Mining & Trade News

An Exploration Drilling is a process of mineral exploration in the mining industry through extraction of rock quantity to probe the contents of known ore deposits and potential sites by withdrawing a small diameter core or chip of rock from the orebody so that geologists can analyse the core/chip by chemical assaying and conduct petrologic, structural and mineralogical studies of the rock. Mineral exploration companies are often broken down into two categories namely; greenfield and brownfield.

Greenfield Exploration refers to unexplored areas, where mineral deposits are not already known to exist which can also be subdivided into grassroot and advanced projects while Brownfield Exploration, also known as near-mine exploration, refers to areas where mineral deposits were previously discovered. Exploration companies search globally for mineral deposits that can be economically mined and processed and mineral exploration is made up of a variety of different activities and techniques of which drilling is one of them, that are used to find a potential discovery which eventually may one day become an operating mine.

The goal of Mineral Exploration Techniques

Many different types of exploration techniques are used in conjunction in order to get enough information to accurately define a mineral deposit. Once enough high-quality geological data has been gathered from exploration activities, a project can be analyzed for economic feasibility.

Management will use this data to make a decision on whether to continue exploration, establish or update a mineral resource estimate, proceed with mine feasibility studies in order to reach production, or pursue other strategic initiatives with the property. The data obtained and used must pass through QAQC (Quality Assurance Quality Control) and thereafter highly validated to give well reliable and informed output for successful mining. Going from a previously unexplored piece of land (“greenfield exploration”) to a well-defined mineral deposit can take years and years of work and huge sums of money can be pumped in though in the first instance the chances of success are very slim such that an exploration company can attempt to withdraw. An example of our own KanyikaNiobium Project and Mkango Resources Songwe Hill Rare Earth Project are living testimonies of how long they carried out their exploration activities. However, the Kayelekera Uranium Project did not take that much years to commence mining since there was already exploration data that existed from the 1980s and was done previously by CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board) of UK before Balmain Resources took over and was granted an EPL in 1997/98 and later entered into agreement with Paladin Resources to have 90% interest and the remaining 10% equity stake in the project was granted in 2005.

There are many techniques that may be utilized during mineral exploration programs, depending on the mineral deposit type and stage of exploration that is being pursued – as well as the location and budget of the program of which among them is Drilling.

Drilling Techniques

Drilling is the most expensive method of exploration and typically occurs in the later stages of exploration after other methods have already identified a potential deposit     (anomaly). As drilling is an expensive undertaking, detailed study of the area must be made before starting the project. Core logging forms an important aspect of an exploration geologist job and an important stage in the follow up work to an exploration target. There are many different types of drilling methods and all have their place in the universe. Drilling programs are used to collect rock samples at greater depths than surface methods allow. Among others, this page will highlight some of the drilling methods used.

(a) Diamond Drilling (DD)

This method produces a continuous core of rock (in theory) and allows a solid piece of rock core to be collected in such a way that an interval of core allows for much more data to be accurately interpreted.  It consists basically of a hammer unit which is driven by compressed air. This hammer unit imparts a series of short, rapid, blows to the drill steel or rods and at the same time slowly rotates them and sometimes known as down-the-hole hammer and as the name implies, the hammer unit is lowered down the hole at the end of the rods and the diamond drill bit on the end of the hammer unit consists of a large number of chisel ends. Drilled samples are then assayed, and the results will help build a model of the entire deposit. This type of drilling can eventually lead to the entire resource being defined within the boundaries of a chosen cut-off grade but based on the recovery percentage of the core.

(b) Reverse Circulation (RC)

 Reverse circulation drilling produces rock chips which can be sampled under the assumption that they come to the surface in the order in which they were produced and this method returns rock samples in the form of chips that allows sampling but at greater depths. Air is blown down the outside of the drill steel (between it and the wall of rock) and the air and rock chips are carried to the surface on the inside of the drill steel. As the air exits the drill with great blows of dust the rock chips are captured and put in bags for subsequent assaying. In this instance a very large truck is loaded with a tower, drill head, compressor and motor is used. The drill bit is usually of a tri-cone construction (3 cone shaped bits) and a bunch of air blown into the hole to capture the rock chips. This type of drilling is usually a fraction of the cost of diamond drilling but there is controversy surrounding the validity of the samples that are obtained and the method limits the amount of information that can be derived from the sample. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what the recovery of chips is and usually it is must be over 100% because the wall of the drill hole caves back a bit and extra rock chips are created and prone to contamination.

