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MODERN MINING
June 2016
WEST AFRICA
feature
C
ompleted on time and within
budget, Otjikoto is arguably a text
book case of efficient project im-
plementation and B2Gold is look-
ing to repeat this success in Mali.
Indeed, the same team that built Otjikoto, led
by Bill Lytle (now B2Gold’s Senior Vice Presi-
dent of Operations), is responsible for Fekola
and is working closely with engineers Lycopo-
dium to deliver the project. B2Gold’s strategy
is to minimise the use of contractors and build
projects using its own internal resources and
this same formula is being followed at Fekola.
Initial construction activities started in
February 2015. These early works included the
construction of a new 40 km road to the site to
allow year-round access and an on-site airstrip,
the establishment of a concrete batch plant,
construction of the camp pad and the start of
clearing within the mill footprint. The pace
of work intensified later in the year, with the
official ground-breaking ceremony occurring in
late November 2015.
Since then, the first piles have gone in, the
first concrete pours have taken place, the first
phase of the permanent camp has been built,
the tailings dam walls have been materially
completed (excluding a small opening to allow
Fekola
destined to be Mali’s
second biggest gold mine
Foundation formwork of the primary crusher structure. Some 4 million tonnes of ore per year will be processed through this structure.
Canada’s B2Gold Corp, listed on the TSX, NYSE MKT and the Namibian Stock Exchange, reports good
progress on its Fekola project in Mali, which it says is on course to start gold production in late 2017.
With a planned annual production of 350 000 ounces in the first seven years of its life, Fekola will be
the second biggest gold mine in Mali (after Randgold’s Loulo-Gounkoto Complex) and certainly the
biggest in B2Gold’s stable, which currently comprises four operating gold mines, including the highly
successful Otjikoto mine in Namibia which was officially opened in June last year.