2015 Oct GMJ

October – December 2015 VOLUME 1. ISSUE 121
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Blackham:
Ready to solve Wiluna puzzle

• NewGenGold preview ISSN 1324-4396
04

• The Americas profile • Africa focus 9 771324 439005

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may be reproduced in any form without the consent of the publisher. This includes
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CONTENTS

5 14 29

5 NEWS 14 COVER

Craig Williams-backed OreCorp Ltd has entered a JV Many companies have failed to make the Wiluna gold
agreement with Acacia Mining plc over the 4.2 moz project in West Australia a success. However, Black-
Nyanzaga project in Tanzania. For an initial $US1 mil- ham Resources Ltd is looking to defy the critics and
lion, OreCorp can work its way up to a 51% stake in prove that all ore sources in the region aren’t as com-
the project through staged expenditure requirements plex as widely accepted, in the process bringing life
and completion of a DFS. Juniors have preferred back into a region which has produced 4 moz of gold.
small, high-grade projects in these austere times, how- Mark Andrews visited site with the company
ever, OreCorp has set its sights bigger. Dominic Piper
spoke with OreCorp managing director Matthew Yates 20 THE AMERICAS
about the company’s ambitions More often associated with copper and TSX-listed
companies, the Americas has a surprisingly strong and
7 OPINION deep relationship with Australian gold explorers and
miners. Gold Mining Journal takes a look at the region
Frustrated by difficulties at Obuasi, AngloGold Ashanti and the ASX-listed companies on the ground there
Ltd has bitten the bullet and turned to Randgold Re-
sources Ltd to see what can be done with the problem- 29 NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW
atic Ghanaian mine. Randgold will get half of Obuasi The biennial NewGenGold conference is on again this
for the cost of working up a development feasibility year at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth from November
study, however, the satisfaction chief executive Mark 17-18. Gold Mining Journal previews the projects
Bristow will feel from proving himself right will be price- which will be showcased on the 2015 programme,
less. Gold Mining Journal columnist Brendan Ryan while providing an update on the Class of 2013
reports from Johannesburg

COVER PHOTOGRAPH:

Blackham Resources managing director Bryan Dixon on site at the Wiluna gold project

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EDITORIAL

Old assumptions need
casting aside

Ireturn in this edition to a Over the last 30 years, a procession of gold miners has floundered on
topic I began to address in the refractory ore at Wiluna in Western Australia.

Like the sailors of Greek mythology, these miners have been attracted

the October edition of our by the siren’s call of Wiluna’s grade, only to run adrift on the rocks as

sister publication Australia’s they find the economic extraction of the gold is beyond them.
Paydirt; that cost, rather The Wiluna underground has a reserve of 1.6mt @ 4.7 g/t for

242,825oz gold but given the complexity of recovering gold from refrac-

than grade, is the real king tory ore, it has proven a near impossibility to produce gold bars at com-
of the mining world. petitive prices.

The project’s new owner, Blackham Resources Ltd, has recognised

In Paydirt, my argument largely centred on bulk commodity projects this. It picked up the project, including a 350-man camp, 1.1-1.5 mtpa

processing plant capable of producing 80,000-100,000 ozpa, permitted

in infrastructure poor jurisdictions, where capex requirements are so bore fields, airstrip plus access roads, approvals and licences for just

large that developers have little chance of raising the requisite debt and $2 million.

equity finance needed to build such projects. However, rather than following its predecessors, it is ignoring the

In gold, the burden lays not on the size of a project capex – which, due higher grade call of the refractory ore to focus solely on free milling ore

to the lesser infrastructure requirements is more often less of a burden from the 4.7 moz Matilda project.

– but in the costs associated with production. Blackham’s approach is an example of a company focusing on cost,

It is now accepted wisdom that the first decade of this century saw the not production. If Wiluna was struggling to make money in a rising gold

gold industry lose focus; pursuing increased production for the sake of it price environment, it is never going to be a success in the stagnant one

and forgetting to ensure operating costs were kept in check. we are currently in.

It was only in 2012 – after the spot price peaked – that companies, Instead, Blackham has taken a different approach and has asked itself

particularly the majors, began to recognise that they had overstretched how it can mine and mill not the best grades but the cheapest ounces.

themselves and were building or operating assets which weren’t suf- It is a change of focus which is also being reflected in the exploration

ficiently down the cost curve to prove competitive. successes in the Australian gold sector.

Even the high-tonnage, low-grade megaprojects built in this period This edition of Gold Mining Journal also features our preview to the
will struggle to ever prove worthwhile investments. These are the sub-
NewGenGold Conference, to be held at the Pan Pacific Hotel Perth on
1 g/t orebodies which attracted large November 17-18.
In its 22-year history, NewGenGold
capital costs. has showcased the very best gold dis-
coveries from around the world and
While some of them proved re- while we have lamented the fact re-
cent years have seen the programme
Like the sailors of Greekmarkable discoveries, the problem shorn of many Australian projects,
mythology, these minersis they were leveraged on debt and there are signs of a resurrection.

equity, which means the returns on

have been attracted by the si-these megaprojects are so distant that

“ren’s call of Wiluna’s grade, onlyshareholders are asking why they ever
backed them in the first place. to run adrift on the rocks as they This year, we feature three Austral-
Look at Gold Fields Ltd’s attempts to find the economic extraction of ian projects – Gruyere, Invincible and
Pegasus – and all three have come
revitalise the South Deep mine in South the gold is beyond them. about because of reinterpretation. In
Africa. the case of Gruyere, it was a reinter-