(c) Auger Drilling

This method uses an auger as a drilling device. It usually includes a rotating screw   helical blade called a “flighting” to act as a conveyor so as to remove the drilled-out material. The rotation of the blade causes the material to move out of the hole being drilled. Auger drills are used for semi-consolidated soils and produce a core (hollow core) or loose samples (solid core)

(d) Churn drilling

A drill whose cutting action is achieved by raising and dropping a chisel bit. Under this operation, drilling is performed by a heavy string of tools tipped with a blunt-edge chisel bit suspended from a flexible cable, to which a reciprocating motion is imparted by its suspension from an oscillating beam thereby causing the bit to be raised and dropped. It is used to sample gravels by pounding a steel pipe into the ground and then pulling out the material trapped inside the pipe. In churn (cable tool drilling)- heavy chisel like steel is repeatedly jerked up and down by a cable wire.

(e) Sonic Drilling

Cutting or shaping materials with an abrasive slurry driven by a reciprocating tool attached to an audio-frequency electromechanical transducer and vibrating at sonic frequency. This method uses sound waves to consolidate wet deposits like tailings ponds and capture the soils in a tube.

So far, the most common methods which are used in modern day exploration drilling are diamond and reverse circulation drilling methods. The other types of drilling are for fairly specialized cases and because a solid sample is obtained directly can be quite accurate. Of course, it often happens that the sample won’t come out of the pipe sometimes wholly as anticipated by the geologist. The mining industry lives and dies on the accuracy of the samples taken. And the most important samples are taken by drilling so it is important to understand the drilling process ensuring that good questions can be asked. As with anything in life, it is best to find out a bit about the company doing the drilling to       decide as to the validity of the sampling results.  Now that there is a lot of data collected and some interesting mineralization has been discovered, it is time to try and represent the data accurately in space. So the concept of a geological model is produced.

Government says the US$12-million Wovwe Power Station expansion project will more than double production from the station’s installed capacity of 4.5 MW to 10MW.

Public Relations Officer for the Department of Energy in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining, Saidi Banda, told Mining &Trade Review that such a development will help minimize the gap between demand and supply of power in the country.

Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom)   supplies power sourced from Wovwe to Karonga, Chitipa, Rumphi and some parts of Mzuzu.

Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO), which operates the power station, engaged German firm, Fichtner in May 2018 to conduct a feasibility study for the expansion project with funding from the German Government, which is expected to last 18-months.

“The project will improve plant reliability as well as   extend its life to ensure that the people in the designed areas have sufficient and reliable energy for their needs,” says Banda.

Wovwe offers a diversified source of power for Malawi as the rest of EGENCO’s power stations are located on the Shire River.

Banda explains that after completing the feasibility study, Government and EGENCO will identify an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for the expansion project.

Wovwe is designed to either connect to the national power grid or operate on off grid to only supply power to northern region districts.

The power station is located in Karonga District on Wovwe River, upstream of Wovwe Rice Scheme.

Besides the ongoing Wovwe Power Project, EGENCO is in the middle of soliciting funds for other       impending power projects including 138MW Kholombidzo hydro-power project on Shire River to cost US$11.5-million and 180MW Songwe Hydropower Scheme to be constructed on Songwe River based on a cooperation agreement between Malawi and Tanzania.

Malawi is experiencing power supply shortages due to environmental problems including decreasing water levels of the Shire River which has seen EGENCO reducing its production from the installed capacity of 351MW to about 200MW against a pick demand of 500MW.

EGENCO’s other power stations include Nkula, which was the first major hydro power station in Malawi and   comprises of Nkula A with three machines, each rated 8MW, and Nkula B with five machines each rated 20MW.

There is also the 92.7MW Tedzani Hydro Power Station located on the Shire River, 7km downstream of Nkula Hydro Power stations and comprises of three Power Stations: Tedzani I, Tedzani II and Tedzani III.

The other power station is Kapichira which has an installed capacity of 129.6MW.

Results from the on-going exploration for hydrocarbons that multinational firms are carrying out across Malawi have revealed encouraging preliminary prospects for the discovery of commercially viable petroleum and gas reserves.

Making a presentation titled “STATUS OF OIL AND GAS IN MALAWI AND OPPORTUNITIES” at the 2018 Alternative Mining Indaba that was held in Mangochi last month, AmiduMakwinja, an officer from the Mines Department’s Oil and Gas desk said that based on exploration results collected so far,    preliminary prospects for petroleum in the country are good and promising.

