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June 2017
MODERN MINING
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MINING News
Fax: +27 (0)11 383 9305 email: winder@winder.co.za HOISTING SOLUTIONS Tel: +27 (0)11 383 9300 Winder Controls is a leader in the mechanical, electrical and hydraulic design, manufacture and installa- tion of mine winders and related equipment. Our designs comply with the latest international safety and reliability standards including SIL assessments where applicable. Our services include relocations, refur- bishment and upgrades, as well as full aftersales and maintenance support. In addition we offer a range of special products including steel wire rope handling equipment, Three Chamber Energy recovery systems and Nuclear Waste Disposal Technology. www.winder.co.zaCIL tank construction at Yanfolila earlier this year (photo: Hummingbird).
eight years of 107 000 ounces although
the first full year of operation will see
132 000 ounces being produced. In all,
some 8,7 Mt of ore (at an average grade
of 2,95 g/t and a LOM strip ratio of 11,9 to
1) will be mined over the mine life to pro-
duce a total of 770 000 ounces. According
to Hummingbird, there are over 1 Moz of
gold outside the current mine plan.
Located in the Sikasso region of south-
west Mali close to the border with Guinea,
Yanfolila was acquired by Hummingbird
from Gold Fields in 2014 in a deal worth
US$20 million (with Gold Fields accept-
ing payment in Hummingbird shares).
Gold Fields was planning a 3 Mt/a opera-
tion at Yanfolila. Hummingbird has scaled
this back considerably to 1,24 Mt/a, in
the process bringing down the capex to a
remarkably low US$79 million.
pit, fully-modularised mining operation
using a 100 % owner-operated fleet
that will process an average of 240 000
tonnes of ore per year of mill feed that
will be processed on site. The processing
plant will produce an average of 17 000
tonnes per year of finished SuperFlake™
concentrate.
The Phase 1 modular mine will uti-
lise two 1,4 MW diesel generators, with
one running and one on standby. Water
will be supplied from a well field that
has been defined by drilling and geo-
hydrological modelling. The processing
plant will consist of conventional crush-
ing, milling and flotation circuits followed
by concentrate filtering, drying and
screening.
Phase 1 will employ dry-stack tail-
ings, which will forfeit the need for a
wet tailings facility and is designed to
accommodate the run-of-mine tonnage
for the 30-year life of mine. This is based
on a co-disposal strategy where the finer
tails are deposited with a coarse mining
waste product that optimises the waste
footprint and environmental impact.
A wet tailings facility is not required
at the Phase 1 tonnage but feasibility
level designs have been completed for
a tailings dam, which will be required at
higher tonnages.
For the 30-year mine life of the proj-
ect, the ore mined is expected to yield
an average grade of 8,1 % C. The ore will
go through a process involving grind-
ing, flotation, dewatering, drying and
sieving/classification. The process flow
sheet has been designed for the stan-
dard purity of 96 % C for all flake sizes,
and will be capable of reaching purities in
excess of 98 % C (as demonstrated in the
2015 Molo FS technical report). The final
products will be bagged and shipped
in containers to various markets via the
ocean shipping port of Fort Dauphin.