Modern Mining August 2018

MINING News

Ity CIL project on schedule and within budget

mitted. As at June 30, 2018, the remaining project spend amounted to US$211 million. The ball and SAG mills have arrived on site, three months earlier than ini- tially planned, and plant construction is progressing with all eight bolted CIL tanks installed with four already hydro tested. The Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) earthworks are progressing well against schedule with over 60 % already com- pleted prior to the start of the rainy season. Camp construction is well advanced with all 312 rooms available for occupation. The 90 kV transmission line and power station construction are on schedule with over 60 % of the work already completed. The land compensation process and reset- tlement activities are progressing well. More than 2 100 personnel, including contractors, are currently employed on site, 95 % of whom are locals. As envisaged in the OS, mining for the Ity CIL project will be undertaken by an owner-operated mining fleet using 90-tonne haul trucks with seven pits to be mined over the life of mine at an average strip ratio of 1,9 (waste to ore). The ore will be treated in a 4 Mt/a CIL plant.  up from the 1,6 Mt/a detailed in the FS. The benefit is a reduced mine life from 11 years to approximately eight years and a reduction in capital spares requirements by utilising common spares. A substan- tial improvement in project economics is expected by reducing the FS mine sched- ule without a material change in capital requirements. Optimisation of the plant design is ongoing and will continue during detailed design which is expected to be completed by Q1 2019. Early construction works have com- menced at Sanbrado. The 150 000 m 3 water storage pit located in the stage 2 M5 open pit has been completed and is filling up with surface water runoff from the current wet season. The location of the underground portal has been confirmed and WAF expects to break ground on the underground portal in October following the wet season. Final site selection for the Stage 1 construction camp has also been confirmed. Converted sea containers are being completed in Ouagadougou by a local contractor and their installation on site will commence in October. 

Construction of the processing plant at Ity underway (photo: Endeavour).

TSX-listed Endeavour Mining, which oper- ates six gold mines in the West African region, reports – in its results for Q2 2018 – that its Ity CIL project in Côte d’Ivore is progressing on budget and on time, with the first gold pour expected in mid-2019. More than 3,1millionman-hours have been worked to date with zero lost-time injuries. The project went into construction in September 2017 and is being carried out by Endeavour’s in-house team following the team's successful completion of the Houndé gold mine in Burkina Faso.

The Optimised Study (OS), published in September 2017, demonstrated the sig- nificant potential for Ity, which has already been in operation for more than 20 years, to become another flagship asset for Endeavour.The project is expected to extend mine life by 14 years, producing approxi- mately 204 000 ounces annually for the first ten years, at a low AISC of US$549/oz. Overall project completion stands at over 50 %, tracking well against schedule, with over 85 % of the total capital cost of US$412 million having already been com-

Sanbrado developer makes key appointment Gold developer West African Resources (WAF), listed on the ASX and TSX-V, has made a key management appointment as it moves into the development phase for its Sanbrado gold project in Burkina Faso.

Perth. He holds Bachelor of Science (Applied Chemistry) and Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) degrees from Curtin University, Perth. WAF recently announced the results of its updated Feasibility Study (FS) for Sanbrado. The study envisages an initial 11-year mine life, including 4,5 years of underground mining, and showed a 76 % increase in probable reserves to 1,6 Moz (20,4 Mt at 2,4 g/t gold). The project will have average annual production over the first five years of mine life of 211 000 ounces of gold and a 16-month post-tax pay back on US$185 million pre-production capital costs. Optimisation of the FS process plant is underway following completion of the updated FS in June. The company has iden- tified that by increasing the size and power of both the SAG and ball mills to 4 MW each from 3 MW and 3,2 MW respectively, the throughput rate while feeding higher grade fresh (hard) ore can be increased to maintain a minimum feed rate of 2,0 Mt/a,

MatthewWilcox will join theWest African executive team as Chief Development Officer in September and will directly man- age the construction of Sanbrado. He is highly experienced in the gold mining con- struction industry in West Africa, having spent the past eight years working for Nord Gold SE, which operates nine gold mines globally, including three mines in Burkina Faso and one mine in Guinea. Wilcox was Project Director for the con- struction of Nord Gold’s 4 Mt/a Bissa gold project and 8 Mt/a Bouly gold project, both located in Burkina Faso. He was General Manager of the 6 Mt/a LEFA gold project in Guinea and, most recently, was Project Director for the construction of the 12 Mt/a Gross gold project in Siberia, Russia. He has also worked with engineering firms Lycopodium and Minproc based in

16  MODERN MINING  August 2018