Makwinja explained that the outcome of geophysical and geological mapping exercises conducted by exploration companies in target areas such as Chitala and Mpatsanjoka in Salima, Dulombale and Golomoti in Dedza, Lake Malombe in Mangochi, Dwangwa in Nkhotakota and Vua in Karonga is positive.

“The likelihood of finding commercial petroleum discoveries in these potential sites is high with average values in the range of 16.8% – 20%, exceeding the typical international oil industry threshold of 10%,” he said.

The results have emanated from Phase I exploration work which has involved desk studies, airborne surveys, seismic surveys and data interpretation, geomapping for blocks on ground, and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).

The companies are now geared to move to Phase II which requires importation of drilling equipment to start preliminary drilling of exploration wells for determination of availability of hydrocarbons.

Assumptions are that the Oil and Gas reserves could be in the same range as those discovered in Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya since Malawi lies in the East African Rift Valley System.

Makwinja said if Malawi makes Oil and Gas discoveries in the same order of magnitude as comparator countries, potential oil revenue estimates can be many times more than the current export earnings.

The country is using a comparative analysis of economies which have recently discovered oil reserves within the African Great Rift Valley to analyze its hydrocarbon potential.

The revenues are estimated assuming a long term oil price of US$ 60 per barrel as World Bank anticipates that   all three major benchmark oil prices, Brent, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and Dubai, will continue to increase after 2020 to reach $70 per barrel by 2030.

Currently, Malawi’s macro-economic environment over-depends on the rain-fed agricultural sector which has proven to be unreliable due to fluctuating weather pattern.

This has led government to embark on hunting for potential alternate and complementary economy drivers, by going on over-drive promoting other sectors such as the Extractives Industry.

Within the Extractives Industry, government aims to develop the Oil and Gas subsector into one of country’s complementary economic spinners if commercially viable discoveries are made hence the demarcating of oil    prospecting area into Six (6) Blocks and subsequent issuing of Exclusive Prospecting Licenses (EPL) to four multinational firms.

Block 1 was awarded to Efora Energy (formerly SacOil Holdings Limited), Block 2 and 3 to Hamra Oil, Block 4 and 5 to RAKGAS MB45, and Block 6 to Pacific Oil and Gas.

However, Efora and Pacific Oil and Gas have since relinquished their licences.

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for Hamra Oil’s Blocks 2 and 3 were completed and approved by Malawi’s Environmental Experts in the Department for Environmental Affairs paving way for Phase 2 exploration which requires drilling of exploration wells.

Makwinja said it is imperative that on-going petroleum activities are supported on a sustainable basis to achieve successful oil and gas discoveries which he said if well managed, its economic impact is likely to accelerate economic growth and development thereby reducing poverty.

Presently, all Oil and Gas exploration operations are based onshore and government has pledged that modern environmental management practices and methods will be implemented to minimize and mitigate against any disturbances to the environment.

Until Malawi builds its own regulatory and financial    capacity, government says the first phase for petroleum operations will focus on onshore including along the lakeshore.

Meanwhile, the Department of Mines is reportedly at an advanced stage in the process of formulating a Petroleum Policy that will among other things address issues of good governance for upstream petroleum subsector, promote balanced fiscal regime, good revenue management, and environmental sustainability as well as maximise local content.

“Currently, the draft policy is still undergoing intra and inter-ministerial polishing to ensure consistency with other policies before approval and adoption,” Makwinja said, adding that with the help of international experts like Commonwealth Secretariat, the review aims to meet international standards.

The Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act of 1983 is also under review to reflect the current global petroleum issues.

Review meetings were conducted with several stakeholders and instructions from the meetings were submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs which is preparing the initial Petroleum Bill of the revised law.

Among other pertinent issues, the new law will put in place measures that will enable community members to take part in choosing kinds of projects befitting their areas as part of community development agreements.

The government has also partnered with the Exploration Companies in facilitating establishment of Oil and Gas courses at Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) and University of Malawi’s Polytechnic to enhance high human capacity and expertise in the petroleum subsector.

Malawi has already started benefiting from upstream petroleum activities having so far received significant developmental contribution both industrial and social since exploration companies were awarded the exploration licenses.

The benefits include supply of clean and safe water, interventions during disasters such as floods and supply of medicine and associated medical equipment.

The firms have also funded provision of sanitation and hygiene facilities such as toilets, construction of school blocks and provision of school material as well as promotion of sporting activities, which includes the establishment of Surestream Academy in Blantyre by UK prospector Surestream Petroleum.

Makwinja said government will continue putting more efforts to the current exploration activities until results are obtained on the status of petroleum resource potential in the country so that the country and its citizenry benefit from the imminent exploitation of the prized endowment.

