Orion Minerals, Nominee for Emerging ESG Leader for an Explorer/Developer, 2024 Africa Award

About the Nominee & their Nomination

Orion Minerals (Orion) (ASX:ORN, JSE:ORN) is a globally diversified metal explorer and developer on track to become a new-generation Australian-South African base metals producer supplying future-facing metals for the global transition to a lower carbon future. 

Orion is advancing from an explorer to a developer through the development of its flagship Prieska Copper Zinc Mine (PCZM) and its near term Okiep Copper Project (OCP), both located in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. 

The Prieska Copper Zinc Mine is Orion’s flagship asset. Historically mined between the 1970s and 1990s, Prieska is one of the world’s Top-30 volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) base metal deposits, with a recorded historical production of over 430k tonnes of copper and 1Mt of zinc from 46.8Mt of sulphide ore milled. 

PCZM is located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and contains a globally significant VMS resource totalling 30.98Mt grading 1.2% Cu and 3.6% Zn. 

During 2023-2024, trial mining of the +105 Level resource was successfully undertaken and dewatering has begun. PCZM is fully permitted and ready to mine.

Orion places a high priority on encouraging host community participation in its operations. The highlight of this submission is the success they have had with developing Quebar, a local service provider, to expand their skills and capability through mentorship and training. This empowerment ensures economic growth and job creation is achieved.

Initiative: Orion Minerals and Quebar: A Host Community Supplier Empowerment Success Story in South Africa

Orion Minerals supported host community business, Quebar Electrical and Civil Construction (Pty) Ltd, to become a core service provider to PCZM in the fields of electrical and civil construction. 

Thanks to Orion’s mentoring and capacity building, Quebar has increased its employee numbers, creating more jobs within the community, strengthened the skills and expertise available within the business and community and enhanced its potential to compete for further contracts from mines within the region.

Highlights

• Quebar Electrical & Civil Construction (Quebar) is a proudly 100% Black-owned (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Level 1) electrical and civil construction company founded in 2014 by Quentin Barends
• A key focus of Quebar has been to employ and uplift members of the local community including women and youth by training them to become qualified electricians. Quebar employs 17 women across its business, out of a total company complement of 65 employees, and currently has five learners enrolled in on-the-job training to obtain their electrical trade certification.
• In October 2023, as PCZM embarked on operational site establishment, early underground mining and preparations for mine dewatering, Quebar successfully tendered to construct an 11Kv powerline from the Eskom substation to the site of the new evaporation dam.
• Orion has provided Quebar with mentorship, expert guidance and an increase in the scope and complexity of the work entrusted to them to enhance their technical expertise in the mining industry.
• Through its engagement on these contracts, working with the Engineering and Mining teams at PCZM, Quebar has successfully expanded its areas of competency into the underground mining environment. This will position the company to expand its horizons beyond its traditional areas of strength in the renewable energy sector and enable it to compete in the mining sector – within the rest of the Northern Cape Province and potentially throughout South Africa.
•  At PCZM, Quebar currently employs 46 people, of which 43 are from the local community. Nine of the Quebar employees at PCZM are females, which reinforces Orion’s commitment to gender equality in the workplace. 
• The work undertaken by Quebar has been of the highest technical standard and has been delivered on time and on budget with zero accidents or injuries.