Tawau set for gold mining operations?
Published on: Sunday, April 16, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Decades after the Mamut copper mine in Ranau had ceased operations, the east coast town of Tawau is set to be the next booming mining town if a proposal to mine gold is approved by the authorities at Bukit Mantri, north of Balung Estate between Ulu Kalumpang Forest Reserve and Mount Wullersdoft Forest Reserve.While, Sabah's West Coast waters are benefiting from black gold (petroleum and gas), the East Coast boom that was centred on plantations, biomass downstream processing may now also include mining. The gold mining project is located approximately 38km (in direct distance) north-east of Tawau township and 25km north of Tawau Airport. It is about 45 minutes' drive from Tawau Airport to the project site.
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Sabah Environment Protection Department Director Mohd Yusrie Abdullah said the land title for the mine was issued to Sandakan-based South Sea Gold Sdn Bhd after they fulfilled all the necessary requirements set by the State Land and Surveys Department.He said the land title was issued after the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was done and completed.The company had already set up its office at the mining site and is waiting for the quarry mining scheme to be approved by the Mineral and Geosciences Department.According to the Environment Impact Assessment consultant's report (Chemsain Konsultant S/B), the area was previously part of the Mount Wullersdoft and Ulu Kalumpang Forest Reserves under the purview of the Sabah Forestry Department before it was alienated under Section 57 of the Land Ordinance Cap 68 and Section 16 of the Mining Ordinance No. 22 of 1960 on Jan. 9, 2015 for the purpose of mining.
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The Sabah Environmental Department is vetting a Special Environment Impact Assessment for the proposed gold mining on Tawau land title CL 105651438 at Mount Wullersdoft submitted by the proposer Southsea Gold S/B's consultant Chemsain Konsultant S/B, pending public feedback on the consultant's SEIA reports.Managing Director Datuk Lo Fui Ming, Mohd Amir Bin Masry and Dr Tan Su Haw are the directors/owners of Southsea Gold S/B owning the 1,000 hectares alienated on January 9, 2015 for mining gold, silver, zinc, lead, copper and other base metals.
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Their prospecting licence under Sabah's Mining Ordinance 1960 is valid for four years from January 1, 2013 from which activities have started for the purpose. The mining lease is valid for a period of 35 years from January 2014 to December 2048.The first phase known as Mantri Block will cover 475 out of 946.1 hectares. One of the mining experts who contributed to the study was Alexander Yan, formerly head of the Geoscience and Mineral Department.The site is currently accessible via the existing sealed road of Jalan Balung Cocos, branching off from Tawau-Semporna dual carriageway.From there, to reach the site another 6km needs to be covered through Mount Wullersdoft Forest Reserve via a 6 metre wide road reserve permitted under Sabah Forestry Department occupation permit and trees fell are to be auctioned off.Mineral ore deposit in Bukit Mantri is an epithermal vein style gold deposit with associated copper and silver mineralisation hosted in altered andesite rocks estimated by Optiro Pty Ltd of Perth, Australia for compliant mineral resource for the first phase is 2.7 million tonnes.Mining of gold deposit will utilise open pit methods with suitable height working benches made up of oxide and sulphide ores, weathered and fresh rocks.Based on the pit design and optimisation carried out using Datamine software by Optiro Pty Ltd, approximately 86 per cent of the compliant indicated mineral resource at Mantri Block of 1.69 million tonnes of ore with gold content of 4.6 tonnes, 14 tonnes of silver and 4,000 tonnes of copper can be mined economically.The total tonnage of ore in Bukit Mantri mineral deposit that can be economically extracted is about 1.45 tonnes with gold content of 4.03 tonnes, 12.07 tonnes of silver and 3,279 tonnes of copper.The metallurgical test result showed very good recovery of 97.4 per cent gold, 94.6 per cent silver, 95.4 per cent copper and 99.5 per cent sulphide minerals for the sulphide ore using flotation after gravity separation of the free gold.The processed ore will be exported overseas via 20 MT containers, most likely to China to extract its gold and associated minerals, i.e. silver and copper.Presently a Sabah-based company under Borneo Oil Berhad holdings is extracting gold in Pahang, and is reportedly doing very well, especially when the price of gold is up and the ringgit down.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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