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June 2016
MODERN MINING
37
WEST AFRICA
feature
Pit design. The pit will
eventually be approximately
3 km long and 500 mwide
with a maximum depth
of around 80 m. Nordgold
will undertake the mining
in-house.
Bouly has been designed as
a heap leach project. The
agglomeration drum is
seen here.
US$10 million less than initial capex guidance
of US$155 million due to significant savings
achieved during earthworks conducted in-
house and lower equipment prices combined
with disciplined procurement and foreign
exchange gains.
All major mechanical equipment, plate work
and structural steel have been installed with
piping and electrical installation progressing
on schedule. The entire mining fleet had been
delivered to site and was commissioned by the
end of Q1 2016. Pre-stripping of the starter pit
began in late February 2016 and the first ore
was mined in March. Approximately 76 % of
earthworks on the heap leach pad and 56 %
of the pad HDPE lining were completed by the
end of Q1 2016.
Nordgold produced 950 000 ounces of gold
in 2015. Its portfolio of mines includes three
in Africa – Taparko and Bissa in Burkina Faso
and Lefa in Guinea – with the balance being
in Russia and Khazakstan. Nordgold was
established in 2007 as Severstal Gold, a gold
producing subsidiary of Severstal, the Russian
steel company owned by Alexey Mordashov.
The proximity of Bouly to Bissa means that
the two mines will be able to share infrastruc-
ture. Commissioned in early 2013, Bissa is an
open-pit/CIL mine which is expected to pro-
duce 200 00 ounces of gold in 2016. Nordgold’s
other operating mine in Burkina Faso, Taparko,
also an open-pit/CIL operation, is located
200 km north-east of Ougadougou. It produced
approximately 83 000 ounces of gold in 2015.
Nordgold’s third African mine, Lefa in Guinea,
is similar in size to Bissa in terms of gold pro-
duction (214 000 ounces in 2015). Opened in
2008 and acquired by Nordgold in 2010, it is
a typical open-pit mine with processing via a
CIP plant.
Photos courtesy of Nordgold