Modern Mining March 2018

MINING News

Production ramp-up continues at graphite mine

cost of the repair is not expected to be material. While the Fines Dryer is not operational, Syrah expects to produce approximately 65 % of the volume planned for ramp up during this period. In is recent report for Q4 2017, Syrah said that the construction of Balama was essentially com- plete with the construction and commissioning teams having demobilised and site respon- sibilities handed over to the operations team on 1 January this year. The company said the final project capital cost was US$215 million. First production from Balama was achieved in November last year with customer shipments commencing in January. More than 3 000 tonnes of bagged sale- able flake and fines product had been produced by 27 January. Target production for 2018 is between 160 000 and 180 000 tonnes. Production in 2019 is

The Balama processing plant (photo: Syrah Resources).

expected to be between 250 000 and 300 000 tonnes, subject to global market demand. According to Syrah, mining operations continue to progress well with pre-strip- ping of the BalamaWest orebody complete and steady-state ore mining occurring with plant feed grades now averaging approximately 15 % total graphitic carbon. A small section of hard rock cap will require drill and blast during H1 2018. Mining is expected to be free dig thereafter.  remains relatively under-explored.” Prikro was selected by Altus following a geological assessment of the Birimian meta-sedimentary units of eastern Côte d’Ivoire. The licence contains granites and diorites that are 15 km in length and up to 6 km wide that have intruded through the nose of an anticlinal fold into meta- sedimentary units. An initial first phase of reconnaissance exploration will now be undertaken by the company’s technical team. This programme will include initial mapping and sampling of high priority targets as defined from the company’s satellite imagery analysis and remote sensing work. 

ASX-listed Syrah Resources, developer of the new Balama graphite mine in northern Mozambique, reports it has been continu- ing to ramp up production of flake and fines graphite with increased recoveries and production achieved in February. The company recently advised, how- ever, that an issue has arisen regarding the dryer of the fines graphite circuit (Fines Dryer) at the Balama Operations that has caused damage to the Fines Dryer refrac- tory bricks and the flame tube. The coarse

flake graphite circuit dryer (Flake Dryer) is independent of the Fines Dryer and con- tinues to operate and fines graphite can be rerouted to the Flake Dryer such that pro- duction can continue while the Fines Dryer is being repaired. Syrah says it is currently investigating the cause of the issue and planning repairs to mitigate production impacts with the assistance of the Fines Dryer vendor. The company’s current best estimate of the period of time for repair is eight weeks. The of operation in Africa and the Prikro licence is our tenth gold project within our current portfolio of 16 distinct exploration projects. “Côte d’Ivoire is proven to be prospec- tive for the discovery and development of world-class gold mines and has excellent infrastructure. Several major gold projects are in production or coming on stream in the near future, including Tongon (Randgold Resources), Yaoure (Perseus Mining) and Bonikro (Newcrest Mining). However, while Côte d’Ivoire reportedly contains over 35 % of the Birimian green- stone belts of West Africa, the country

Altus granted Côte d’Ivoire exploration licence Altus Strategies, listed on AIM, has announced that its 100 %-owned subsid- iary, Aeos Gold, has been granted the Prikro gold exploration licence in the Prikro and Koun-Fao departments in Côte d’Ivoire. The licence targets Birimian meta-sedimentary greenstone gold deposits.

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented: “We are delighted to have been awarded the Prikro gold explora- tion licence in eastern Côte d’Ivoire, which reportedly contains a number of gold occurrences. Strategically, as a project gen- erator business, this marks our sixth country

12  MODERN MINING  March 2018