It is a grand engineering project, de-

signed to capture the full 40 moz gold pretation of a long-ignored belt, while

reserve in the deep-level underground in the case of Invincible and Pegasus

mine, and a project we have previously featured in this magazine. it was a reinterpretation of the way exploration teams looked at mature

However, in recent months after a series of operational and safety brownfields environments.

issues, Gold Fields has been forced to scale back its ambitions for the The likes of Andy Well and Mt Morgans could feature on the NewGen-

project. Gold programme in future years having rapidly turned into multi-million

“The big focus here has been to take a step back on this very large 40 ounce deposits thanks to new approaches to them.

moz reserve and figure out how we can actually sustain the production As the industry adjusts to the new realities of the commodities world,

going forward and how we can build from here,” Gold Fields chief execu- old assumptions need to be discarded. It is the only way operations will

tive Nick Holland said at the Denver Gold Forum. “It is not about putting survive and future discoveries will be made.

more money into it. It is not about doing more drilling. This is about get-

ting the basic mining operating model correct.

“South Deep is costing us about $US100 million a year. We have to

get that burn rate down to zero as soon as possible. What is the best way

to do that? It is to drive production volume.”

This may sound like an admission of defeat but Gold Fields’ plans

for South Deep should never have been to build a grand engineering

achievement; this is not the Victorian era. Instead, the goal should’ve

been the same as for every gold mining operation in the world; extract

the greatest amount of ounces for the least cost possible.

Too many operations have lost sight of this.

The project featured in this edition’s cover story is a case in point. – Dominic Piper

Page 4 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

NEWS

OreCorp ready to repeat
previous African success

OreCorp will count on previous East African experience when it begins development of the newly acquired Nyanzaga project in Tanzania

OreCorp Ltd has gold price tanked in 2012. Now, focusing on two or three, with expressed their desire to begin
assuaged the
current trend for with the London-listed producer Nyanzaga at the top of the list. teaming up with juniors, that we
picking up small,
high-grade gold growing increasingly keen on “It was a very disciplined ap- began discussions.”
projects in favour of
a multi-million ounce making its mark in West Africa, proach because we wanted With a foreign (non-JORC)
asset it believes could
transform its standing OreCorp has stepped in and will something that was at least on resource estimate of 100.39mt
among investors.
offer a fresh look at the project. the page; something that had @ 1.3 g/t gold for 4.19 moz re-
The ASX-listed junior an-
nounced in September a JV OreCorp managing director the potential to be developed,” source, Nyanzaga, in the heart
agreement with Acacia Mining
plc over the latter’s Nyanzaga Matthew Yates said the Nyan- he said. of the prolific Lake Victoria Gold-
project in Tanzania, which could
hand OreCorp 51% of the 4.2 zaga deal had been the culmi- “We approached Acacia a few fields, is much larger than what
moz gold project.
nation of a three-year search for years ago but they weren’t sure your average junior explorer
The deal will see OreCorp pay
$US1 million upfront in cash, fol- an appropriate asset on which what they were doing with it. It would take on, but Yates said
lowed by staged earn-in expendi-
ture and completion of a DFS to OreCorp could focus. was only this year, after they the project’s inherent “optional-
earn a 25% interest. Dependent
on the NPV defined in the DFS, “When we listed ity” and OreCorp’s own
Acacia can then elect to retain
its 75% interest or dilute down to more than two years expertise meant it rep-
49%.
ago, the focus was on resented an ideal op-
When it acquired the project
from Tusker Resources, Aca- grassroots projects in portunity.
cia had intended Nyanzaga to
be its fourth Tanzanian mine, Ethiopia and Maurita- “This is not purely a
but development stalled as the
nia, but even then the gold price play; it isn’t a

market was beginning 500,000oz deposit sat

to shift and it was get- on the side of a moun-

ting more difficult for tain that will only be

explorers,” Yates told developed when gold

Gold Mining Journal. hits a certain price. It is

“We reacted aggres- about optionality.

sively; stopping most “The 4.2 moz comes

exploration and jetti- at a 0.4 g/t cut-off but

soning a lot of ground if you increase the cut-

in Mauritania. We then off to 1 g/t there is still

decided to look for a 3 moz there. There

development asset, are also zones of very

particularly because high-grade mineralisa-

values were starting to tion, which could be tar-

come down.” geted and OreCorp will

Yates said the com- Located in the prolific Lake Victoria Goldfields, Nyanzaga be considering smaller

pany looked at hun- shares much in common with Tanzania’s largest and larger development

dreds of assets before gold operations scenarios.”

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 5

NEWS

The consideration comprises $US1 million in an upfront cash pay-
ment, followed by staged earn-in expenditure and completion of a DFS
to earn a 25% interest. Dependent upon the NPV generated by the
DFS, Acacia may elect to retain a 75% interest by paying OreCorp
a NPV-based multiple of expenditure, or failing Acacia’s election,
OreCorp may increase to a 51% interest by making cash and royalty
payments up to a total of $US15 million based on the achievement of
defined project milestones

