Modern Mining June 2019

REGIONAL FOCUS: WEST AFRICA

Mako gold mine turns in a “superb”performance Toro Gold’s new Mako gold mine in eastern Senegal has made an excellent start to 2019 with 47 519 oz of gold being sold in Q1 versus forecast sales of 40 245 oz. During the period 528 000 tonnes of ore were processed at 2,91 g/t Au, exceeding forecast processing of 450 000 tonnes at 2,66 g/t Au. Metallurgical recoveries were in line with expectations at 94 %. The cash cost was US$611/oz over forecast costs of US$659/oz.

C onstruction of Mako, which is 90 % owned by Toro, a Guernsey- registered private gold explora- tion and development company, started in August 2016 and the first gold pour took place on 26 January last year. The mine, which was built within its budgeted capex of US$158 million, is an open- pit operation – with a moderate strip ratio of 5 to 1 – served by a 1,8 Mt/a processing facility built by Lycopodium. It has a 90 % Senegalese workforce, with 60 % coming from the local Kedougou region. Mining operations have been on-going since mid-2017 during the construction phase and have progressed well with good performance from the mining contractor African Mining Services Senegal SARL (AMSS). The min- ing schedule utilises stockpiling resulting in a ROM head grade in excess of 2,5 g/t over

the first six years of production. T h e p r o c e s s - ing facility is an

industry-standard CIL plant comprising a crushing circuit, an 8,5 MW SAG mill and a gold extraction circuit prior to discharge to a lined tailings facility via a cyanide destruct circuit. The processing facility was designed to achieve average life of mine gold recoveries of approximately 89,6 per cent from a target grind of P(80) 125 µm. Electricity is provided by a diesel-fuelled 14 MW power station. “I am delighted to report another period of excellent results for Toro Gold. Operational performance at Mako was superb over the first quarter of 2019, continuing the excellent start to operations since the first gold pour in January 2018. The Mako gold mine continues to outperform production and cost forecasts,

38  MODERN MINING  June 2019