Modern Mining July 2015

MINING News

Gold miner Golden Star Resources, which has offices in Toronto and Accra, reports that it has secured the necessary permits to develop open-pit operations at its Prestea mine in Ghana. The surface deposits to the south of the Prestea underground mine are host to 122 000 ounces of non-refractory mineral reserves at an average grade of 2,24 g/t Au. These surface operations are expected to be in production by the end of 2015, a year earlier than production from Prestea was initially anticipated. Combined with the redevelopment of underground opera- tions, Prestea has the potential to deliver in excess of five years of low cost production.  The environmental permit was issued by the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency after Golden Star undertook extensive impact assessment studies and local community consultations. Prestea South has not been mined to date and an investment in the haul road will be required to bring the project into production. The existing contractor’s fleet at Bogoso will be used to haul this oxide ore 16 km to the Bogoso non-refractory plant where processing will take place. Commenting on this development, Sam Coetzer, President and CEO of Golden Star, said: “The awarding of this permit is welcome news and will enable us to start exploiting the considerable poten- tial of our Prestea concession. Developing Prestea South is the first step towards our corporate strategy of transitioning into a higher margin non-refractory gold pro- ducer. We expect to update stakeholders with a new full year mine plan in the third quarter of 2015.”  Golden Star gets ‘green light’ for open-pit mining at Prestea

Headgear of the Prestea underground mine in Ghana, one of the oldest mines in the country. Golden Star is planning an open-pit operation on the Prestea property (photo: Golden Star). past positions have included being Design Manager for the owner’s team on the South Deep Twin Shaft project. At the completion of this project in 2004, he joined RSV and worked as the Engineering Cluster Manager for the Impala No 16 Shaft project. In 2008 he joined a prominent shaft-sinking company heading up their design office as Manager of Engineering in North Bay, Canada. He returned to RSV’s Engineering and Technology department in 2009 where he has managed numerous key techni- cal projects including the SBS project and Resolution Copper. Ultimately, he was the Project Principal for the three Oyu Tolgoi shaft projects completed by RSV. Von Ahlefeldt is a professional accoun- tant with some 30 years of financial experience. She has been with RSV for 16 years and is responsible for all the financial departments within the RSV Group. 

RSV Group announces senior appointments Consulting engineering and project man- agement company Read Swatman & Voigt (RSV) has announced the appointment of Rein Koelmans as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This is in addition to his exist- ing appointment as CEO of RSV SA. He succeeds Hennie Read , who was one of the founders of RSV in 1991, who will now concentrate on his portfolio as Executive Chairman of the RSV Group companies. Koelmans is a professional engineer registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and has more than 30 years of experience within the mining industry. His career in mining started in 1979 and he progressed to senior manage- ment level during 1981, overseeing mining operations and becoming GM of a large chrome mining operation with Samancor, BHP Billiton, for a period of six years. He also

spent a year in the Samancor head office as Manager Strategic Projects. He joined RSV as a Senior Mining Consultant and has progressed from Project Manager to Project Principal, Project Director and currently COO for the Platinum and Base Metals portfolio of projects. During his time at RSV he has been involved in numerous mine design projects, project reviews, feasibility studies, study reviews and Competent Persons Reports and has managed the K4 project valued at R2 billion. RSV has also announced that Derek Naude has been appointed as Technical Director and Debbie von Ahlefeldt as Finance Director. Naude, a qualified mechanical engineer, currently holds the position of COO for RSV and head of Engineering & Technology. His

July 2015  MODERN MINING  7