In an era when juniors are picking up the unwanted, low- OreCorp plans to mine the extensive Nyanzaga database
targeting small, short-life, high- grade Lumwana copper project to find suitable development path
grade operations, Yates believes in neighbouring Zambia and
Nyanzaga’s ability to offer differ- bringing it into production before The JV agreement itself is porated into a mine plan.”
ent production scenarios is what eventually selling the mine to structured with “optionality” in The company currently has $7
makes it so enticing. Barrick Gold Corp for $US7 bil- mind. Acacia retains clawback
lion. rights if a DFS shows NPV to be million in the bank, sufficient to
“If you look at a lot of these above $US200 million, but must see it through the scoping study
early cash-flow projects, very Yates and Williams are joined pay for the privilege. phase according to Yates.
few have come to reality, they on the board by Mike Klessens
are only ever keeping the doors (ex-Equinox chief financial of- “We didn’t want the cap that Nyanzaga also comes with an
open. But, if you have got a pro- ficer) and former East Africa most clawbacks have on juniors exploration package and Yates
ject with optionality; one that Gold Mines exploration manager so we have come up with a hy- said while project development
could start at 100,000 ozpa Alastair Morrison. brid solution,” Yates said. “If NPV would be the priority, exploration
but scale up to 400,000 ozpa if is more than $US200 million, would also be on the agenda.
conditions are right, then that is Both Yates and Williams see Acacia can retain 75% by paying
much better than 40,000 ozpa similarities between Lumwana us three times our expenditure. “There are opportunities for or-
over four years with little upside.” and Nyanzaga. If it is more than $US1 billion, ganic growth. There is 300sq km
Acacia must pay us six times our which comes with the project and
The team behind OreCorp “This industry is cyclical,” spend. If it is less than $200 mil- there are some very sexy targets
also has experience in this area. Yates said. “Lumwana couldn’t lion, OreCorp can keep its 51%.” plus a mountain of data that we
Yates has spent 17 years oper- have been built during the height haven’t had a proper look at yet,”
ating in Africa, most of it in Tan- of the boom but Equinox built it Expenditure in the initial stag- he said.
zania with the highly successful as the market began to turn and es is unlikely to be too onerous.
Mantra Resources and Omega these kinds of projects come into Acacia has drilled more than “The gold endowment of this
Corp. In chairman Craig Wil- their own at that stage. Nyanzaga 237,000m on the project and region is such that I would be
liams, the company has the man could grow from 100,000 ozpa to OreCorp will receive the entire very surprised if there was not
responsible for Equinox Minerals 400,000 ozpa very quickly in the dataset of drilling, geophysical another deposit of Nyanzaga’s
right environment.” and geochemical work. size there.”

“It is the kind of dataset a jun- He said the company would
ior could only fantasise about,” undertake pitting and trenching
Yates said. during the current dry season
and could bring an exploration
The reality is that OreCorp can drill rig on to the property in 2016
use the data to immediately be- or 2017.
gin building a JORC 2012-com-
pliant resource without the need For now however, the focus is
for expensive drilling. fully on getting a feel for where
OreCorp could take Nyanzaga.
“We don’t need to drill any-
thing and it is a straightforward “It will be about scale: Do we
strategy; re-run the resource to mine 4 moz or only 1 moz at
JORC 2012 standards and using a higher cut-off grade? What
a higher cut-off grade. Once we should throughput be? What
get that we can begin examining capex can it handle; is it a small-
what the high-grade zones look er, higher grade or larger, lower
like and how they might be incor- grade project?”

– Dominic Piper

Page 6 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

OPINION BRENDAN RYAN

Randgold gets its hand on
Obuasi... at last

This past month AngloGold Ashanti has brought Randgold in to help success – to develop a coal mine
has seen final solve its Obuasi conundrum in the Waterberg region of South
judgement on a saga Africa’s Limpopo Province.
that started more than year, the extent of the under- front and will only kick in its share
a decade ago – An- ground problems at Obuasi were of the cost of re-developing the My assessment of the Rusten-
gloGold’s takeover of evident. In 2005, then-chief ex- mine which will be less than burg deal was that Amplats got
Ashanti GoldFields ecutive Bobby Godsell defiantly $US500 million assuming Bris- the best of that one and my as-
(Ashanti) to create drew a line in the sand declaring tow’s guidance that the total cost sessment of the Waterberg deal
AngloGold Ashanti that he staked “the technical rep- will be less than $US1 billion is is that Waterberg shareholders
Ltd – and the start of utation of AngloGold Ashanti” on correct. should be extremely relieved be-
another saga which turning the Obuasi mine around. cause WCC has been battling for
could take just as long Venkat has already done the more than a year to keep itself
to play out – the diver- Godsell retired in 2007. His “hard yards” of retrenching the going.
sification of Sibanye successor – Mark Cutifani who is entire workforce and convincing
Gold Ltd into gold, now the chief executive of Anglo Ghana’s Government of the need Trading in WCC shares has
platinum and coal. American plc – gave the same for radical change to save what been under voluntary suspen-
commitment over Obuasi’s fu- used to be the country’s flagship sion since mid-March while the
Let’s start with AngloGold ture. gold mine. company tried to find new finan-
Ashanti where the present chief cial backers so it could pay back
executive Srinivasan Venka- It’s common cause that the Bristow also still retains the loans to Standard Bank that were
takrishnan ( “Venkat” as he likes Obuasi orebody is high-grade. option of walking away should about to fall due.
to be called) has just “thrown in The problem is to mine success- the Randgold technical team –
the towel” on the group’s efforts fully, as Bristow pointed out on now moving to Obuasi from the Sibanye is now taking over
to rehabilitate the Obuasi mine in a conference call from Ghana highly successful Kibali mine in a “secured convertible note”
Ghana and turned to Randgold when the deal was announced, the Democratic Republic of Con- amounting to $22.5 million; will
Resources Ltd chief executive saying: “Obuasi is a world-class go – decide they cannot come up kick in another $8.5 million in
Mark Bristow to see what he can resource. We now have to see with a workable plan. working capital to WCC and will
do with it. if we can convert it into a world- have the right to subscribe for
class mine.” As one saga ends, so another additional new WCC shares to
Bristow must be smiling from is quite possibly starting up as take its stake to 51% within 18
ear to ear. Not only does he get Venkat has handed Obuasi to Sibanye Gold chief executive months.
half of Obuasi for the cost of Bristow “on a plate”, taking the Neal Froneman diversifies into
working up a development fea- pragmatic view that owning 50% platinum and coal mining. Motivation for the deal is that
sibility study but he has finally of something at Obuasi is better Froneman wants the coal from
been proven correct in his 2003 than owning 100% of nothing at Barely a week after Frone- WCC to supply a proposed in-
assessment of the mine when Obuasi. man announced the deal to buy dependent power producer (IPP)
Randgold bid against AngloGold Rustenburg Platinum from Anglo coal-fired power station he wants
for control of Ashanti. Randgold will get 50% of American Platinum plc (Amplats) to build in the Waterberg, which
Obuasi – current estimated gold – as I reported in my Bush Tel- will supply the power that his
Bristow proposed a cautious reserve of 5.3 moz plus a huge egraph column for Paydirt – he deep-level gold and platinum
and limited approach to further resource base – for the cost of then struck a deal to effectively mines will need.
deep-level mining at Obuasi working up a development plan take over the ASX-listed Water-
whereas AngloGold was pre- acceptable to AngloGold Ashanti. berg Coal Company Ltd (WCC) Strategically, it makes a lot of
pared to go in on a much larger which is attempting – with little sense given the ongoing prob-
scale. Randgold will pay nothing up- lems with power supply from
Eskom and the rising cost of that
Bristow eventually pulled out power.
of the contest, commenting much
later – in November 2013 – that Whether Froneman can pull all
“the biggest driver of Randgold this off remains to be seen. His
Resources’ fortunes has been view is clearly that he can mine
the things we did not do. We did platinum and coal just as suc-
not take over Ashanti Goldfields cessfully as he can mine gold.
because we were not prepared to
pay too much for it”. But coal mining operations
in the Waterberg are far more
AngloGold merged with complex than the traditional op-
Ashanti to create AngloGold erations around Emalahleni (the
Ashanti in 2004 and, within a former Witbank) and develop-
ing mines in the Waterberg can
require very deep pockets judg-
ing by the experience of the only
company to operate there suc-
cessfully – Exxaro Resources
Ltd.

