Modern Mining June 2015

MINING IN AFRICA

project that everyone is watching is Yaoure , located in the centre of the country. Yaoure is owned by London-listed Amara Mining (pre- viously Cluff Gold), which claims that the deposit – with a mineral resource of 6,8 Moz – is the largest gold development project in West Africa. The deposit has been mined twice in the past on an open-pit, heap leach basis. Amara, which released a PFS on the project recently, is planning to develop a conven- tional open-pit/CIP mine at Yaoure which could potentially produce an average of 247 000 ounces a year over at least a 10-year life of mine. Its tentative timeline to produc- tion is less than two years, as it is hoping to start construction in Q3 2016, which would see commissioning probably early in 2018. The estimated capital cost of Yaoure is formidable at US$447 million but Amara believes that the project is highly attractive, given its access to low cost power (the 175 MW Kossou Barrage is located just 5 km from the site), abundant water supplies and good road links. Among other things, the availability of low-cost power would allow electric shovels to be included in the mining fleet. A second new gold mine on the near horizon in Côte d’Ivoire is Sissingué , located in the far north of the country near the border with Mali (and in the same neck of the woods as Randgold Resources’ new Tongon mine). The project is owned by Perth-based Perseus Mining, which also operates the Edikan gold mine in Ghana. The current resource at Sissingué is 16 Mt at

1,7 g/t Au – enough to support an open-pit, CIL operation with a mine life of just over five years and a total gold production of 385 000 ounces over this period. The capex is put at US$106 million. Perseus recently laid the first stone at the site, an event which was attended by the President of Côte d’Ivoire. The company says that – subject to finalising debt funding – it is planning to start construction at Sissingué in the September quarter of this year. Burkina Faso growing strongly Said to be the fastest growing gold producer in Africa, Burkina Faso is another country which

The first concrete pour at Yaramoko in Burkina Faso. A DRA/Group Five joint venture is acting as the EPC contractor (photo: Roxgold).

This map of Burkina Faso shows the country’s gold mines and deposits (taken from a presentation by Orezone Resources).

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June 2015  MODERN MINING  39