largest high-grade copper deposits in the world. One of the biggest tasks of the KOV rehabilitation will be the pumping of 12-million cubic metres of water in the pits.

The company will also construct a state-of-the-art refinery that will be capable of processing 265 000 t/y of copper and will be one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Value
The company has revised the capital cost estimate for the entire project to $1,6 billion, from $1,3-billion. The implied 26% increase is in line with cost pressures being experienced across the mining industry and is driven primarily by significant escalation in the cost of construction materials, equipment, consultants and contractors.

Duration
First production from the openpit is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2009. The refinery will be completed in 2009.

Breakdown of main contracts
Not stated.

Client
Nikanor.

Latest developments
The project management team has largely been established, detailed engineering of the new refinery is well advanced from the feasibility study, tenders for the vast majority of the project have been obtained, and capital approvals have been given for $190-million of critical path items, including the dewatering of KOV and earthworks for the new refinery.

The key elements in rehabilitating KOV are dewatering the pits and procuring the mining fleet to begin site preparation and prestripping. Nine dewatering pumps with a capacity of 4 500m3/h are currently in place, leading to a small reduction in the water level in the KOV pit despite almost 750 mm of rain from December to February.

Well-drilling equipment has arrived on site for groundwater dewatering; in total, 33 boreholes will either be drilled or rehabilitated.

Agitation and slurry pumps for five rafts and three booster stations will be on site by the end of the second quarter.

Competitive tenders for the mine fleet have been reviewed.

Participants
Bateman Engineering, Snowden, SRK and Mintek.

Construction materials
Not stated.

On budget and on time?
The project is moving ahead according to plan.

Contact details for project information
Nikanor head of investor relations, Richard Boorman, tel +27 (0)83 604 1795.

Nikanor tel +44 (0) 20 7917 9826, fax +44 (0) 20 7499 8562, or email info@nikanor.co.uk.