Brendan Ryan is a freelance writer,
based in Johannesburg

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 7

NEWS

Newmont keen on Super Pit
stake, not Barrick’s US assets

Newmont Mining Corp is not interest, especially from not contemplating any
interested in buying the U.S.
assets Barrick Gold Corp has put North American-based more streaming deals,
up for sale but would be keen on
Barrick’s 50% stake in an Aus- miners, in the assets in transactions that in-
tralian mine at the right price,
Newmont chief executive Gary Nevada and Montana volve the forward sale
Goldberg said in September.
that Barrick has put up of future production at a
“If we were to be interested in
Barrick’s assets, it wouldn’t be for sale. mine for an upfront pay-
those particular assets,” Gold-
berg said in an interview when Speculation had pre- ment.
asked about a package of six
gold mines and projects that Bar- viously linked Newmont Barrick is open to
rick is selling.
and Toronto-based Kin- selling more non-core
The Kalgoorlie Super Pit,
which Newmont and Barrick own ross Gold Corp as po- assets although, when
in a 50/50 JV, would be more to
his taste, Goldberg said. tential buyers. it comes to its Lumwana

“If we could do something at As part of its plan to copper mine in Zambia,
the right value, that’s one that we
would be interested in,” he said cut at least $US3 billion it may make more sense
on the sidelines of the Denver
Gold Forum. in debt this year, Bar- to wait for better copper

Newmont recently took over as rick, the world’s biggest prices, Dushnisky said.
operator of Kalgoorlie Consoli-
dated Gold Mines (KCGM), the gold producer, said in Other than Lumwana,
management vehicle for the Su-
per Pit. It is Barrick’s only asset August it would sell six Barrick’s other non-
left in Australia following a spate
of sales to help reduce debt. of its U.S. gold mines Newmont has flagged its interest in JV partner Barrick’s core assets include a
and projects: Bald share of the Kalgoorlie Super Pit operations stake in Acacia Mining
Barrick president Kelvin Dush- Mountain, Round Moun- plc and the 50% stake
nisky said there has been strong
tain, Spring Valley, Ruby Hill, Hill- a value on the asset package, in KCGM.

top and Golden Sunlight assets. which analysts have said could “While they are valuable as-

“We just started it [the sale] bring in between $US500 million sets ... if we can generate more

but already the level of interest is and $US700 million. value for our shareholders by

extremely high,” Dushnisky told If done before year end, the those assets being in another

Reuters in Denver. sales will enable Barrick to ex- company, then we are open-

“We initiated the process as a ceed its $US3 billion debt reduc- minded to that,” Dushnisky said.

package but we are open-mind- tion target following other asset He said Barrick is pleased with

ed. If it makes sense to split it up disposals and financings, includ- Acacia’s turnaround but there is

and we will get better value as a ing a recent so-called “stream- still room for improvement.

whole for that, we will certainly ing” deal on its Pueblo Viejo mine – Nicole Mordant, Reuters
consider it,” he said. in the Dominican Republic.

