Engineering & Mining Journal

FEB 2018

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/938385

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 17 of 59

REGIONAL NEWS - AFRICA 16 E&MJ; • FEBRUARY 2018 www.e-mj.com Perseus Mining reported that develop- ment and commissioning of its second gold mine, the Sissingué mine in Côte d'Ivoire, is nearing completion, with crushed ore introduced to the mill on January 13. First gold was scheduled to be poured ahead of schedule before the end of January and ramp up to full-scale commercial production was expected to be achieved by the end of March. Sissingué's initial capital cost budget, excluding early works but including op- erational readiness initiatives, was $107 million, and, based on current estimates, this budget will not be exceeded. Sissingué will produce an estimated 358,000 ounces per year (oz/y) of gold over a five-year mine life, including about 80,000 oz/y for the first 3.25 years. Fore- cast average weighted all-in site costs, including all direct production costs, royal- ties, waste stripping costs, and sustaining capital expenditure, are estimated at $625/ oz during the first 3.25 years of production and $630/oz over the full mine life. Current mine planning does not in- clude Sissingué's significant potential to increase its mineral resources, ore reserves, and mine life. Exploration pro- grams targeting mineralization located within trucking distance of the mine have been developed and are scheduled to be implemented once the mine is generating positive cash flows. Perseus Managing Director and CEO Jeff Quartermaine said, "The introduction of crushed ore to the mill at Sissingué is an important milestone in the journey toward bringing our second operating gold mine into pro- duction. We are looking forward very much to seeing Sissingué ramp up to full-scale production and positive cash flow by the end of the March quarter. At that point, Perseus will be trans- formed from a single-mine, single-coun- try business to a multimine, multi- jurisdiction operation, and we will be well on the way to achieving our goal of producing more than 500,000 oz/y of gold by late 2021 from our three West African operations, namely Edikan, Sissingué and Yaouré." The Sissingué gold project is located in northern Côte d'Ivoire, adjacent to the Mali border and approximately 720 km by road northwest of the commercial capital and port of Abidjan. The nearest town to Sissingué is Tengrela, approximately 15 km to the west of the concession bound- aries and 25 km from the project site by existing roads. Kakula-Kamoa's World Class Potential Ivanhoe Mines has reported the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of its Kakula-Kamoa copper pro- ject in Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo). The project features exception- ally high-grade ore and if carried through to completion as currently envisioned, it will take its place among the world's largest mines. The Kakula-Kamoa PEA is based on current copper resources and analyzes an initial two-stage, modular, 12-mil- lion-mt/y mining operation supplied by two adjacent 6-million-mt/y mines, which would feed concentrates to a di- rect-to-blister smelter. Mine life is esti- mated at more than 44 years. The Kamoa-Kakula project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group and the Congo government. The Kakula orebody would produce an av- erage grade of 6.4% copper over the first 10 years of operations and 5.5% copper over a 24-year mine life. An initial 6-million-mt/y copper mine at Kakula can be developed for an esti- mated $1.2 billion. Subsequent mine de- velopment and the smelter can be funded from cash flows from that mine or proj- ect finance. Combined production of 12 million mt/y from two mines would rank Kamoa-Kakula among the world's five largest copper mining operations, with projected annual production of more than 500,000 mt of copper. Ivanhoe will explore acceleration op- tions for building the first two mines concurrently and also the potential for expanding mine production to 18 million mt/y and beyond. The Ivanhoe announcement empha- sized that the PEA does not factor in the Kamoa-Kakula property's Kakula West discovery, nor does it factor in ongoing drilling programs on new targets at Ka- moa-Kakula or on the company's 100% owned Western Forelands exploration area. Additional exploration success could have a significant influence on the ultimate size, value, and timing of the overall development plan. As such, the Kamoa-Kakula development plans de- scribed in the PEA will be reassessed and amended as the project moves forward to reflect ongoing exploration results. Ivanhoe's Kamoa-Kakula announce- ment describes each of the three poten- tial mine-development scenarios in con- siderable detail, as well as capital costs, metallurgical test work, concentrator and smelter design, and transportation routes to international markets. Perseus Starts Up Sissingué Construction of the twin declines is well under way to provide access to the Kakula Discovery's high-grade copper.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Engineering & Mining Journal - FEB 2018