The Chemaf Etoile copper and cobalt mine in DRC is situated just to the east of Lubambashi, capital of the mineral-rich Katanga Province. Until fairly recently, the mine used the well-known DRC contract miner MCK Trucks but when the decision was made to switch to owner operator mining, Georgy Kimenwenze, Chemaf’s Mine Manager said there was “no hesitation in buying similar equipment to that of MCK, which was earthmoving equipment from Bell Equipment,” Georgy adds. “This was as direct result of seeing the equipment’s performance and equally important, the technical back-up service MCK Trucks enjoyed from Bell Equipment.” Chemaf bought four Bell B40D ADTs, a Bell HX500E excavator, two Bell L2706E wheel loaders and a Liebherr PR754 dozer.
Following historic mining operations in the area up tot he 1960s, in 2001, the Shalina Group, led by Mr Shiraz Virji, established a pilot plant on the site. When favourable results were obtained with strong indicators to a sustainable mining operation, the group established a processing plant and has been mining copper and cobalt from an opencast pit since 2003. The construction of the plant was carried out by Dubai-based ACE Ltd, which has ACE SPRL as its Lubumbashi subsidiary. Concentrates obtained from the copper-oxide ore are sent to the group’s nearby Usoke plant for further processing into copper cathode. “We’re blessed with three solid ore-bodies which should extend the life of our mine into a long-term future,” says Kimenwenze. “We’re nearing the end of our copper oxide ore body after which we’ll experience a mixture of oxide and sulphide before hitting a large sulphide ore body which dips from east to west, deeper down.”
The Bell B40D ADTs and Bell HX500E excavator are used in the mining pit and the Bell L2706E loaders are used to feed the plant and load trucks taking the concentrate to the Usoke plant. The Liebherr PR754 dozer is used to maintain roads and stockpile ore and discard.
Although our pit is relatively dry due to our dewatering system, we’ve been impressed with the full bins our Bell ADTs are able to haul over underfoot conditions that do become a little unstable in the DRC’s wet summers,” Georgy says. “We have Bell Equipment’s excellent Fleetm@tic system monitoring our fleet and on-board load indicators tell us exactly what tonnages we’re moving.” Chemaf’s Bell fleet was bought with standard warranties but the company insisted on a maintenance contract which would see all maintenance done by a site-based technical team from Bell Equipment totaling nine qualified mechanics and assistants. High mechanical availabilities ofover 90% are being achieved, which translates into a constant feed of ore into the plant. Service kits and consumables are kept on site but any larger parts can be quickly sourced from Bell Equipment’s Customer Service Centre in Lubumbashi.
Ahead of plans to mine the richer and deeper sulphide ore body in the near future, Chemaf will have to expand its mining fleet and is planning the use of more Bell ADTs loaded by bigger excavators such as the Liebherr R974C.