Dushnisky declined to put Dushnisky said Barrick was

Mining industry never learns from
past mistakes: Goldcorp’s Telfer

The chairman of Goldcorp Inc, so much money chasing so few that many have now had to put declined to give any specifics.
the world’s biggest gold min- potential investments. It will hap- on ice due to a lack of funds. Goldcorp will continue to look
er by market value, questioned pen the way it always happens.”
whether the mining industry has Vancouver-based Goldcorp, for acquisitions, possibly outside
learned any lessons from the Global miners and their share- which notched up less debt than the company’s traditional Ameri-
commodities price downturn and holders have been bludgeoned peers such as Barrick Gold Corp, cas stomping ground, Telfer said.
painful belt-tightening of the past in the past four years by fall- is continuing to build mines and
four years. ing prices for commodities from should be able to keep paying its “We are open to discussions”,
copper to gold and oil. Gold has current dividend to sharehold- he said.
“When the metals prices turn, fallen 40% since its September ers even if the gold price fell
it is like someone trying to pour 2011 peak, forcing miners to lay to $US1,100/oz, even possibly There are times, however, that
a bottle of scotch into a scotch off workers, shelve projects and $US1,000/oz, Telfer said. he is relieved that Goldcorp has
glass,” Ian Telfer, a 30-year in- sell assets to cut debt. so far stuck to safer, developed
dustry veteran, said in an inter- Bullion was trading around markets, he said.
view at the Denver Gold Forum. That debt was racked up dur- $US1,125/oz at time of print.
ing the last boom – a decade “I can tell you lots of mornings
“Even though you would have of rising commodity prices until Telfer said Goldcorp would when I wake up I am glad we did
thought people would be more 2011 when miners went on ex- also continue with its strategy of – from things that are happening
cautious at the end of each cy- pensive acquisition sprees and divesting smaller, shorter-life op- elsewhere,” he said.
cle, they never are. There will be started building massive projects erations and replacing them with
larger, lower-cost operations. He – Nicole Mordant, Reuters

Page 8 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

OPINION KEITH GOODE

Altering the
exploration focus

Alteration has become a focus of exploration at both Dacian’s Mt Morgans project and Gold Road’s Gruyere deposit

This month’s col- distracted by the patterns of the model at Heffernans as shown stead, it appears to be an albite-
umn is based syenite lacing across the rock, in the image (similar to Wallaby- altered monzonite porphyry with
purely on observa- whereas Dacian instead identi- style mineralisation), together quartz-carbonate veining and
tions made this year fied that the controlling factor on with the delineation of the Corn- sulphide mineralisation.
of the companies grade appears to be alteration in wall Shear Zone.
ERA has visited. the syenite (from darker mafic to Gruyere has values higher
I have noticed an lighter/whiter albite), and whether The 738,000oz resource at than the average 1.2 g/t resource
increasing trend sulphides (e.g. pyrite) are pre- Heffernans, like Jupiter before it, grade, in some cases of 4.4 g/t,
focusing on alteration sent. consisted of a high-grade com- 14.5 g/t or even visible gold.
compared to conven- ponent (expected to be treated These higher grades appear to
tional gold mineralisa- The alteration of basalt to by CIL) of 9.8mt @ 1.74 g/t (0.9 be associated with the degree of
tion in quartz or other light brownish coloured albite g/t cut-off) for 548,000oz, and a albite alteration.
host rocks. surrounding cross-cutting veins low-grade component (expected
is shown in the image from the to be treated by heap leach) of By the time I visited Phoenix’s
At Dacian Gold Ltd’s Jupiter sidewall between the Joanne 11.6mt @ 0.51 g/t for 190,000oz. prospects after Diggers & Deal-
complex in Western Australia, and Jenny mineralised zones ers, I could not help but notice
focusing on alteration has led to (since renamed Doublejay). The Just before Diggers & Dealers some rocks/boulders in an old
a dramatic reinterpretation of the veins cross through (i.e, are post) in August, I revisited Gold Road bund wall with veins showing
project. the syenite as shown in the im- Resources Ltd’s Gruyere ore- alteration, that may have been
age. body. Gruyere has grown into a overlooked.
The historical interpretation at 5.62 moz deposit and is now in-
Jupiter appeared to have been The influence of albite on terpreted as a porphyry system. The above are just three ex-
grades is clearly shown at drill amples that I have so far seen
hole 13JUDD019 – 28.3 g/t and However, the deposit, on the this year that possibly highlight
16.6 g/t – while alteration at 22.1 Yamarna Belt, does not resem- alteration as an overlooked indi-
g/t in the syenite can also be ble Phoenix Gold Ltd’s Castle cator of mineralisation.
seen in drill hole 15JUDD047. Hill/Kintore tonalite also in the
Eastern Goldfields or Gryphon Keith Goode is the managing di-
The identification of the altera- Minerals Ltd’s Nogbele granodi- rector of Eagle Research Advisory
tion has resulted in the current orite/tonalite in Burkina Faso. In-

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 9

NEWS

WPG to make size count

Production from WPG is on the road to production in South Australia is the smaller one. I know a cou-
WPG Resources ple of other ones that are starting
Ltd’s Tarcoola project months ago and in that time an A proposal for a mineral lease up or going through the regulato-
in South Australia is Australian gold price in the vi- has been submitted with the ry process, albeit relatively small
on track for the sec- cinity of $1,500/oz has been the Government, with the period for projects,” Jacobsen said.
ond half of 2016. impetus for WPG to surge ahead public comments closing at the
with economic studies. time of print. Havilah Resources Ltd is on
A feasibility study released in the path to production in the near
September indicated potential for Jacobsen said a decision on “Then we have to do a PEPR future at its Portia mine, near
a 20,000 ozpa gold project over progressing the project would be (programme for environment Broken Hill.
three years at AISC of $1,088/oz made by the end of the year. protection and rehabilitation) and
for a capital cost of $16.7 million. hope to have that approved in Having recently signed a $6
“We will be in production in the second quarter of next year million loan and risk manage-
Open pit resources at Tarcoola the second half of next year,” he and then we’re off to the races,” ment facility with Investec Group,
(973,000t @ 3.12 g/t for 97,500oz said. Jacobsen said. the company is funded to start
containing 74,000oz) are amena- production by the end of the year.
ble to heap leach treatment. “While all regulatory process- There are a number of small
es are frustrating, I think South gold miners making some noise The facility, subject to adminis-
There is considerable Australia’s is probably a little less in the State at the moment and trative conditions and ministerial
scope for expansion, however, frustrating than others. There Jacobsen believes there is room consent, is expected to be final-
Tarcoola, 190km south of Coo- is supposedly a clear pathway for further activity in the space. ised by the end of October, which
ber Pedy, is not the main game for regulatory approvals, so we will allow Havilah access to the
for WPG, managing director anticipate having everything in “There certainly are a number funds.
Martin Jacobsen told Gold Min- place for the second quarter of of smaller type projects and Por-
ing Journal. next year.” tia is going at the moment which “Execution of the documents
to finalise the facility is an im-
“Tarcoola itself is quite small, portant step to ensure the Portia
but it is really a springboard for gold mine is fully funded through
our larger projects, Tunkillia in [to] first gold production,” Havilah
particular, which is close by,” managing director Chris Giles
Jacobsen said. said in a statement.

