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36
MODERN MINING
June 2015
MINING IN AFRICA
feature
GSR is planning to bring
one of Ghana’s oldest
gold mines, Prestea (seen
here), back into production
(photo: GSR).
gold mine in Namibia. Fekola, which became
part of B2Gold’s stable last year after it merged
with Papillon Resources, has the potential
to be a substantial gold mine with the PEA –
completed by Papillon in 2013 – outlining a
conventional 4 Mt/a open-pit, CIL operation
producing 2,8 Moz over a mine life of nine
years (for an average annual production of
306 000 ounces). The PEA estimated a capital
cost of US$292 million to develop the mine.
The Final Feasibility Study on the project is
due to be released this month (June).
Reporting on Fekola in May this year,
B2Gold – a Canadian company listed in Toronto
and on the NYSE – said the early works pro-
gramme included improving the existing access
road between Kenieba and the site, construc-
tion of an on-site airstrip, and making a start
on camp construction as well as excavations
within the mill footprint. “The goal is to com-
plete the critical tasks by June 30, 2015, prior
to the rainy season so construction work can
continue uninterrupted through all seasons,”
the company stated. It added that it believed
that Fekola could be complete and in the early
commissioning phase by as early as the fourth
quarter of 2017.
Another Canadian company active in Mali is
African Gold Group, Inc, listed on the TSX-V,
which holds the
Kobada
property. The proj-
ect is located approximately 115 km SSW of
Mali’s capital, Bamako, and adjacent to the
Niger River and the international border with
Guinea – in fact, it lies just 80 km to the east
of AngloGold Ashanti’s Siguiri mine in Guinea.
African Gold is targeting a 1,6 Mt/a open-pit,
gravity concentration and concentrate leach-
ing operation which it anticipates will cost
US$46,6 million to develop and which will
have an average annual production of 44 000
ounces over a 15-year mine life. African Gold
has just received the environmental approval
for the project, now in the feasibility stage.
Although more a brownfield than a green-
field development, also worth mentioning in
connection with Mali is Resolute Mining’s
plans for its Syama mine (see also page 51).
The company stated in March this year that the
mine – which produced 165 000 ounces of gold
in Resolute’s 2014 financial year – would move
to underground mining by 2017 with portal and
decline development from within the Stage 1
pit expected to start in early 2016.
Ghana – arresting the decline
By far the biggest gold producer in the West
African region is Ghana, which produced about
88 tonnes of the metal in 2014. While the coun-
try’s gold output has been on a downward trend
since peaking in 2012, there are some encour-
aging signs that the decline will be arrested
with several new projects in various stages of
development.
The most significant of these is Asanko
Gold’s new
Asanko
open-pit gold mine (which
we cover in more detail on page 44 of this
issue), which represents an amalgamation of
the Obotan and Esaase projects. The company