Modern Mining December 2017

MINING News

Golden Star shines in Ghana Mining Industry Awards

of the Year (which was the inaugural award in this category) while the award for Best Graduate Research went to Ahmed-Salim Adam, Process Manager at the Prestea operations. A student of the Golden Star School in Bogoso village, Winifred Korankye Amoah, was also awarded first prize in the essay- writing competition, which was open to school children across Ghana. Sam Coetzer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Golden Star, com- mented: “We are delighted that GSBPL has been named Mining Company of the Year at the Ghana Mining Awards. Judged and awarded by Ghanaians, this award reflects the strong commitment to excellence demonstrated by all of our team. I am also very proud that our Chief Operating Officer, Daniel Owiredu, received the first ever Mining Personality of the Year award. Over his 11 years with Golden Star, Daniel has been at the forefront not only of our efforts to develop two high-quality min- ing operations but also to deliver a best in class approach to corporate responsibility.” Apart from Prestea, Golden Star also owns the Wassa gold mine in Ghana. It is developing high-grade, low-cost underground mines at both properties in conjunction with existing open-pit opera- tions. The Wassa underground gold mine commenced commercial production in January 2017 while the Prestea under- ground gold mine is expected to achieve commercial production shortly. Gold pro- duction in 2017 is expected to be between 255 000 and 280 000 ounces with cash operating costs of US$780-860 per ounce. In addition to the Ghana Mining Industry Awards, GSR has recently been honoured by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), being named as the recipient of the Association’s 2018 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award. This will be formally presented to GSR at PDAC’s annual convention in Toronto in March 2018. The award recognises an organ- isation that demonstrates outstanding initiative, leadership, and accomplishment in establishing and maintaining good relations with local communities and in protecting and preserving the natural environment during an exploration pro- gramme or operation of a mine. 

Prestea is one of Ghana’s oldest mines, having produced in the region of 8 Moz in over a century of operation. Seen here is the Central Shaft, which has been refurbished as part of GSR’s development of a new underground operation at Prestea. It now has the capacity to hoist 1 500 tonnes/day (photo: Golden Star).

Golden Star Resources (GSR), listed on the NYSE American and TSX, has won five awards at the Ghana Mining Industry Awards, including Mining Company of the Year for its local subsidiary, Golden Star Bogoso/Prestea Limited (GSBPL), which operates the Prestea open pits and the Prestea underground gold mine (Prestea Underground) in south-western Ghana. Judged by a panel of industry pro- fessionals, the Mining Company of the Year award recognises an organisation that has achieved the highest aggregate

All five holes targeted the Koaltenga zone, an approximately 800 m long active orpaillage “We’re pleased with what is an excellent start to this programme,” said Nexus senior geologist, Warren Robb. “We are encour- aged with the extent of these intercepts and will continue to test these structures along strike.” The 250-km 2 Rakounga concession borders the company’s 38 km 2 Bouboulou concession. Nexus recently announced results from its maiden diamond drill pro- gramme at Bouboulou, with nine of the first 10 holes successfully intersecting gold. To date, a total of eight gold-bearing zones have been identified at the Bou­ boulou and Rakounga concessions.  Golden Star was also selected as the Best Performer in Corporate Social Investment for its breast cancer aware- ness programme that involved screening over 10 400 women in Ghana during the past three years and was Runner Up in Occupational Health and Safety. In addi- tion, its Chief Operating Office, Daniel Owiredu, was named as Mining Personality performance results in the categories of environmental management, occupational health and safety, corporate social invest- ment, innovation and local content.

“Excellent start” to Rakounga drill programme Nexus Gold Corp, listed on the TSX-V, has announced assay results from the first five reverse circulation (RC) drill holes con- ducted at the Rakounga gold concession, located 109 km north of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.

Gold mineralisation was intersected in four of the first five holes drilled on the prop- erty. Significant results were returned from holes RKG-17-RC-001 and RKG-17-RC-002, which returned extended intercepts of 26 m grading 0,82 g/t Au, including 2 m of 4,11 g/t Au, and 32 m of 1,01 g/t Au, includ- ing 2 m of 5,65 g/t Au, respectively. The current drill programme is designed to test the mineral-bearing potential of the artisanal workings (orpaillages) referred to as Koaltenga, Porphyry and Gounga.

12  MODERN MINING  December 2017