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MODERN MINING
November 2016
MINING News
Drilling at Zulu returns “significant” tantalum grades
Premier African Minerals Limited, the AIM-
quoted mining exploration and production
company, reports that significant tantalum
grades have been recorded from the cur-
rent 2 500 m drilling programme at the
company’s Zulu lithium and tantalum proj-
ect located in south-central Zimbabwe.
Significantly elevated tantalum (Ta
2
O
5
)
grades have been encountered in all holes
sampled to date, with grades reported
as high as 706 ppm Ta
2
O
5
in borehole
ZDD 14. Massive lithium-enriched miner-
alised intersections in excess of 40 m were
encountered in hole ZDD-05.
“These interim results are extremely
encouraging and support the company’s
view that Zulu has the potential to be
one of the best hard rock lithium projects
today,” comments George Roach, Premier’s
CEO. “The tantalum grades are even more
significant when compared to the bell-
weather Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum
deposit, which is currently being developed
in Australia by Pilbara Minerals Ltd and has
reported generally lower tantalum grades
than the current Zulu results received to
date in their latest reserve statement in
August 2016.”
Asanko Gold Inc, listed on the TSX and
NYSE MKT, has announced that its board
has approved the commencement of
the Phase 2A expansion at its Asanko
Gold Mine (AGM) in Ghana, with Front
End Engineering Design (FEED) to start
immediately.
The decision follows Asanko Gold’s
receipt of the ‘Environmental Invoice’ from
the Ghananian Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) for mining operations at the
Esaase deposit and the overland conveyor
connecting the Esaase pit to the existing
processing facility.
“Within three quarters of pouring first
gold, our Phase 1 project is delivering
ahead of feasibility in the key metrics of
production and costs,” comments Peter
Breese, Asanko Gold’s President and CEO.
“The time is right to proceed with the
Phase 2A expansion, which will establish
mining at our Esaase pit and provide vital
infrastructure between Esaase and the
existing processing plant for future expan-
sion projects.”
Phase 2A has two components to its
development plan. The first is the devel-
opment of an open-pit mine and the
construction of mining and crushing
infrastructure at Esaase and the construc-
tion of a 27 km overland conveyor belt,
capable of handling ore for Phases 2A
and 2B, to transport ore to the existing
processing facility.
The second component involves a
brownfield modification to the existing
CIL process facility to increase the plant’s
capacity from 3,6 Mt/a to 5 Mt/a. The
upgraded processing facility will process
a blend of 2 Mt/a of ore from Esaase and
3 Mt/a of ore from the Nkran pit and sur-
rounding satellite deposits.
With Phase 2A operational, AGM will
produce approximately 300 000 ounces of
gold in 2018, with the ore being derived
from the Nkran pit and the phase 1 satel-
Layout of the Asanko Gold Mine project in Ghana.
Phase 2A expansion of Asanko Gold Mine approved
lite deposits, as well as the large Esaase pit.
Extensive metallurgical test work,
undertaken at ALS laboratories in Perth,
Australia, together with operational expe-
rience gained from Phase 1 to date, has
confirmed that metallurgical recovery
from blending the Esaase and Nkran ores
will be in line with the PFS recovery esti-
mates of 90,9 %.
The technical and financial details of the
new mine at Esaase, the conveyor belt and
the plant modifications will be outlined in
the Phase 2 DFS which is expected in Q4
2016. The Phase 2A capital cost is expected
to be approximately US$125 million.
The second stage of the project,
Phase 2B, will further expand the pro-
cessing facility at Phase 1 with the
construction of an additional 5 Mt/a CIL
circuit for a total processing capacity of
10 Mt/a (3 Mt/a from Nkran and associ-
ated satellite pits and 7 Mt/a from Esaase)
to produce approximately 450 000 ounces
of gold per annum.