Modern Mining May 2019

MINING News

Panoramic view of the Yaouré site. As can be seen here, the property lies close to the southern shore of man-made Lake Kossou. The Kossou hydroelectric power station is situated 6 km east of the project (photo: Perseus Mining).

remain open along strike and at depth, Perseus prepared a scoping study for a potential underground mining opera- tion which indicated that inferred mineral resources appear amenable to extraction using mechanised underground room- and-pillar mining methods. Underground access from Yaouré’s CMA open pit com- bined with the selected mining method significantly reduces the capital develop- ment requirements. 

posed CMA open pit using underground methods. In November 2018, Perseus announced that a preliminary inferredmineral resource had been estimated for a potential under- ground mining operation at Yaouré (to supplement the CMA open-pit operation) that totalled 3,0 Mt, grading 6,2 g/t gold and containing 595 000 ounces of gold. Noting that mineral resources for a potential underground mining operation

landowners and farmers is required before clearing and preparation of the sites for the processing facility and the tailings dam can commence. Tendering of civil work for site prepa- ration is expected to be complete by the end of May, enabling work to advance before the onset of the peak of the wet season that typically occurs in August and September. A specially formed committee compris- ing representatives of the departments of Mining, Finance, Budget and Environment will represent the Ivorian government in negotiations with Perseus for a Mining Convention to establish a stable fis- cal and social environment for the project. Finalisation and execution of the Convention is expected in the September 2019 quarter. Concurrently with the commencement of development activities on the Yaouré site, Perseus is also planning to reacti- vate exploration activities adjacent to the proposed mine site. A high priority will be placed on the advancement of work aimed at delineating further mineralisation that can be mined from below the pro-

Test work underway on Haib ore sample Deep-South Resources Inc, listed on the TSX‑V, reports that Mintek has commenced its metallurgical test work on stockpilemate- rial from the Haib copper project in southern Namibia. The test work programme is man- aged by METS Engineering of Australia.

produce data for an eventual commercial pilot heap leach campaign. Since 2003 heap leaching technologies have evolved substantially. Codelco has successfully used microbially-assisted heap leaching of copper sulphide ore contain- ing chalcopyrite since 2014 at its Radomiro Tomic mine in Chile. Other operations in Chile have also piloted microbially-assisted heap leaching of chalcopyrite ores. The programme will also focus on testing the amenability of High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGRs) and test the acid consump- tion of the heap leaching process. 

Deep-South has provided Mintek with about 1,8 tons of ore sample from a large stockpile that was extracted during a pre- vious sampling campaign. The sample contains chalcopyrite as the main copper mineral. The aim of the programme is to test the amenability of the ore to microbially- assisted heap leaching. The test work will

May 2019  MODERN MINING  7