“We will be using a fair amount “Mining at Portia is advancing
of free cash flow generated at as planned and we have identi-
Tarcoola for further explora- fied enhancements to the pro-
tion at Tunkillia. We have got cessing plant that could poten-
500,000oz at Tunkillia already, tially increase the recoveries by
but it is our view that we need to allowing us to capture a greater
find more to make it a long term proportion of the fine gold. With
project and there is certainly po- the financing in place Havilah
tential to find more. We will be can now finalise the processing
doing a little bit more exploration circuit and equipment that is re-
before we make any decisions to quired to maximise the gold pro-
progress that.” duction.”

Tarcoola was acquired 18 Gold production from Portia is
expected to be short and sharp,
but most importantly profitable
enough for Havilah to chase its
larger 34,000 tpa copper and
108,000 ozpa gold Kalkaroo pro-
ject in South Australia.

A decision on advancing
Kalkaroo could be made as early
as mid-2016, as mining slows
at Portia and Havilah achieves
gross cash flows (estimated on a
$1,580/oz gold price) of $40 mil-
lion.

At the time of print, about 2
million cubic metres, or 30%, of
overburden had been removed
from Portia, while Havilah had
progressed construction of its
gravity gold plant.

Havilah expects to spend
about $5 million to bring the plant
up to scratch.

– Mark Andrews

Havilah is in charge of processing gold ore from Portia, while Consolidated Mining &
Civil Pty Ltd will take care of mining for its 50% stake

Page 10 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Back to the future: S2 Resources

Sirius Resources current market, S2 finds itself in
spin-out S2 Re- the enviable position of having
cash and momentum from the

sources Ltd was get-go.
headed for an ASX Bennet identified people,
listing at the time of
ground and money as the ingre-
dients for success and with the

print, with the man- old Sirius team back in action on
agement intent on Baloo, he believes S2 has the
recipe.

repeating earlier suc- “Because of the nature of the
cess. thing [the Baloo deposit], we
can actually do the resource drill

out cheaply. I am talking about

The company was scheduled around $1 million, which is bug-

to hit the bourse in mid-October ger all,” Bennett said.

with $22 million in the kitty and “That will pretty well take us up

designs on producing a maiden to Christmas, then we will hand

resource from Baloo at its flag- Mark Bennett it over to the guys to crunch the

ship Polar Bear project in West numbers which means it will

Australia. One shouldn’t be surprised if ficient for the next 2-3 years, in probably be February by the time

Great expectations are on S2 the office phone rings out from which time the company hopes that [resource] is out. Then, in the

mimicking the success of Sirius, time-to-time as S2 people may to find value in Baloo. New Year the other things will

which was behind the multibil- be taking a dip in the ocean to re- Raising money is not currently start being drilled.”

lion dollar Nova-Bollinger project energise and prompt the creative part of S2’s script unless “we had The oxide zone at Baloo,

now flying with Independence juices to flow upon their return to an opportunity that was good which occurs from a depth of 3m,
Group NL, and the “old band” is will be the target of resource drill-
ready to make an immedi- business. enough and significant enough ing.
ate impression. for me to raise money
to get it”, Bennett said. Sirius’ last diamond drill hole
Unlike rock stars seem- However, there is at Baloo returned hits in the order
no shortage of sup- of 35m @ 4.5 g/t gold.
Basically we wantingly chasing a larger pay port for Bennett and
to do Sirius all overcheque by breaking away S2 at the moment with “Within the Sirius portfolio this
investors knocking wouldn’t have moved a dial, but
from the group which the door down prior in the portfolio of a company like
S2 it is pretty significant,” Ben-
again, if not better, and wemade it famous, former nett said.

“believe that we can.Sirius personnel Jeff
Dowling (non-executive to Sirius’ merger with

chairman), Mark Bennett Independence to en- “Our Polar Bear projects are

(managing director), Anna Neul- After all it is a successful sure they got their S2 entitlement at the south end of the main

ing (executive director), Jeffrey mining business the S2 team is prior to its listing. Goldfields’ gold trend, there’s

Foster (general manager project chasing, and after a trip to the While other new listings are hundreds of millions of ounces in

generation), John Bartlett (gen- Swiss Alps, Bennett appears struggling to gain attention in the gold endowment through there,

eral manager exploration) and hungry and eager to get

Su-Mei Chan (chief financial of- straight back in to what

ficer) have accepted pay cuts to he knows best; finding

stay together. deposits.

