Vedanta Zinc International (VZI), part of Vedanta Ltd, today said its has broken ground at its Gamsberg project in South Africa and the mine will commence zinc production by early 2018.
The first phase of Gamsberg open pit mine, located near South Africa's Northern Cape Province, is expected to have a life of mine of around 13 years, the company said in a statement.
"Development has commenced with pre-stripping and surface work to access the ore body underway and ore production on track to begin in early 2018. The mine will partially replace output from VZI's Lisheen operation in Ireland, which will close at the end of November this year," it added.
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Earlier, billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta had announced an investment of USD 782 million over 3 years to develop an open pit zinc mine in Gamsberg, South Africa and to convert the Skorpion zinc refinery in Namibia.
About USD 630 million will be utilised in developing the open pit zinc mine, concentrator plant and the associated infrastructure at Gamsberg, Vedanta said, adding that the rest will be used to convert the refinery at Skorpion Zinc enabling it to refine zinc sulphide concentrates from the Gamsberg mine into special, high grade zinc metal.
Vedanta CEO Tom Albanese said the firm believes that this region has the highest concentration of zinc on the African continent and Vedanta can develop an integrated zinc and lead complex, anchored around Gamsberg and the Skorpion Refinery, that will boost growth and create sustainable employment.
"We're developing Gamsberg in a phased manner using cash generated by the VZI operations, while remaining focused on sustainable cost reduction at both Gamsberg and Skorpion," VZI CEO Deshnee Naidoo said.
The Gamsberg mine will play an important role in the economic ecosystem of the region. It will help create future opportunities. It is expected to generate around 500 permanent jobs, with a potential to create 1,500 temporary jobs during the construction phase, she added.
