Modern Mining January 2017

GOLD

envisaged that the Phase 2B plant would be a flotation facility,” remarks Truter. “A reassess- ment, however, has convinced us that going the CIL route has numerous advantages, not the least of them being a lower cost per tonne milled. The recoveries will be virtually the same as those delivered by flotation but build- ing an identical plant – except for the mills – to the present one will save on engineering design and reduce capital cost risks. In addi- tion, Ghana is very much ‘CIL country’ so the skills are in place to run a CIL facility – which is not the case when it comes to flotation. A CIL plant can also handle power outages – which are not uncommon in Ghana – far better than the flotation process.” As a final comment on Asanko, Truter says

that once Phase 2B is completed, expected by 2020, Asanko Gold will be producing up to 470 000 ounces a year, which will make it one of the world’s bigger mid-tier gold producers. “Phase 2B is not necessarily the end of the story,” he states. “We see the Asankrangwa belt as an emerging gold district. We are engaged in acquiring properties on the belt and one that has already entered our portfolio is Akwasiso, which hosts an Nkran ‘lookalike’ deposit. We also have a very aggressive exploration pro- gramme in progress. We are optimistic that these activities will deliver extra resources which will either be processed by – and extend the life of – the existing mine or possibly even form the basis for new standalone operations.” Photos courtesy of Asanko Gold

Another view of the Nkran plant. Its capacity is to be upgraded from 3,6 Mt/a to 5 Mt/a in Phase 2A.

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January 2017  MODERN MINING  55