Modern Mining March 2016

MINING News

A blast at the New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia. The mine has recently achieved Commercial Production (photo: Aureus Mining).

Commercial Production declared at New Liberty

Mining operations at New Liberty con- tinue to progress, with run of mine (ROM) stockpiles currently standing at 70 844 tonnes of fresh ore at a grade of 2,59 g/t and oxide and transitional stockpiles stand- ing at 81 881 tonnes at a grade of 1,32 g/t. Aureus is continuing to work towards finalising an updated mine plan for the project, and MonuRent, the New Liberty mining fleet provider, has purchased and shipped to Liberia five new 100-tonne capacity Komatsu HD785 rigid haul trucks and one PC1250 excavator. The new fleet of equipment is scheduled to be delivered to New Liberty and mobilised ready for operations during April 2016.  The increased valuation is driven largely by the upgrade to the Lerala min- eral resource and ore reserve that was announced by KDL on 11 January 2016, along with decreased costs negotiated within the mining contract signed with Basil Read Botswana, a weaker Australian dollar assumed over the life of the project and Venmyn Deloitte’s decision to place a value on inferred resources that currently fall outside the LOM plan. Subject to finalisation of funding, Lerala – which is being upgraded and expanded after having been on care andmaintenance – is scheduled to commence production in April 2016, with the first diamond sale planned for June 2016 (see also page 39). 

Aureus Mining Inc, listed on AIM and the TSX, has announced that Commercial Production has been declared at the New Liberty Gold Mine (NLGM) in Liberia, effec- tive 1 March 2016. Aureus says the process plant is now (early March) operating in line with both design specifications and manage- ment expectations. Over the past 60 days of operations, the process plant has achieved an average of 88 % of design throughput capacity. During February 2016, plant throughput totalled 90 099 tonnes of ore milled, resulting in the recovery of over 9 000 ounces of gold, with operating recovery levels of 90 %

achieved by the end of February. The value of the gold produced prior to Commercial Production being declared will be deducted from the capitalised con- struction costs of New Liberty, rather than recorded as revenue. The New Liberty process plant has now processed 503 286 tonnes of ROM fresh ore and lower grade oxide material. Gold production achieved for the calendar year is currently over 14 000 ounces. To date, there have been 25 shipments of gold doré fromNew Liberty for smelting and refining at the MKS PAMP refinery in Switzerland, resulting in sales of approxi- mately 31 500 ounces of gold. based on the information available and assumptions used, and provide a suit- able basis for a mineral asset valuation.  The preferred mineral asset valuation for Lerala is A$105,0 million, within a valuation range of A$55,86 million to A$128,73 million.  The planned Life of Mine (LOM) was extended from seven years to nine years. Venymn noted that the process plant is one of the greatest areas of risk in relation to the success of the project but stated that theoretical performance of the modifica- tions being undertaken appear to address previous production and recovery issues.

Lerala diamond mine valued at A$105 million ASX-listed Kimberley Diamonds reports that it has received the first independent valuation of its 100 %-owned Lerala dia- mond mine in Botswana. The valuation was prepared by global mineral resource consultancy Venmyn Deloitte, which has valued the asset at $A105 million. This valuation is an increase of 24 % over KDL’s previously announced in-house valuation of A$85 million. Venmyn Deloitte made the following key findings:

 The diamond resources and ore reserves for Lerala (announced on 11 January 2016) were assessed as reasonable,

12  MODERN MINING  March 2016