“If Malawi can restrict exportation of Crude Oil and ensure refining of the same in the country, more jobs will be created, and it will make petroleum products readily available at a cheaper price,” he said.

As reported in our article on Page 12, the Malawi Government says it is working on establishing a loan fund to finance operations of artisanal and small-scale miners (ASMs).

Director of Mines in the Ministry of Mining Samuel Sakhuta is quoted in the article as saying that his Ministry is working with the Ministry of Finance to come up with a revolving fund for procuring equipment for ASMs.

We strongly support this initiative by the Malawi Government and would like to urge the authorities to expediate its implementation.

As MD for Maleta Gems and Jewels which is a key player in the ASM subsector Percy Maleta is quoted in the article, the revolving fund is the major way to alleviate the financial challenges faced by small scale miners in Malawi. 

We have reported in plenty of articles in previous editions of some ASMs involved in mining of industrial minerals such as limestone, quarry and gypsum who have potential to develop their businesses but they are failing to do so because they are forced to use primitive equipment due to lack of funding to buy mechanized equipment.

We have reported previously about ASMs including women in mining who are being forced to sell rough gemstones because they are failing to process the stones into finished products hence are being robbed by the buyers including foreigners who buy the stones for a song.

We have reported about small-scale gold miners causing serious environmental damage in their hotspots across the country because they mine on trial and error basis due to lack of gold detectors.

We feel the solution to all these problems is the loan fund for ASMs, whose trade is attracting multitudes across Malawi including members of the rural population.

As Maleta is quoted in the article, the mining sector is one of the key enablers in Malawi 2063 just like agriculture and tourism.

Therefore, government needs to invest in mining just like it is doing in these other sectors to propel economic growth.

Malawi’s mining sector cannot grow through facilitating foreign direct investment in large scale mining only, small scale miners also needs to be supported so that they are able to graduate into medium scale mechanized miners.

Assignment: Provision of transport and haulage services for the financial year 2024 to 2025   

Client: National Construction Industry Council (NCIC)

Duration period: 12 months

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 13 November, 2023

Contact:  The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) Lilongwe, Private Bag A146, Lilongwe.    

Assignment: Provision of painting, decoration works and signage services for the financial year 2024 to 2025  

Client: National Construction Industry Council (NCIC)

Duration period: 12 months

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 13 November, 2023

Contact:  The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) Lilongwe, Private Bag A146, Lilongwe.   

Assignment: Provision car rental services for the financial year 2024 to 2025  

Client: National Construction Industry Council (NCIC)

Duration period: 12 months

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 13 November, 2023

Contact:  The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) Lilongwe, Private Bag A146, Lilongwe.   

Assignment: Provision of stationery, event decoration services, accommodation and conference services for the financial year 2024 to 2025  

Client: National Construction Industry Council (NCIC)

Duration period: 12 months

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 13 November, 2023

Contact:  The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) Lilongwe, Private Bag A146, Lilongwe. 

Assignment: Supply and delivery of office furniture and fittings, firefighting, fire protection equipment including maintenance services for the financial year 2024 to 2025  

Client: National Construction Industry Council (NCIC)

Duration period: 12 months

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 13 November, 2023

Contact:  The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) Lilongwe, Private Bag A146, Lilongwe. 

Assignment: Supply and delivery of ICT equipment, hardware and building materials, motor vehicle tyres and batteries, outdoor advertising, air travel agency services for the financial year 2024 to 2025  

Client: National Construction Industry Council (NCIC)

Duration period: 12 months

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 13 November, 2023

Contact:  The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) Lilongwe, Private Bag A146, Lilongwe.   

Assignment: Consultancy services for provision of detailed designs, tender documentation and supervision services for the construction of twenty storey capital hill twin towers office blocks

Client: Ministry of Transport and Public Works

Delivery Period: 26 weeks

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 29 November, 2023

Contact:  The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Capital Hill, Private Bag B365, Lilongwe 3, Malawi.

Email: buildingdept@transport.gov.mw cc: dob_ipdc@transport.gov.mw   

Assignment: Provision of consultancy services for preparation of financial statements and audit file management for FY2020/2021, FY2021/2022 and FY2022/ 2023

Client:  National Oil Company Limited of Malawi (NOCMA)

Delivery Period: 3 months

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 1 December, 2023

Contact: The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Oil Company Limited of Malawi, NOCMA Board Room, Kang’ombe House, 4th Floor, East Wing, City Center, Lilongwe Malawi.

