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June 2016
MODERN MINING
27
WEST AFRICA
feature
Payback period for Fekola just 28 months
In June last year B2Gold announced the “robust results” of an Optimised
Feasibility Study (OFS) for Fekola, indicating that the project would cost an
estimated US$395 million to build (excluding US$38 million for early works)
with a further US$67 million being required for the mining fleet and for on-
site power generation (to be provided by a 47 MW HFO generator plant).
According to the OFS (and based on a reserve gold price of US$1 300
per ounce), the project has a positive pre-tax NPV of US$1,01 billion at a
discount rate of 5 % and a pre-tax IRR of 35 %. Payback is approximately
28 months after the first gold production.
Employees enjoy the new high-end kitchen facilities. Phase 2
of the camp is due to be complete in July 2016.
The concrete team pours the
next section of the conveyor
columns.
two 120-t class backhoes working in conjunc-
tion with Cat 777 trucks. The shovels will
work on 10 m high waste mining benches
while the backhoes will be used to mine selec-
tively and in difficult areas. It is envisaged that
the start-up truck fleet will number 16 units
but this will increase to a peak of 34 as haul
distances increase.
The processing plant facility and supporting
infrastructure is being built to a design through-
put of 4,0 Mt/a with a 25 % design factor which
allows for an increase in future throughput
with minimal additional capital.
Run-of-mine ore from the open-pit opera-
tions and stockpiles will be delivered to the
gyratory primary crusher. The crushed ore
will be transferred by conveyors to a reclaim
stockpile with a 10 000-tonne live capacity.
Reclaimed ore is conveyed to the SAG ball
crushing (SABC) comminution circuit consist-
ing of a primary SAG mill, a secondary ball
mill, and a pebble crusher resulting in a P80
grind size of 75 µm.
The grinding circuit product will be thick-
ened and treated in the leach and CIP circuit
for extraction and recovery of gold. The tailings
from the CIP circuit will be treated by cyanide
destruction and thickened prior to being dis-
charged in the tailings storage facility (TSF).
Gold is recovered from the loaded carbon in an
elution and electrowinning circuit and will be
poured into doré bars on site. Life of mine aver-
age recovery is projected to be 92,8 %.
The TSF is a fully high-density polyethyl-
ene lined facility 1 km north of the process
plant. The first stage has capacity for 16 to 18
months of production. Annual downstream
raises constructed primarily with mine waste
are designed to contain 62 Mt of tailings.
Finally, it should be mentioned that while
Fekola will be B2Gold’s first West African
mine, it could ultimately be followed by a sec-
ond of even bigger scale (in terms of tonnages
though not gold production). The company
owns the Kiaka project in Mali’s neighbour,
Burkina Faso, which it describes as one of the
largest – though relatively low grade – unde-
veloped gold resources in the region. B2Gold
completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) which
estimated that the resource could support a
6 Mt/a mine producing 186 000 ounces of gold
a year for 13,6 years. B2Gold – which has com-
mitted US$2,6 million to further exploration of
the property during 2016 – says it is currently
reviewing economically feasible options for
development in the current gold price envi-
ronment. Higher throughput scenarios will
be considered to take full advantage of the
project’s 4,86 million ounce measured and
indicated mineral resource.
Report compiled by Arthur Tassell, photos courtesy of B2Gold