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January 2017
MODERN MINING
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GOLD
envisaged that the Phase 2B plant would be a
flotation facility,” remarks Truter. “A reassess-
ment, however, has convinced us that going
the CIL route has numerous advantages, not
the least of them being a lower cost per tonne
milled. The recoveries will be virtually the
same as those delivered by flotation but build-
ing an identical plant – except for the mills
– to the present one will save on engineering
design and reduce capital cost risks. In addi-
tion, Ghana is very much ‘CIL country’ so the
skills are in place to run a CIL facility – which
is not the case when it comes to flotation. A CIL
plant can also handle power outages – which
are not uncommon in Ghana – far better than
the flotation process.”
As a final comment on Asanko, Truter says
Top projects
Another view of the Nkran
plant. Its capacity is to be
upgraded from 3,6 Mt/a to
5 Mt/a in Phase 2A.
that once Phase 2B is completed, expected by
2020, Asanko Gold will be producing up to
470 000 ounces a year, which will make it one
of the world’s bigger mid-tier gold producers.
“Phase 2B is not necessarily the end of the
story,” he states. “We see the Asankrangwa belt
as an emerging gold district. We are engaged in
acquiring properties on the belt and one that
has already entered our portfolio is Akwasiso,
which hosts an Nkran ‘lookalike’ deposit. We
also have a very aggressive exploration pro-
gramme in progress. We are optimistic that
these activities will deliver extra resources
which will either be processed by – and extend
the life of – the existing mine or possibly even
form the basis for new standalone operations.”
Photos courtesy of Asanko Gold