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MODERN MINING
August 2016
MINING News
Groundwater inflow impedes Tschudi production
Weatherly International, listed on AIM,
says that production from its Tschudi cop-
per project in northern Namibia was 3 812
tonnes of copper cathode in the quarter
ended 30 June 2016.
This was a decrease from the previous
quarter, with Weatherly attributing this to
increased groundwater inflow rates being
experienced at levels which exceed those
anticipated in the BFS. As a result, it has
been necessary to design, procure and
commission additional groundwater man-
agement systems and infrastructure whilst
engaging additional Namibian and inter-
national specialist consulting expertise to
assist with this process.
C1 costs for Tschudi for the quarter were
US$4 689 per tonne, increasing due to the
reduced production and actions taken to
manage the groundwater inflow. Weatherly
says that C1 costs for the nine months from
1 October 2015 to 30 June 2016 – since
Tschudi has been in commercial production
– remained below guidance at US$4 199
per tonne.
Production of 17 000 tonnes of copper
cathode is expected to be achieved for the
year ending 30 June 2017 with forecast C1
unit costs expected to be in the range of
US$4 100-4 200 per tonne.
Craig Thomas, CEO of Weatherly, com-
mented: “The Tschudi operations have
been hampered during the quarter by
groundwater inflows significantly higher
than predicted during the feasibility
study. Expertise and equipment have
been procured to resolve the issue and full
production rates are expected to resume
before the end of the 2016 calendar year.”
The leaching behaviour of ore placed
on the heap continues to be as expected
in terms of both leaching rates and acid
consumption. The solvent extraction and
electro-winning plants continue to perform
well, and have demonstrated the ability to
produce at 1 500 tonnes per month when
sufficient copper in solution is available
from the heap.
Asanko Gold Inc, listed on the TSX and
NYSE MKT, has announced production
results for the second quarter 2016 from
Phase 1 of the Asanko Gold Mine (AGM),
located in Ghana.
Commercial production was declared on
April 1, 2016and rampup to steady-statepro-
duction of both the mining and processing
operations was achieved by the end of Q2.
Mining operations continued exclu-
sively in the Nkran pit where bulk mining
of the periphery of the main ore zones was
undertaken to open up access to the main
orebody by the end of Q2. This objective
was achieved in the quarter with 5,8 Mt of
waste removed from the pit and 1,2 Mt of
ore mined at a strip ratio of 4,7:1. As antici-
pated, the bulk mining resulted in higher
The processing plant at Asanko, seen here, processed 702 318 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1,69 g/t during the quarter (photo: Asanko).
Asanko Gold Mine delivers a strong quarter
levels of dilution and gold losses than are
expected at steady state, resulting in an
average grade of mined ore of 1,48 g/t gold.
According to Asanko, mining efficien-
cies are showing signs of improvement
as a result of receiving part of a new min-
ing contractor fleet during the quarter to
replace the second-hand fleet that started
the pre-strip in 2015. A Cat 992 FEL, a