Bennett told attendees at a “Our fantasy is that

WA Mining Club luncheon in we don’t want to mine a

September that many of the Sir- little gold deposit near

ius philosophies would be inher- Kalgoorlie, we want to

ent in S2. find something signifi-

This means “trying to break cant again – a compa-

the stereotypical, stodgy, con- ny-maker,” Bennett told

servative industry mould” be- media in September.

cause there is “a need for slightly “And, with the money we

crazy, creative people in mining”, have right now – plus if

according to Bennett. Baloo was viable ... the

Therefore, suits and ties prob- money it could gener-

ably won’t be seen as much as ate, even if it is a modest

shorts and thongs (the Australian thing – our fantasy is it

type) around the S2 office. could basically provide

Beach attire is perhaps more us with enough funding

fitting at S2 given the company to achieve that bigger

has relocated from its legendary objective, without hav-

Balcatta commercial space to ing to raise money.”

the more vibrant coastal climes Bennett said the $22 Bennett told a WA Mining Club luncheon S2 aimed to replicate Sirius’ success
of Scarborough. million S2 has was suf-

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 11

NEWS

and as you can see from talks were early.
the position of our ground
at the south end we are Australia, Europe and
roughly at the end of strike
from some pretty good North America are preferred
things.”
hunting grounds for S2 which
Polar Bear, 10km east of
Higginsville, is positioned is already set up in Scandi-
under salt lakes, which
requires different types of navia.
equipment for exploration
and mining. S2 has two-thirds of a pri-

Nevertheless, the chal- vate Finnish company, run
lenge has been met, with
the Baloo discovery and by former Anglo American
other prospects, for S2 to
follow up. plc employees, in which it

Monsoon – 32m @ 2.5 can increase its ownership to
g/t – is one such prospect
that has provided some 80% by sole funding explora-
encouragement from the most
recent hit. tion of base metals to the end

“[It] ended in mineralisation of 2016.
and that’s sitting there waiting to
be followed up right now,” Ben- The company has about
nett said.
1,500sq km of ground in Fin-
Exploration targets are not
only ripe for the picking for S2, land and is also a large land-
with Bennett saying M&A could
not be ignored. Resource drilling at Baloo started in September holder in Sweden.
With a diversified base and
“With more than $20 million
cash in the bank, right now precious metal portfolio at its
for us is a fantastic time to go
hunting for other opportuni- “Given that we are a small er who might have totally differ- disposal, Bennett and co have
ties,” he said.
company with a small company ent objectives which doesn’t help every chance of going back to
“There are a lot of small
companies with some decent “outlook, with a bit of a war chest, anybody.” the future with S2.
assets, with not much money and we are in a nice little space with Bennett said he was “pleas- However, this time around it
there is not much chance of rais- won’t have to wind down to its
ing money right now, even less We have got a plan, a bunch of last buck and last drilling cam-
chance over the pond. assets and a whole bunch of op- paign to set the world alight.
portunities flowing to us from the Sirius “Basically we want to do Sir-
experience. We will stay focused on the ius all over again, if not better,
and we believe that we can,”
Bennett said.
“We have got a plan, a bunch

same commodities – precious and base of assets and a whole bunch of
metals – in sensible places. opportunities flowing to us from
the Sirius experience. We will

stay focused on the same com-

modities – precious and base

the same thresholds, drivers and antly surprised” by the amount of metals – in sensible places.”

so on as some of our potential parties interested in discussing – Mark Andrews
partners who otherwise are hav- potential partnerships, particu-

ing to get in bed with a big broth- larly in North America, however,

Dacian with the goods at Mt Morgans

Rohan Williams’ Dacian Gold A camp, haul roads and dollar gold price. We are
Ltd has come up trumps gas pipeline are already in
with a scoping study for the Mt place, however, a further confident that Mt Morgans’
Morgans project in Western Aus- $157 million of infrastructure
tralia. capital is required to bring strong economic and techni-
production online in 2018.
A scoping study released in cal merits will enable us to
September confirmed the viabil- While elements of the
ity of an initial seven-year opera- scoping study were com- secure the funding required
tion producing 1.2 moz @ 2.5 pleted to PFS level, Dacian
g/t gold, including underground will produce a full PFS and on attractive terms,” Williams
production of 818,000oz @ 5.4 hopes to have a DFS and
g/t, and an estimated life-of-mine ore reserve completed by the said.
AISC for production of 220,000oz end of 2016.
gold (years 1-5) of $929/oz and “This will help ensure Mt
C1 cash costs of $812/oz. The current resource esti-
mate at Mt Morgans is 41.7mt Morgans delivers strong re-
The company has designs on @ 2.2 g/t gold for 3 moz, which
a 2.5 mtpa plant to be fed by four is hosted in the Jupiter, Westralia turns for Dacian sharehold-
open pits, including the nearby and Transvaal prospects.
Jupiter prospect and Westralia ers. With the DFS on track
deposit, which is the most ad- Dacian is confident explora-
vanced of the three underground tion will add to this inventory, with for completion late next year
mines initially targeted for pro- drilling at the Wallaby look-a-like
duction. prospect Callisto expected to and extensive infrastructure
start at the time of print.
Rohan Williams already in place, we expect

to begin production in 2018.

