Work on the ground in preparation for the commencement of construction at Berkeley Energia Limited’s (LON:BKY) Salamanca mine is well underway, with over 600 hectares acquired or leased to date under the land acquisition programme and with only a few hectares remaining to be acquired.
The road deviation is advancing and the new road will be ready for use in the summer. The equipment procurement for the electrical power line has been completed and the upgrade to the existing line will commence once the road construction is complete.
The crushing circuit, screens, feeders and ancillary equipment are currently being fabricated by established equipment suppliers, Sandvik in Finland and Vibramech in South Africa.
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What’s more, the Company has entered into a preliminary agreement with Asturiana de Zinc SAU, a Glencore company, to supply locally sourced reagent from 2018 to 2021 at a cost substantially below the one estimated in the Definitive Feasibility Study. These reagent costs represent approximately 30% of the overall process operating costs.
Reforestation work involving the planting of 30,000 young oak trees has also now begun.
"Since our oversubscribed institutional fundraise late last year, we have been delivering on the site-based activities leading up to the main construction, which we expect will commence later in the year,” said chief executive Paul Atherley.
“Our continued operating and capital cost optimisation moves us closer to establishing Salamanca as a reliable low cost supplier to global utilities from the heart of the Europe Union.”