PROJECT LOCATION:

This project for mining Diamonds, and the separation of diamonds will be located in Kono in about a quarter of Sierra Leone in the south-east and east of the country, with the diamond
fields cover 7,700 square miles. The main production areas are concentrated around the drainage areas of rivers in the Kono, Kenema and Bo Districts.
 

The proposed 20 plot lease area is located in Bo town, the second largest city in Sierra Leone after Freetown. The leading financial, and economic centre of southern Sierra Leone.
 

The drainage of the area follows dendritic pattern flowing in all directions. All most all rain water falling on the Surface flows down the slopes and to outside lease area.
 

The Diamond deposits / ore bodies are isolated occurrences in the Bo Plateau. The detailed exploration in the area was carried out by Monic Investments in starting from reconnaissance in 2014. The morphology of diamond ore bodies and the variability of diamond occurrences
required high density drilling and sampling. The samples collected need to be processed in a small scale processing plant to separate diamonds. The company is going to establish a 3
tph bulk samples processing plant nearby non forest land. The present deposit contains less than one carat of diamond per tonne of kimberlite ore. One
carat is only 200 Milligrams. The first stage exploration involved collection of sediment samples for analysing indicator minerals after pursuing anomalies on the ground.
 

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The identification of ore bodies was followed by Trenching and drilling. for investigation of the ATRI, the largest Ore body spread over a surface area of 6 plots. The trenching and pitting was followed by drilling 8 HQ size holes to understand the Ore body structure, its extent on sides ana depth. This was followed by drilling of 2 large DIA (203.2 mm) holes, to collect bulk
samples, to a depth varying from 150 m to 250 m, to evaluate the grade of the deposit. The ATRI ore body was explored and data collected was processed through computer model to
calculate reserves. The results showed that ATRI Ore body has qualitatively two parts, identified as ATRI North and ATRI South. The reserves and tonnage calculated up to depth of 245 m. or 70 MRL is as under:.

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It is proposed to mine the reserves by mechanised opencast method upto a depth of 245m or 100MRL. The opencast pit will be 920 m DIA with bench height of 10m.

The bench slopes will vary from 400 to 450 while overall pit slope will be 400. 

 

It is proposed to have separate dumps for overburden / waste and soil; within proposed lease area. Both overburden / waste and ore will be blasted, loaded by shovels and taken to respective storage area / dumps by dumpers.
 

The mine will have capacity of 4.15 MTPA of ore with maximum of 6MT of overburden / waste being extracted in the year. However, ore processing plant will have capacity of 5 MTPA.

 

Mineral Processing
The process involves Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Crushing, followed by Scrubbing, Screening, degritting and desliming. The ore will then be taken to Separators in two sizes. The
final recovery of diamonds will be by magnetic separation, followed by X-Ray, acidization and recycling of tailing.
 

The coarse rejects will be utilized for construction of embankments within the tailing pond and the boundary of the tailing pond. The fine processed kimberlite rejects will be taken to tailings
pond. The processing plant will not discharge any liquid effluent to surface water courses or ground. All the liquid effluent will be discharged to the tailing pond. The mine will have all required site services including, workshops, store and warehouses, HT electric substation, High speed diesel storage, explosive magazines, water supply and a number of mine offices. The facilities
will include a Helipad, outside lease area in non forest land, as raw diamonds are proposed to be transported to its marketing destination by air.
 

The life of opencast mine of ATRI Pit is only 13 years. The life will increase by another 10-12 years when the surrounding deposits are explored and found suitable for exploitation, As the
initial life of the mine is only 13 years, the colony proposed will provide suitable accommodation with all amenities. The colony will be constructed on non-forest land outside the lease area.

 

Environmental Monitoring Programme

The environmental Monitoring Programme proposed, has been designed considering the fact that the proposed lease area is close to the city.

 

If any of the monitored values are within 10% of prescribed limits, the monitoring will be repeated at that location for continuous 24 hrs.

 

Water Quality from the reservoirs created by arresting two seasonal water courses will be monitored every month during rainy season and one month after.

 

These Sources will be monitored again during October-December, or three months after withdrawal monsoons, whichever is earlier.

 

Blasting vibrations will be monitored during blasting trials. It may not be necessary to monitor blast vibrations after that, as there are no villages within 2 km of mine working.

 

The ground water sources of the nearest city buffer zone will be monitored once parameters pH, total dissolved solids, total hardness, Fluorides and Coliforms.

The collection and analysis of samples for air quality and water quality will be outsourced. Noise Levels will be monitored departmentally.

 

Additional Studies
 

The Socio-economic survey will be carried in the city, and in all the villages within 3.5 km of ease boundary. In addition, Bo Town, will be included. A Census data for these villages will be
collected and analysed. In order to update data the company will carry out house to house survey, which will be analysed. A sample survey will be carried out at in BO City, during which
families over 15 wards will be surveyed. A socio-economic survey report will be prepared after analysing data. The survey data will be utilized to draw out a Corporate Social Responsibility Programme. The company will carry out various activities during the first 7- 8 years. These will include Education, community health, water resources management and development, livelihood promotion, and Agriculture.

 

Project Benefits:
 

The mine will be one of the first sustainable and community friendly industry in the district. Its impact will be felt through ours community programs, employments and development.

The condition of subsidiary roads leading to and around the proposed project area will be improved by Monic Investments.

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As a responsible local company, we will has initiate several projects in the area. A lot of positive impacts will be felt in the surroundings and neighbouring cities.
 

The company will employ over 100 persons after the first five years in operations for the project. Out of which 100 will receive advanced trainings. Monic Investments will initiate training
programmes to be accessed by locals after which they will be integrated into the work force. The total employment is expected will go up 300 after the first ten years. Besides these direct
employment, the outsourced jobs will also create employment opportunities for the locals.

Project Benefits
Monic Investments has a qualified person in charge of the Environment. He will be in charge of Environmental Management of the balance lease area and buffer zone including plantation,
dust suppression measures outside the mine and monitoring of Environmental Parameters as prescribed by the State Pollution Centre Board. He will also be responsible for sending
periodical reports prescribed under permission granted by the State Pollution Control Board and Forest Department. He will also be responsible to bring to the notice of the CEO of the Monic
Investments, any deficiencies noticed including actions required to be taken. 

 

He will also be responsible to convene a half yearly meeting of all project officials to discuss status of Environment.

We, at Monic investments believe sustainability can be a catalyst to climate change as it addresses all facets of the mining value chain, from input sourcing and development of local Supply and renewable energy to delivering a sustainable product to the market.

Materials and Equipment required for Monic Investments are
Administrative building. Vehicles. Tipper trucks. Office equipment. Stationary. Excavator. Mobile crusher. Hydraulic Mining Shovels. Large Dossers. Electric Rope Shovels. Rotary Drill Rigs. Rock Drills. Motor Graders. Large Wheel Loaders. Helmets. Security gloves. Drag lines. Wheel Tractor Scrapers. Underground Mining Loaders. Underground Trucks.