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GOLD
28
MODERN MINING
November 2016
A
ccording to the FS, prepared
and compiled by Lycopodium
Minerals with the support of six
globally recognised engineer-
ing firms, the Ity CIL project
is expected to deliver average production of
114 000 ounces per year over a 14-year mine
life at an AISC of US$603/oz, based on current
reserves. The project will comprise multiple
open-pit mines and existing decommissioned
heap leach stockpiles, and will include the
construction of a new gravity circuit/CIL plant.
The initial capital cost is estimated at US$307
million with a 20-month construction period.
The Feasibility Study production profile and
economics have significantly improved com-
pared to the September 2015 Pre-Feasibility
Study. Factors that have contributed to this
are a 31 % increase in reserves due to the
inclusion of additional deposits and further
resource conversion; increasing the mill size
from 2,0 Mt/a to 3,0 Mt/a, which lifts annual
production while maintaining a 14-year mine
life; and optimisation of the Tailings Storage
Facility (TSF) and associated earthworks. In
addition, mine sequencing, processing sched-
uling, and river diversions/hydrogeology have
been optimised, as has the mining equipment
fleet (which will have a moving capacity in
excess of 17 Mt/a).
The improved economics are also a result
of a simplified and optimised process plant
design, by Endeavour Project Services along
with Lycopodium, to follow the same path as
the Houndé project in Burkina Faso, and the
Agbaou and Nzema mines (in Cote d’Ivoire and
Ghana respectively), in addition to removing
the refractory processing route, which will be
investigated further.
A total of eight indicated mineral resource
prospect areas are included in the FS. These are
six in-situ gold deposits (Daapleu, Mont Ity, Ity
Flat, Zia NE, Walter and Gbeitouo) in addition
to the Teckraie stockpile and the Aires decom-
missioned leach pad.
The selected strategy is to mine and process
Daapleu and Ity Flat higher grade ore early,
while stockpiling low grade ore for treatment
when open-pit mining operations are com-
plete. As such, the mining period is nine years
followed by the processing of stockpiled low-
grade ore for another five years.
This strategy was established through pit
optimisation work which indicated that paral-
lel processing of the Daapleu sulphide ores with
free milling oxide ores gave the best return.
Mill feed requirements will be supplemented
successively with oxide material fromMont Ity,
Gbeitouo, Walter and Zia NE and existing ore
stockpiled from current heap leach operations.
The mine planning, resource and cost
estimation for the FS is based on an owner
operated mining operation using 90-tonne haul
trucks. Mining is scheduled to commence three
months before the start of the processing plant
to pre-strip the pits and stockpile ore. The life
of mine strip ratio is put at 2 to 1 with the pits
reaching depths of up to 205 m.
As regards the processing route, the con-
ventional gravity circuit/CIL plant is designed
CIL project
could transform
Ity
into a
flagship
operation
Open pit at Ity. The mine
has produced more than
1,2 Moz of gold in its more
than 20 years of operations
(photo: Endeavour Mining).
TSX-listed Endeavour Mining, which owns and operates five
mines in West Africa fromwhich it expects a total gold pro-
duction of between 575 and 610 koz in 2016, reports that
a “robust” Feasibility Study (FS) on a CIL project at its Ity
mine in Cote d’Ivoire has been completed. It says the FS has
confirmed that Ity, currently a heap leach operation, has the
potential to become a long-life, low-cost flagship asset.