Marula to move Blesberg to contract mining
Africa-focused mining and development company Marula Mining has confirmed that mining operations at its Blesberg lithium and tantalum mine, in South Africa, will move to a contract mining basis in February, following a successful competitive tender process completed over the past three months.
The contractor is expected to mobilise to Blesberg in the first quarter of 2025 and begin both the larger-scale planned conventional openpit mining operations, as well as the reprocessing of the existing stockpiles from February, subject to execution of the mining contract, expected by the end of December.
In parallel, the company and its South Africa subsidiaries – Southern African Lithium and Tantalum Mining (SALT) and Muchai Mining South Africa (MMSA) – are finalising leasing agreements with South African finance company Eqstra Corporation under which it is now proposed to directly lease, for about £1.33-million under standard four-year leasing agreements, the majority of the mine support vehicles and processing equipment that were previously supplied to Blesberg under leasing agreements with Q Global Commodities (QGC).
The restructuring agreement and additional supporting documentation is expected to be completed by the end of December.
Marula says the move to contract mining and entering into the restructuring agreement for equipment at Blesberg, demonstrates the company's commitment to expanding the openpit mining and processing operations at Blesberg and at the adjoining Northern Cape lithium and tantalum project in 2025 to produce a high-value intermediary lithium product, other critical and battery minerals such as tantalum, niobium and tungsten, and by-product minerals such as feldspar and mica.
The company notes that the mining contractor will be responsible for conventional openpit mining of the lithium- and tantalum-bearing pegmatites that have been identified at Blesberg and based on the mining plan and openpit mine design that was submitted to South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) in the second quarter of this year as part of the process to secure the Blesberg mining permit.
In addition, the mining contractor will be responsible for the mining of the residual mining waste stockpiles at Blesberg, where high-grade spodumene ores have been identified from the sampling and drilling activity undertaken by the company.
The mining contract is to be on a standard schedule of rates basis and includes the provision of all necessary mobile mining equipment to achieve the necessary planned rates of run-of mine production under the currently approved Blesberg mine plan.
Marula says the mine plan that has been presented to the mining contractor is the same as that which was submitted and accepted by the DMRE earlier in the year and upon which the Blesberg mining permit was granted.
This mine plan and other key technical reports have also been included in the company's mining right application that is currently being submitted to the DMRE along with specialist studies which were conducted including traffic impact assessment, terrestrial and biodiversity studies, geohydrology, archaeology, heritage and palaeontology and marketing studies.
The company says further information on the mining contractor and mining contract will be released by the end of December once the final formal mining contract has been executed.
As a result of the planned appointment of the mining contractor, and the mobilisation of its own equipment to site, the company is restructuring QGC's leasing agreement over the provision of a number of the mobile mining, mine support vehicles and processing equipment to Blesberg.
The company's South African subsidiaries SALT and MMSA are finalising a restructuring agreement with QGC and Eqstra to take on the leasing agreements for all the mine support vehicles and the majority of the onsite processing equipment.
The formal documentation in respect to the restructuring agreement and underlying leasing arrangements is due to be signed by the end of December.
This equipment is expected to include seven mine support vehicles and two major items of mineral processing equipment.
This equipment is currently valued at R30.8-million and is expected to be financed over a four-year period through standard lease financing provided to SALT.
With the mining contractor to mobilise its own mining equipment to site in January, a number of the existing mobile mining equipment on site at Blesberg will no longer be needed and, as such, the restructuring agreement does not include this equipment.
The board of directors believes that SALT's ability to potentially secure this lease financing is an indication of the strengthened balance sheet of SALT over the past 12 months and is a sign of the company's commitment at the Blesberg mine on both the planned conventional openpit mining operations and on the planned joint venture in respect to the commissioning, financing and operation of a lithium acid leaching plant to produce an intermediate lithium product for use in the manufacture of lithium batteries and other high value lithium products.
"The change in dynamics of the lithium market in 2024 has already seen the company adapt its strategy and move quickly in its negotiations with a Chinese battery manufacturer and its current lithium offtake partner to transition towards the production of high-value lithium products in 2025.
"With the planned development of the larger openpit mining operations in the first quarter of 2025, the company's move to appoint a mining contractor in 2025, is an important one and needed to achieve the planned mine production rates and deliver the necessary run-of-mine material to the planned higher value processing facilities.
“As these discussions have advanced, I am pleased with the successful work that our COO, Martin Westerman and our GM South Africa, Henk van Zyl are completing to secure the necessary lease funding of over £1.3-million for the leasing of a large portion of the mobile mining and processing equipment that was previously provided by QGC.
“The board believes this is a major step forward by the company and demonstrates the strengthening of our operating subsidiaries in South Africa. Our focus as always remains on delivering sustainable growth and shareholder value and with these developments at Blesberg I am extremely positive about our outlook for 2025,” says Marula CEO Jason Brewer.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation