Modern Mining November 2015

MINING News

The processing plant at the Tongon gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire (photo: Randgold Resources).

Tongon gold mine passes major milestone

Randgold Resources’Tongon gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire has paid off its shareholders’ loans of US$448 million, used to partially fund its capital investment of US$580 million, thereby moving it into a dividend- paying position. Speaking recently at the mine’s quar­ terly briefing for local media, Randgold Chief Executive Mark Bristow described this as a significant achievement, particu­ larly in the context of a global gold mining

It is expected that production will now ramp up to an initial target rate of 10 500 tonnes per month, estimated to produce around 5 000 lb Ta 2 0 5 per month in the sec­ ond quarter of 2016. Says Peter Hibberd, CEO of Kennedy Ventures:“We are delighted that production of ‘conflict free’tantalum has recommenced at the mine. This is a major milestone as Aftan continues to progress towards becoming a material producer of tantalite. We look forward to making our first deliv­ ery to our off-taker in the near future. Initial indications from the mine have confirmed that Aftan’s targeted production levels remain realistic and achievable.”  “Tongon has already paid close to US$90 million to the Ivorian state in the form of royalties and taxes and the coun­ try will now benefit even more from the dividends the government will receive through its 10 % carried interest in the mine as well as the increased revenue when Tongon starts paying full corporate tax at the end of this year,”Bristow said. He industry currently characterised by capital write-downs and impairments.

noted that since its commissioning five years ago, Tongon had also contributed more than US$600 million to the Ivorian economy in the form of payments to local suppliers and had invested almost US$6 million in community upliftment projects. “Ongoing exploration around Tongon has increased its reserves after depletion by 18 % since 2009, extending its remain­ ing life by another year. We also continue to look for more multi-million ounce deposits elsewhere in this highly prospec­ tive country, and we are about to launch our biggest-ever exploration drive in Côte d’Ivoire. This will include a fresh look at the Nielle permit, which hosts Tongon, and a geophysical survey, followed by a diamond drilling programme, across our holdings in the north of the country,” he said. He also cited Tongon as a particularly good example of the success of Randgold’s policy of recruiting, training and empow­ ering nationals of its host countries to run world-class mines in Africa. The mine’s workforce is 97 % Ivorian and only two members of its management team are not Ivorians. Tongon has won the President’s Award as the best mine in Côte d’Ivoire for two successive years. 

Tantalite Valley process plant commissioned Kennedy Ventures plc, which is focused on tantalite production in Namibia through its 75 % holding in African Tantalum (Aftan), has announced the successful and within budget commissioning of Aftan’s tantalite process plant at the Tantalite Valley project in southern Namibia.

The mine is now virtually fully staffed, with a full water supply, and has been restocked with additional spares to mini­ mise any future mechanical downtime. It is expected that new underground produc­ tion will be available for processing shortly. Plans have been put in place to expedite output and first deliveries to an offtaker are anticipated this month (November).

16  MODERN MINING  November 2015