Modern Mining August 2016

MINING News

Perseus Mining expects late-2017 start-up for Sissingué gold project

Cat 6030 300T shovel and 10 Cat 777s, all new machines, were delivered during the quarter. In Q3 an additional 10 new 777s and three new drill rigs are expected, which – says Asanko – will go a long way towards improving net asset utilisation, increasing efficiencies and lowering costs. The processing plant processed 702 318 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1,69 g/t gold during the quarter. Recovery of gold was in line with expectations with higher recoveries achieved in the latter half of the quarter once the oxygen plant was fully operational. The average gold recov- ery for the quarter was 92 %. During the quarter a number of opera- tional improvements were implemented in the processing plant including mechan- ical changes to the materials handling and crushing circuits, ball mill and SAG mill gear changes and other de-bottlenecking work that resulted in higher than normal planned mechanical downtime in the pro- cessing plant. The goal of the work was to optimise the inherent additional mill capacity and operate at 275 000 tonnes per month, or about 10 % above design rates on a continuous basis. With the bulk of the changes completed by early June, the processing plant treated 265 000 t during the month and is now operat- ing at the levels anticipated from these improvements. Commenting on the quarter’s results, Peter Breese, Asanko’s President and CEO, said: “The Asanko Gold Mine delivered a strong quarter; commercial production was achieved a quarter ahead of sched- ule, gold production of 36 337 ounces was in-line with our guidance and ramp- up to steady-state production levels was reached within six months of starting the new production plant.” 

Updating on the status of its Sissingué gold project in Côte d’Ivoire in its latest quarterly report (for the period ending 30 June), Australia’s Perseus Mining says that post the end of the quarter and fol- lowing the successful raising of equity finance, execution plans for the full-scale development of Sissingué were activated. At a total development cost to com- pletion of US$100 million, Sissingué is currently forecast to produce 385 000 ounces of gold at an all-in site cost of US$632/ounce over a 5,25-year period from first gold production to generate an ungeared after-tax IRR of 27 % at an aver- age gold price of US$1 200/ounce. Perseus says negotiations with a highly regarded Australian contrac- tor (Lycopodium) are well advanced on finalising the EPC contract, accounting

indicated resources that may be used in the life of mine plan from the 2,93 Mt used for the Technical Report prepared by Minxcon in December 2014 to 4,89 Mt currently. This represents an increase of 67 % in terms of mineable tonnes and hence in the life of the mine. Commenting on the resource upgrade, Steve Curtis, Caledonia’s President and CEO, said: “This upgrade reflects the ongoing focus on resource development at Blanket mine. It should be noted that the upgrades are only in the Blanket section of the mine and that further resource upgrades in the AR South, AR Main and Eroica sections will be released in the second half of the year.  for approximately 50 % of the estimated construction scope. The execution of the EPC contract is currently scheduled for this month (August) and, given that all required licensing, permitting and landowner compensation has been com- pleted, re-commencement of site works is expected to occur in the later stages of the September 2016 quarter. The full scale development of Sissingué is intended to be financed through a mix of equity finance (US$40 million) and project debt finance (US$60 million). Perseus says that given the quality of the project planning and the assembled proj- ect management team, construction and commissioning of Sissingué is expected to progress reasonably quickly with first pro- duction of gold now scheduled to occur in the December 2017 quarter. 

Resource base at Blanket increased and upgraded Caledonia Mining Corporation, listed on the TSX and AIM, has announced an increase and upgrade to the resource base at its 49 %-owned subsidiary, the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe.

Based on the diamond core drilling that has been done at depth below the Blanket section over the past half year, 343 000 tonnes have been upgraded from the inferred to the indicated resource category and an additional 1,28 Mt of new inventory has been added to inferred resources. This upgraded indicated resource of 343 000 tonnes, combined with the resources upgraded during 2015, have increased the quantum of reserves and

August 2016  MODERN MINING  9