13 / 68
May 2016
MODERN MINING
11
MINING News
“With Esaase about two years away from
production, we will look to advance develop-
ment of the satellite pits, as well as continue
our near-mine exploration programme to find
additional resources to keep the mill full until
Esaase is brought online.”
Phase 2A will develop the Esaase pit, min-
ing the oxide portion of the mineral reserve to
provide an additional 2 Mt/a of material which
will be blended with 3 Mt/a of the Nkran fresh
ore and processed through the existing pro-
cessing facility, which will be upgraded.
Development will include construction
of mining and crushing infrastructure and a
27 km overland conveyor belt to transport
the ore to the existing processing facility.
Brownfield modifications will upgrade the
existing processing plant capacity from 3 Mt/a
up to 5 Mt/a. The upgrades to the processing
facility that were originally envisioned to
expand capacity from 3 Mt/a to 3,8 Mt/a
in the PFS are now expected to increase
production levels up to 5 Mt/a.
Based on the PFS capital cost estimate
and mine plan, Phase 2A is expected
to take approximately 21 months for
detailed design and construction at a
capital cost of approximately US$100-
125 million. Production of over 280 000
oz/a is targeted to commence in Q4 2018.
The second stage of the project,
Phase 2B, will expand the mining opera-
tion to mine both Esaase oxide and fresh
ores and expand the processing facility
with the construction of an additional
5 Mt/a milling and flotation plant for
the exclusive processing of Esaase fresh
ores. Production is expected to exceed
480 000 oz/a from 2022 onwards, with
total processing capacity of 10 Mt/a
(3 Mt/a from Nkran and 7 Mt/a from
Esaase).
The capital cost is expected to be
approximately US$150 to US$170 million
and development of Phase 2B will be
staggered so that the capital cost will be
funded from cash flow.
Diamcor granted
Water Use Licence
Diamcor Mining Inc, listed on the TSX-V, has
announced that its application for a Water
Use Licence (WUL) to support long-term dia-
mond mining operations at its Krone-Endora
at Venetia project has been approved and
granted by the South African Department of
Water and Sanitation.
“We are very pleased to have successfully
secured this WUL for the project,” says Dean
H Taylor, CEO of Diamcor. “The granting of the
WUL represents the culmination of a multi-
year effort in the ongoing advancement of
our project, marks the achievement of yet
another significant milestone, further de-risks
the project, and most importantly, provides
us with the desired allocation of water to
support the targeted design capacity of the
processing facilities installed at the project for
the long-term.”
The WUL allows the company to extract
410 148 m
3
of water per year from seven bore-
holes, with that amount aimed at supporting
the project’s envisioned long-term processing
target of 300 000 tons per month.
Diamcor anticipates that, upon completion
of the additional infrastructure related to the
WUL, the resulting additional water resources
will enable it to complete the testing and
evaluation of the full targeted design capac-
ity of its processing facilities and to compile
key data from these higher processing rates
which will assist it in arriving at an initial
production decision.