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May 2016MODERN MINING25
GOLD
higher cost per ton. Mining method
selection was based on achieving maxi-
mum recovery with minimum dilution
with particular consideration given to
orebody geometry and geotechnical con-
straints. At Bauhinia Creek the method
of long hole open stoping with waste
rock back-fill will ensure high produc-
tivity at relatively low cost. At Luika
the method of cut and fill with flat-
backing will ensure higher selectivity
and smaller spans in what are expected
to be more adverse ground conditions
compared to Bauhinia Creek.
The overall underground project
necessitates a new 7,5 MW power plant
on site. As with the existing facility, the
new plant will use heavy fuel oil but
will be equipped with medium speed
engines which provide a longer life and
are more efficient. The power station
will be supplied, operated and main-
tained by the supplier, Inglett & Stubbs
International, and is due to arrive on site
in Q1 2017.
As regards underground mobile
mining equipment, Shanta announced
earlier this year that it had completed
a US$5 million finance agreement with
Sandvik Mining & Construction which
will allow it to purchase the machines.
The equipment will arrive at the mine
in stages, with the first units scheduled
for delivery as this article was being
written.
Outlining progress on the under-
ground, Bradbury says the project is
in the early stages with work currently
focused on the portal development. He
adds that Shanta is undertaking the
development of the underground mine
in house and has already appointed the
key members of the underground team.
The underground mine forms the cor-
nerstone of New Luika’s Base Case Mine
Plan, announced in September last year,
which details the mine’s production
profile through to 2022. “Essentially,
the plan allows New Luika to maintain
an average annual production of 84 000
ounces for the next five years,” states
Bradbury. “Ore production will be from
both open pits and underground from
2017 with increasing emphasis on the
underground operation. The Base Case
Plan also includes a tailings recovery
project that will produce 19 000 ounces
over six years and this will be commis-
sioned in 2017.”
Looking at the upside potential for
New Luika, Bradbury says that current
resource sitting outside the Base Case
Plan amounts to just over half a million
ounces, some of it open-pittable and
some of it mineable by underground
methods. “The Base Case Plan currently
has unutilised mill capacity of 362 000
tonnes over the five years so clearly
there is potential to bring these ounces
to account. We have also committed to
a vigorous exploration programme of
known prospects within our mining
licence area and prospecting licences in
close proximity to the New Luika pro-
cess plant. So there is every prospect
that New Luika will continue until well
into the 2020s and possibly beyond,”
he concludes. 