BRAVURA Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Bravura Holdings, says its projects in the country are progressing as planned, with the lithium operation slated for commercial launch in 2025.
The company runs three projects in Zimbabwe—Bravura Platinum, Bravura Lithium and Bravura Iron.
This week, Bravura hosted a media tour in South Africa, offering a showcase of its cutting-edge mechanised mining equipment and state-of-the-art lithium processing plant, highlighting the company's commitment to innovative and efficient mining practices.
The lithium plant is being supplied by Manhattan Corporation, with mechanised mining equipment provided by industry leaders Epiroc and Sandvik.
Manhattan Corporation chairman Chris Pouroullis expressed optimism about the plant, stating that 95% of the construction fabrication work and 98% of the brought-in items have been completed.
"We don't envisage any challenges in concluding the project in terms of remaining timeframes," he told journalists on Thursday.
"We anticipate, in about six weeks or so, to be complete with all of our fine tuning fabrication.
"We will continue with some pre-assembly on this site in terms of us assembling components of the plant in South Africa before we ship, which will save us some time on site.
- Bravura Zim's projects progress as planned
Keep Reading
"We will optimise that programme. We will choose the shortest path possible to have the plant up and running. So, if the site is absolutely ready for us to ship a component, we ship it and we start installing it."
The remaining work includes earthworks, civil installation, and fine-tuning fabrication, which is expected to be completed in six weeks.
The plant's front end processes 600 tonnes per hour, which then flows into a 300 tonnes per hour wash plant, followed by a 150 tonnes per hour dense media separation (DMS) section.
This results in approximately 10 tonnes per hour of spodumene product, depending on the feed grade. The Kamativi dump contains around 25 million tonnes, with 50% suitable for processing through the DMS plant.
This translates to an annual capacity of 70 000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate.
The plant operates on a day-night cycle, with the front end running during the day and stockpiling material for night-time processing, allowing the mining fleet to operate solely during the day for safety reasons.
The project's completion is expected to create jobs and facilitate skills transfer.
Bravura has completed exploration work for its platinum project in Selous and is conducting feasibility studies before actual mining and processing plant construction begins.
Mechanised mining equipment, that include dumpers, rigs, bolters, drillers among others, are ready to be shipped into Zimbabwe.
The equipment, according to Bravura Zimbabwe project geologist Farirai Kambanje, will be used to create a box cut, a small open cut that provides a safe and secure portal to access the underground mine.
These projects have the potential to contribute to the country's economy.
Brarura was awarded a 3 000 ha concession in Selous, about 50 miles south of Harare, in 2019. It also has a 60%:40% joint venture with the government through a special purpose vehicle in Kamativi.
