Modern Mining June 2015

MINING IN AFRICA

mined. The milling circuits could be operated at different grinds to facilitate maximum libera- tion and therefore optimum value add. The relatively soft, easy milling oxide ores from Esaase can be blended into the Phase 1 CIL circuit allowing the tonnage throughput to be increased to 3,8 Mt/a. These oxide ores also give improved recovery through the CIL circuit compared to the flotation plant. In the construction of the Phase 1 CIL circuit the civil work has been done to allow two additional CIL tanks to be added to the circuit to ensure that the residence time is maintained at the higher throughput. All the other equipment is sized to handle the additional tonnage. Although Asanko is a West African proj- ect, the Asanko team, headed by Peter Breese, has strong links with the mining industry in Southern Africa. Breese’s past appointments included a spell as COO of LionOre Mining which owned the Tati nickel mine in Botswana. South Africa’s DRA, currently prominent in many other West African mining projects, is the EPCM contractor on Asanko Phase 1 while another South African company, Redis Construction Afrika, is the SMP contractor. The

mining contractor is PW Ghana, a subsidiary of PW Mining International of Accra, Ghana. PW has previous experience of the Obotan site, having been the contract miner when Resolute owned the project. Photos: Philip Mostert (on behalf of Asanko Gold)

Tank erection at the Obotan site. Eight tanks are included in the CIL circuit.

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June 2015  MODERN MINING  49