Modern Mining June 2019

MINING News

provided by a new 16 km, 110 kV power line adjacent to the purpose-built road, supported by a static synchronous com- pensator to improve reliability. Additional annual operating costs of up to US$5 million are estimated for the WCP B operation at Pilivili, primarily due to the increased cost of transporting HMC from Pilivili to the MSP. However these overall increased operating costs should be more than off-set by the additional production due to the higher grades at Pilivili, which will lead to a decrease in unit operating costs. Kenmare is targeting cash operating costs per tonne of US$120-130 (in 2018 real terms) from 2021.  Kenmare received approval of the ESHIA for Pilivili from the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development in Mozambique in May 2019, in line with the project delivery timeline. The company expects the ESHIA for the purpose-built road to be approved in Q3-2019.  “We will maintain our core focus in Mauritania of getting the Tiris uranium project DFS completed and the proj- ect into production as soon as possible. However, given our extensive knowledge of Mauritania and our planned activities in adjoining areas, this presents another high-quality opportunity in a country we know well. It is an excellent opportunity, in our opinion, to add significant shareholder value for Aura Energy.” Aura is not aware of any significant prior exploration on the permit area despite the area being previously held by Normandy La Source (whomade the initial discovery of the Tasiast gold deposit) during the 1990s. The area of the Nomads permit, which is close to the largeTasiast mine, has not been exposed to modern exploration techniques. 

along a purpose-built road, including a causeway estuary crossing into the new mining pond at Pilivili. This is the same method that was used to transport the recently completed WCP C dredge in the Netherlands. The total capital cost estimate for the relocation of WCP B to Pilivili is US$106 million, including a US$15 million contin- gency. Kenmare intends to fund the total capital cost from its balance sheet and internally generated cash flow. The most significant infrastructure requirement for the relocation is the con- struction of the purpose-built road for the transportation of WCP B and its dredge. The road will be 23 km in length and 66 m wide, and construction will take approxi- mately eight months from Q3-2019. HMC produced at Pilivili will be transported to the MSP using a 16 km overland pipe- line and positive displacement pumping system. Electrical power at Pilivili will be The Nomads permit adjoins and is along strike from Aura’s Taet exploration permit which covers +30 km of strike length of the Tasiast greenstones. Peter Reeve, Aura Energy’s Executive Chairman, said: “We are delighted with this strategic addition to our project area in the Tasiast gold district. It is unusual today to be able to obtain access to virtually unexplored greenstone belts in established gold-bear- ing provinces such as this. We are excited at the potential given the 20 Moz Tasiast gold deposit is the only known significant gold resource in a field where little exploration has been conducted and in a geological setting where gold deposits tend to occur in clusters elsewhere in the word.

the relocation of WCP B from Namalope to Pilivili will be the only move of this kind that is necessary during WCP B’s economic life. The DFS was completed by Hatch Africa, a specialist EPCM consulting firm with strong experience in mineral sands, and overseen by Kenmare’s project develop- ment team. It included an independent peer review process. A number of different methods of relocating WCP B to Pilivili were consid- ered, including disassembly/reassembly and alternate transportation options for the assembled plant by road and/or sea. Moving the assembled plant by road has the lowest risk profile and, accordingly, Kenmare will appoint a specialist heavy lifting and transport contractor to relocate WCP B and its dredge by road. The contractor will use self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) to transport WCP B out of its mining pond at Namalope,

Aura Energy extends its position in greenstone belt Aura Energy, listed on the ASX and AIM, has signed a farm-in/joint venture agreement to extend its already significant position in the Tasiast archean greenstone belt.

The agreement has been executed with Nomads Mining Company sarl of Mauritania and allows Aura to earn a 70 % interest in Nomads’ 100 %-owned exploration permit of 160 km 2 which covers 50 km 2 of Archean greenstones in the Tasiast greenstone belt. The exploration permit lies approxi- mately 35 km along strike from Kinross’ giant +20 Moz Tasiast gold mine and 30 km from Algold’s Tijirit gold deposits which occur in the adjoining greenstone belt. Algold has reported a resource of +1 mil- lion ounces of gold at Tijirit.

June 2019  MODERN MINING  5