Modern Mining October 2017

GOLD

which we call Plant 2. Plant 1 has been retained but is now mainly used for treating tailings sourced from nearby artisanal operations.” The Plant 2 expansion is a three-stage project. Stage 1 included the installation of a generator, the first of two ball mills, a concentrator facil- ity, a thickener and six CIL tanks from GRG in Ghana, as well as the establishment of a borrow pit for initial tailings deposition and the site preparation and key cut for the final tailings storage facility (TSF). Commissioning took place in December 2016 and the plant – which had an initial 60 t/day mill capacity – was officially opened in February this year by Dan Kazungu, the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Mining. Stage 2 comprises the installation of a crusher circuit, associated feed belts and bins, a classifier and three additional leach tanks. Complete commissioning has been delayed by a few months due to hold-ups in the delivery of key materials, primarily steelwork associated with safety. The additional Stage 2 facilities, however, are already in operation and have doubled mill throughput to 120 t/day (with up to 160 t/day being achieved fairly regularly). The planned Stage 3 will include the instal- lation of a second mill, an additional thickener and three more CIL tanks, and could increase capacity up to 200 t/day. “We’re holding off on the implementation of Stage 3 till we’re certain the mine can supply sufficient quality ore and that the current profitability can be sustained,” says Kisbey-Green. “Steps we’ve taken in the mine to increase production have included the development of reef drives and raises so as to delineate profitable mining blocks and the introduction of a mechanical loader to facilitate ore handling in the cross cuts and reef drives.” All the work associated with the Plant 2 expansion has been undertaken internally by Goldplat and has cost in the region of US$2 mil- lion. Most of the equipment has been sourced from within the group or acquired second-hand from other mining companies. If Goldplat is to reach its goal of achieving as much production from primary mining as

from recovery operations within three years, Kilimapesa will clearly have to be supple- mented by one or more other mining operations. “Although we have one small exploration property in Ghana (which we’ve optioned out to Ashanti Gold Corp) and another in Burkina Faso (which we’ve written off, as it is too small to be viable), we’re not really an explorer and our intention is to target producing or near- producing assets, preferably in Africa. We’re thus actively looking for opportunities and hope to make progress on this front in the com- ing year,” Kisbey-Green concludes. Report by Arthur Tassell, photos courtesy of Goldplat

Top: The Kilimapesa gold mine in Kenya is located in the Migori greenstone belt in the south-west of the country – 80 km east of Lake Victoria and 20 km north of the border with Tanzania.

Above: The ‘front end’ of the new Plant 2.

October 2017  MODERN MINING  25