Assignment: Supply and delivery of motor vehicles

Client:  National Oil Company Limited of Malawi (NOCMA)

Delivery Period: 8 to 12 weeks

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 1 December, 2023

Contact: The Chairperson, Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, National Oil Company Limited of Malawi, NOCMA Board Room, Kang’ombe House, 4th Floor, East Wing, City Center, Lilongwe Malawi.

Assignment: Supply and installation of six community based flood early warning systems  

Client: Department of Disaster Management Affairs  

Bidding procedure: National Competitive Bidding

Deadline: 11 December, 2023

Contact: Procurement and Disposal of Assets Unit, Department of Disaster Management Affairs, 2nd Floor Department of Economic Planning Building, Capital Hill Circle, Private Bag 336, Lilongwe 3 Malawi.     

A grouping of Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASMs) the Nyasa Mining Cooperative Society says there is a need for Malawi to heavily invest in the ASMs in order for the country’s gemstone products to compete on the world market.

In an interview with Mining & Trade Review, the Cooperative’s chairperson Percy Maleta who was part of a team of local ASMs who showcased products at the International Expo in Beijing, China says as Malawian ASMs, they have learnt that through adequate government and private sector investment in the subsector, other countries have modernized ASMs operations.

“Our friends this side of the world have modernized their mining industry including their ASMs while we are stuck with pick and shovel. Malawi needs heavy investment in the ASMs in order to beat international marketing,” he says.

He explains that through the expo, local ASMs have learnt how business should be done to develop the ASMs subsector in Malawi, which is very young.

“Rubbing shoulders with experienced professionals in the sector was a big boost,” he says.

Maleta proposes that when opportunities arise for local ASMs to showcase at such high profile events, government should help them to secure pavilions by subsidizing costs just as governments of neighbouring countries do in order to enable their ASMs market their products at trade fairs and gemstones exhibitions.

He says: “Zambia is always represented by its ASMs at all major gemstone shows.”

“Zambian ASMs have over four pavilions at the biggest gemstone show in the world in Tucson, Arizona heavily supported by their government.”

“We hope Malawi government will be doing the same.”

Maleta says it is very unfortunate that Malawi has not been aggressive in promoting the ASM subsector as compared to its peers though the country is on the ladder as the next destination for gemstone suppliers owing to more discoveries of minerals that continue to be made.

He, therefore, says it is imperative for Malawi to use this discovery of various minerals to its advantage.

Maleta says: “For Malawi to improve as a country to ensure that our gemstones are competitive on the market and the ASMs subsector adequately contributes to the economy, there is a need for change across the board.”

“Government should seriously consider making ASMs licensing flexible so that we are able to get licenses in all mining hot spots”.

“This can also be done at district level unlike the set up now where a prospective miner has to travel all the way from Marka in Nsanje to Blantyre or Nthalire in Chitipa to Mzuzu just to pay a MK2000.00 for a prospecting license for the district.”

He says such centralization in issuing small-scale mining licenses is encouraging the citizenry to do illegal mining.

Maleta also urges government to invest in ASMs training in mining, value addition and marketing and clearly spell out ASMs subsector support in the national budget just as the case is with small scale agriculture where there are extension workers, lots of subsidies and support.

The Beljing Expo ran from September 15 to 30, and the cooperative was also expected to exhibit at another show in USA from September 5 to 12 under the sponsorship of Export Development Fund (EDF). However, the USA show has been rescheduled to February 1 to 8, 2020.

“We are very thankful to EDF and this is what we are looking forward to as ASMs. We ask other organization to emulate as it is through participating at these shows that we gain the exposure and strike deals,” he says.

In the USA, the cooperative will showcase Malawi gemstones in Tucson, Arizona and at Malawi Embassy in Washington DC.

Maleta says: “It is my wish that the Ministers, Principal Secretaries, and Directors of the following Ministries; Natural Resources, Energy and Mining: Industry, Trade and Tourism; Finance and Economic Planning; and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation at least attend one gemstone show to really appreciate and understand what other countries that are excelling in the ASM subsector are doing.”

“Let them start with the biggest gemstone and mineral show in the world in Tucson Arizona next year in January or February. These decision makers need exposure just like the miners and we trust that this request reaches them in good faith.”

At the Beljing Expo, Maleta says the Cooperative met five prospective buyers of Malawi gemstones and other minerals and prospects are high that it will sign contracts with the buyers.

He, therefore, describes Nyasa’s attendance of the Expo as a success but says since marketing of Malawi gemstones and minerals is an ongoing exercise, the Cooperative will be attending all major international exhibitions.