Modern Mining August 2016

MINING News

The processing plant at Asanko, seen here, processed 702 318 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1,69 g/t during the quarter (photo: Asanko). Asanko Gold Mine delivers a strong quarter

Mining operations continued exclu- sively in the Nkran pit where bulk mining of the periphery of the main ore zones was undertaken to open up access to the main orebody by the end of Q2. This objective was achieved in the quarter with 5,8 Mt of waste removed from the pit and 1,2 Mt of ore mined at a strip ratio of 4,7:1. As antici- pated, the bulk mining resulted in higher

been hampered during the quarter by groundwater inflows significantly higher than predicted during the feasibility study. Expertise and equipment have been procured to resolve the issue and full production rates are expected to resume before the end of the 2016 calendar year.” The leaching behaviour of ore placed on the heap continues to be as expected in terms of both leaching rates and acid consumption. The solvent extraction and electro-winning plants continue to perform well, and have demonstrated the ability to produce at 1 500 tonnes per month when sufficient copper in solution is available from the heap.  levels of dilution and gold losses than are expected at steady state, resulting in an average grade of mined ore of 1,48 g/t gold. According to Asanko, mining efficien- cies are showing signs of improvement as a result of receiving part of a new min- ing contractor fleet during the quarter to replace the second-hand fleet that started the pre-strip in 2015. A Cat 992 FEL, a

Asanko Gold Inc, listed on the TSX and NYSE MKT, has announced production results for the second quarter 2016 from Phase 1 of the Asanko Gold Mine (AGM), located in Ghana. Commercial production was declared on April 1, 2016and rampup to steady-statepro- duction of both the mining and processing operations was achieved by the end of Q2.

Groundwater inflow impedes Tschudi production Weatherly International, listed on AIM, says that production from its Tschudi cop- per project in northern Namibia was 3 812 tonnes of copper cathode in the quarter ended 30 June 2016.

C1 costs for Tschudi for the quarter were US$4 689 per tonne, increasing due to the reduced production and actions taken to manage the groundwater inflow. Weatherly says that C1 costs for the nine months from 1 October 2015 to 30 June 2016 – since Tschudi has been in commercial production – remained below guidance at US$4 199 per tonne. Production of 17 000 tonnes of copper cathode is expected to be achieved for the year ending 30 June 2017 with forecast C1 unit costs expected to be in the range of US$4 100-4 200 per tonne. Craig Thomas, CEO of Weatherly, com- mented: “The Tschudi operations have

This was a decrease from the previous quarter, with Weatherly attributing this to increased groundwater inflow rates being experienced at levels which exceed those anticipated in the BFS. As a result, it has been necessary to design, procure and commission additional groundwater man- agement systems and infrastructure whilst engaging additional Namibian and inter- national specialist consulting expertise to assist with this process.

8  MODERN MINING  August 2016