Morila Begins Construction, Projecting Earlier Completion Date
London, 3 August - The Morila gold mine in Mali is now scheduled to be in full production in the last quarter of next year, ahead of the original estimate of early 2001, Randgold Resources said today.
The Mali government has approved the project, the process design has been finalised and site construction work has started. It has been decided to outsource the power supply to Rolls Royce Power Ventures. Krupp Polysius has been awarded the mill supply contract and the mining contract is expected to be awarded during August 1999.
Morila has been designed for a minimum of 200 000 tons of ore per month to be mined through opencast methods and processed through a gravity/CIL plant for 10 to eleven years. The estimated life of mine working cost is US$133 per ounce (US$155 including a government royalty). Randgold Resources chief executive Dr Mark Bristow said today the high quality and low cost of the Morila operation made it commercially robust, even at the current gold price. This had been confirmed by independent audits carried out on behalf of the company as well as the bank consortium who are expected to fund the project, he noted.
Elsewhere in Mali, during the quarter, at Randgold Resources= Syama mine ounces produced were slightly up at 50 797 (March: 50 712), while tons mined increased by 9% and ore tons mined by 34%. Mill throughput was reduced by a gearbox failure, and the use of lower-grade oxides to top up production depressed the grade. The gearbox problem has now been rectified and a secondary crusher was commissioned in mid-July to improve mill throughput further.
With the capital programme at Syama largely complete, labour levels are being scaled down to normal operational requirements. A rightsizing exercise agreed with the union is in progress.
On the exploration front, work continued on six priority targets at Syama, while at Morila 15 additional gold targets have been identified. In Mali West, 38 gold targets have been delineated, eleven of which are at an advanced stage. Exploration also continued on a number of permits in Côte d=Ivoire. Fieldwork has now been suspended with the advent of the rainy season and the exploration teams are currently engaged in processing the information which has been gathered and planning for the next field season.
Bob |
