Modern Mining January 2016

MINING News

Asanko Gold Mine in Ghana starts commissioning

ing with ore was expected in the last week of December 2015, one month ahead of schedule. Mining operations are performing according to plan and there are now approximately 290 000 tonnes (+30 days steady state production) of ore on the stock- pile. The majority of this was mined from resources that were classified as inferred mineral resources encountered during the pre-strip and as such were not part of the Definitive Project Plan (DPP) announced on November 13, 2014. Over 90 000 tonnes of this ore has been stockpiled separately with an average grade of 2,16 g/t gold. The main Nkran mineral reserves are now being opened up as the pre-strip nears completion and approximately 1,2 Mt of ore have been further delineated by RC grade control drilling. The grade con- trol model is comparing well to the mineral resource estimate. Grade reconciliation will start following the commencement of ore processing in Q1 2016. Peter Breese, President and CEO, com- mented: “We continue to track within our capital budget of US$295 million and have strengthened the balance sheet heading into commissioning against a backdrop of uncertainty for the gold price. We remain confident of our ability to reach commer- cial production and generate positive cash flows by Q2 2016.”  erty and is representative of what we can immediately mine in our lower adit,” states Cliff Bream, CEO of Next Graphite. “The expertise provided to us from our joint- venture with CKR has helped us extract and validate the calibre of natural flake graphite we anticipated.” The test samples were taken as part of a 25-ton bulk sampling programme from the lower adit at the Aukam project. Samples were delivered and tested by Lilhof Enterprises, formerly Gecko Laboratories, of Swakopmund, Namibia. The Aukam property, which was mined on a small scale for graphite from the 1940s through to the 1970s, is located 50 km south-west of Goageb in southern Namibia. During its years of operation, the Aukam mine produced 25 000 t of graphite. 

Asanko Gold Inc, listed on the TSX and NYSE, reports that commissioning of Phase 1 of the Asanko Gold Mine (AGM) in Ghana has begun with first gold expected this month (January 2016). Phase 1 is a low cost, long life mine that will produce an average of 190 000 ounces of gold annu- ally at steady state over 12 years. The crusher was commissioned on Mills installed at the Asanko Gold Mine (photo: Asanko Gold).

waste on December 10, 2015 and ore is now being fed from the run of mine (ROM) ore stockpile in preparation for the com- mencement of milling operations. Water commissioning of the pre-leach thick- ener and carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuits has begun. The installation of the mill motors and lining of the ball and SAG mills has been completed and their commission-

Next Graphite receives Aukam sample results

ing and grading have been funded by the company’s joint venture with Caribou Carbon Corp (CKR), listed on the TSX-V. “The 96 % grading from our lower adit aligns with sample grading from the140 000 tonnes of heaps on our prop-

Next Graphite, Inc, a graphite exploration and development stage company operat- ing in Namibia, has announced testing and grading results of a 1 000-kg underground sample from its Aukam property lower adit. Next Graphite’s recent rounds of test-

Randgold Resources passes on Obuasi opportunity On 16 September 2015, Randgold Resources and AngloGold Ashanti announced their intention to form a joint venture to rede- velop AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi mine in Ghana, subject among other things to the completion of satisfactory due diligence by Randgold and the agreement of a revised development plan.

ment opportunity the mine affords, and following the work undertaken on the revised development plan, Randgold says it has determined that the development plan will not satisfy its internal investment requirements. Accordingly, it has decided to terminate the investment agreement entered into with AngloGold Ashanti, with immediate effect. 

After undertaking the due diligence exercise into the mine and the redevelop-

10  MODERN MINING  January 2016