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November 2015
MODERN MINING
7
MINING News
Aureus Mining Inc, the TSX- and AIM-listed
West African gold producer, reports that
gold producing operations at the New
Liberty Gold Mine (NLGM) have restarted
following the repair of the secondary
crusher. The crusher suffered a mechanical
failure in October, leading to a temporary
suspension of processing activities.
Ore crushing operations recommenced
on 28 October 2015, following the installa
tion of a temporary mobile crushing unit.
The mobile crusher, which was sourced
in-country, has a capacity of 200 t/h and
is sufficient to supply the New Liberty ball
mill, which runs at a designed feed rate of
146 tonnes of run of mine (ROM) ore per
hour.
This mobile crusher will be retained on
site for a period of six months to provide
additional operational flexibility during
the final testing and commissioning phase
of the plant, and also to provide additional
crushed rock material for use on haul roads
and other associated infrastructure.
Specialists fromDRA, the EPCM contrac
tor, and technicians from the OEM of the
secondary crusher successfully completed
repairs to remediate the mechanical failure
within the secondary crusher. These repairs
were completed on 29 October 2015, fol
lowing which the secondary crusher was
tested extensively to ensure all parame
ters were operating correctly before being
recommissioned and ramped back up to
its full capacity.
During the temporary 19-day stoppage
of crushing and processing operations,
mining operations continued. Run of mine
(ROM) stockpiles currently total 55 283
tonnes at 3,16 g/t and oxide stockpiles
total 105 203 tonnes at 2,04 g/t.
Commercial productionwill be declared
on the first day of the calendar month fol
lowing the mill having operated at an
average of 60 % or more of the designed
production capacity, calculated over a
60-day period.
Commenting on the restart of process
ing operations, David Reading, President
and CEO of Aureus Mining, said: “I am
pleased to announce that gold process
The New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia, which was officially opened in August this year (photo: Aureus Mining).
New Liberty back on track after crusher outage
Acacia’s Chief Operating Officer leaves the company
Acacia has announced that its Chief Operating
Officer, Michelle Ash, will be leaving the
company with immediate effect, with Brad
Gordon, CEO, resuming direct responsibility
for the operations. Acacia is the biggest gold
miner in Tanzania and owns and operates the
Bulyanhulu, North Mara and Buzwagi mines.
“I would like to express my thanks to
Michelle for her contribution to Acacia
over the past two years and wish her all the
best for the future. I will again take direct
responsibility for the operations given that
our number one priority is achieving the
planned improvement in performance in the
fourth quarter,” comments Gordon. “In this
respect, October was fully in line with plan,
across all three sites, and we remain on track
for the full year. We plan to reassess the situ
ation as regards any potential replacement
COO early in 2016.”
ing operations have recommenced at the
New Liberty Gold Mine and we are now
looking forward to declaring commercial
production in January 2016. The quick
remediation of the secondary crusher fail
ure is testament to the hard work of our
employees and the specialist engineers
and technicians from DRA and the OEM,
who have worked tirelessly to restart pro
duction as quickly as possible.”