en.Wedoany.com Reported - Palabora Mining Company, controlled by a Chinese consortium including HBIS Group and the China-Africa Development Fund, is advancing the Lift II deep development project to extend the mine's life. Located in Limpopo Province, South Africa, the project had entered its construction sprint phase by April 2026, with key infrastructure largely completed and currently in the stages of capacity ramp-up and system commissioning. The total investment involves a 9.8 billion South African rand capital injection, committed by the Chinese consortium and Palabora Mining Company, used to upgrade the Palabora copper mine and its copper smelter.
Multiple advancements have been made on the project's core facilities. A ventilation shaft, approximately 1,200 meters deep, was officially holed through on January 9, 2024, completing a key excavation task. With a diameter of 8.5 meters, it effectively alleviates heat dissipation and air pressure issues in deep operations. Regarding drawpoints, by the end of May 2025, the development of the first block was completed, accounting for about 36% of the total mining area. Seventy-eight drawpoints out of a planned total of 216 are already operational. In the crushing and transportation system, Module Crusher No. 5, located approximately 1,700 meters underground, has completed installation and commissioning. It is one of the world's largest and deepest underground crushers of its kind.
The expansion project is being executed under an NEC4 alliance contract, with full completion scheduled for July 2026. In terms of capacity, Lift II aims to reach an initial throughput of approximately 15,000 tons per day by the end of 2025, gradually increasing to its nameplate capacity of 33,500 tons per day in subsequent years. Once operational, the project is expected to extend the mine's life of Palabora Mining Company from its previously projected depletion edge to 2033 or 2034, with potential for further extension to 2040 through subsequent optimization.
Palabora Mining Company's Copper Recovery Manager, Eric Mualusi, introduced a technical solution to improve recovery rates through advanced process control. While overseeing the operation of the flotation and dewatering plants, he stated, "To support our Lift II project, our goal is to increase copper recovery to 88%." He detailed that by integrating froth sensor cameras with a programmable logic controller (PLC), data captured by the cameras will be integrated with the PLC system and combined with automatic set-point functionality, enabling real-time responses and comprehensive improvements in the plant's overall operational efficiency.
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