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June 2015
MODERN MINING
39
MINING IN AFRICA
feature
This map of Burkina Faso shows the country’s gold mines and deposits (taken from a presentation by Orezone Resources).
project that everyone is watching is
Yaoure
,
located in the centre of the country. Yaoure is
owned by London-listed Amara Mining (pre-
viously Cluff Gold), which claims that the
deposit – with a mineral resource of 6,8 Moz –
is the largest gold development project in West
Africa. The deposit has been mined twice in the
past on an open-pit, heap leach basis.
Amara, which released a PFS on the project
recently, is planning to develop a conven-
tional open-pit/CIP mine at Yaoure which
could potentially produce an average of
247 000 ounces a year over at least a 10-year
life of mine. Its tentative timeline to produc-
tion is less than two years, as it is hoping to
start construction in Q3 2016, which would
see commissioning probably early in 2018. The
estimated capital cost of Yaoure is formidable
at US$447 million but Amara believes that the
project is highly attractive, given its access to
low cost power (the 175 MW Kossou Barrage
is located just 5 km from the site), abundant
water supplies and good road links. Among
other things, the availability of low-cost power
would allow electric shovels to be included in
the mining fleet.
A second new gold mine on the near horizon
in Côte d’Ivoire is
Sissingué
, located in the far
north of the country near the border with Mali
(and in the same neck of the woods as Randgold
Resources’ new Tongon mine). The project is
owned by Perth-based Perseus Mining, which
also operates the Edikan gold mine in Ghana.
The current resource at Sissingué is 16 Mt at
1,7 g/t Au – enough to support an open-pit, CIL
operation with a mine life of just over five years
and a total gold production of 385 000 ounces
over this period. The capex is put at US$106
million.
Perseus recently laid the first stone at the
site, an event which was attended by the
President of Côte d’Ivoire. The company says
that – subject to finalising debt funding – it is
planning to start construction at Sissingué in
the September quarter of this year.
Burkina Faso growing strongly
Said to be the fastest growing gold producer in
Africa, Burkina Faso is another country which
The first concrete pour at
Yaramoko in Burkina Faso.
A DRA/Group Five joint
venture is acting as the EPC
contractor (photo: Roxgold).