Modern Mining June 2016

WEST AFRICA

Bouly on the brink of production

The Bouly gold project in Burkina Faso is advancing ahead of both budget and schedule with production expected to start in Q3 2016, says its owner, LSE-listed Nordgold. Located 5 km fromNordgold’s Bissa mine and 85 km north of Ouga- dougo, Bouly is a 7 Mt/a open-pit, heap leach project which will have an annual production of approximately 120 koz over a life of mine of 10 years at an AISC of US$730/oz.

the project was approved and entered construc- tion in the second quarter of last year. As a result of intensive exploration pro- grammes carried out in 2013-2014, Bouly’s mineral resources have tripled to 3,5 Moz, and maiden ore reserves of 1,32 Moz at 0,56 g/t Au were declared in the course of the feasibility study. The study demonstrated strong eco- nomic fundamentals for the project, according to which Bouly’s IRR is 40 % at a gold price of US$1 250 per oz and approximately 26 % at a gold price of US$1 100 per oz. It estimated the payback period at 2,2 years for the US$1 250 gold price scenario. The mining operation is expected to be low cost given the low strip ratio of 0,7 t/t while gold recovery is expected to be in the region of 83 %. There is the possibility of a life of mine extension through the processing of fresh rock ore resources. Norgold says the total construction capex is expected to be approximately US$145 million,

B ouly, which was explored by Rand- gold in 1996-97, was acquired by Nordgold in 2008 when it gained a majority interest in High River Gold. A first JORC resource esti- mate of a million ounces of gold at 0,78 g/t was published in 2012. In the same year prelimi- nary metallurgical tests showed heap leach po- tential for weathered and transitional rock. A scoping study was completed in 2013/14, fol- lowed by a feasibility study in 2014/15. Based on the positive results of the feasibility study,

Plant construction underway at the Bouly gold project. This is the view looking towards the primary crusher.

36  MODERN MINING  June 2016