Williams said the scoping While this schedule is imple-

study proved Mt Morgans would mented, we intend to continue

be an “outstanding” WA gold pro- an aggressive exploration cam-

ject. paign to unlock the full value of

“Strong production rates and the Mt Morgans project area.”

low costs will likely deliver robust

margins and cash flow, particu-

larly at the current Australian-

Page 12 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Pinnacles centrepiece
of Nexus’ plan

Nexus Minerals Ltd cut. It would be a case steadily as we want. If we
might have found of directing expenditure choose to go in and accel-
the final and most to developing the under- erate drill programmes,
ground operations at Ka- feasibility studies or any-

important piece of its rari or Whirling Dervish, thing like that, then all of
Eastern Goldfields as that’s where their drill that expenditure brings
focus was at that time.” forward that JV owner-

exploration puzzle, Pinnacles is contigu- ship earlier. And by the
according to chief ex- ous with Saracen’s Ca- same token once we are
ecutive Andy Tudor. rosue Dam operation, a couple of years into it
which is just 13km north we can actually slow it

of the project and pro- up if required. It is a very

In September, Nexus an- duced 79,000oz gold in flexible arrangement.

nounced it had entered into a 2014. Both sides appreciate the

farm-in and JV agreement with Significant high-grade industry and how it is and

Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd drill intercepts from Pin- we’ll go as steadily or as

to earn up to 85% of the miner’s nacles include 5m @ Mineralisation outcrops at surface quickly as we can do in
Pinnacles gold project. 20.95 g/t gold from 88m, from the Pinnacles project the market conditions.”
4m @ 19.51 g/t from 86m The deal also advan-
The agreement follows Nexus’

October 2014 farm-in and JV and 3m @ 16.12 g/t from 139m, shoots. There are great results tages Nexus by giving it access

agreement with Coxrocks Pty Ltd which contributed to the project’s both in strike extent and depth to Saracen’s Carosue Dam mine

to claim a stake in the Triumph 413,000t @ 2.1 g/t for 28,000oz that have never been followed up facilities, infrastructure and mine

gold project and purchase of gold resource in October 2014. post that programme in 2012. village.

94sq km of tenements surround- Tudor said Saracen’s 2014 “Our main area of interest in It also puts in place an ore

ing the Pinnacles project from a resource was merely the tip of the first instance is the depth po- sale and purchase agreement

private prospector in April. the iceberg as it was defined to tential, and this is what Nexus will whereby Nexus agrees to sell
Tudor told Gold Mining Jour- a depth of less than 150m and be focusing on in its first drill pro- and Saracen agrees to buy any
failed to include standout hits of gramme, with further depth and future ore defined and mined
nal he’d been eyeing off the Pin-

nacles project for some time. 6m @ 17.44 g/t gold from 154m strike extent potential to be fol- from the project.

“Saracen had undertaken drill- and 6m @ 12.3 g/t from 166m. lowed up in future programmes. The ore would be purchased

ing programmes there in 2011 “They have drilled a modest We see these styles of miner- by Saracen as delivered to the

and 2012 with good results but resource there of 28,000oz @ 2.1 alisation throughout the Eastern Carosue Dam plant ROM pad,

had never followed them up as g/t gold that has only been drilled Goldfields, whether it is at Karari, post determination of recovery

their focus shifted to much bigger for 150m of strike and down to Whirling Dervish or all the way percentages, tonnes and grade,

projects,” Tudor said. about 150m in depth,” Tudor up to Red October. At Pinnacles, less a treatment charge.

“Talking to the geology man- said. “Our geological modelling that’s what we are targeting.” Saracen would be responsible

ager there he said whenever shows there to be a high-grade Under the terms of the deal, for all treatment and royalty costs

it came around to budget time core component to the resource Nexus is required to spend a of the ore.

Pinnacles would just miss the with multiple steep dipping ore minimum $200,000 to earn 25% Tudor said although the ar-

interest in the project. rangement pertained to Pinna-

A total $1 million invest- cles specifically at present, it was

ment over five years will a potential template to work with

entitle Nexus to an 85% Saracen on other nearby pro-

interest in the project, at jects in the future.

which point a contributing “We believe Pinnacles is a

JV would be established very exciting gold project and we

between Nexus and Sara- intend to go there, drill it and give

cen. it everything we possibly can –

Tudor said it was the give it the love that it hasn’t had

perfect deal for the junior for a couple of years,” he said.

explorer. Nexus was finalising a pro-

“A positive thing about gramme of works application at

this deal was that there the time of print and Tudor ex-

was no requirement for pected drilling to start at Pinna-

cash up front but we’ve cles later this quarter.

got a $200,000 annual – Rhys Dickinson
expenditure and a com-

mitment to put that money

in the ground,” Tudor said.

“The good thing about

Nexus chief executive Andy Tudor and company exploration geologist it is if we develop it we

Adam James at the Pinnacles project site can do so as quickly or as

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 13

COVER

Blackham writing its
own history at Wiluna

Having acquired it as part of the $2 million Wiluna gold project purchase, Blackham plans to spend just $14-15 million
on refurbishing the 1.3 mtpa Wiluna plant

Blackham Resourc- Blackham chief operating officer Alan Thom Blackham’s purchase of Wilu-
es Ltd is work- na only added weight to these
ing its way through assumptions. The fact it paid just
debunking the myths $2 million upfront (with subse-
about the Wiluna gold quent payments of $1.3 million
project. at 50,000oz and 100,000oz pro-
duction milestones) for a project
Gold was discovered in Wiluna – including a 350-man camp, a
– in Western Australia’s North- 1.1-1.5 mtpa processing plant
Eastern Goldfields – in 1896 and capable of producing 80,000-
the area has since produced 4 100,000 ozpa, permitted bore
moz, predominantly from 4sq km fields, airstrip plus access roads,
of dirt known as the Wiluna Mine approvals and licences – give the
Sequence. However, questions impression of a tainted asset.
around the metallurgical proper-
ties and the travails of as many as Blackham’s opportunity came
15 companies who have owned with the demise of previous
the project have given Wiluna an owner Apex Minerals NL. The
unwanted reputation and placed then-Joseph Gutnick chaired
it in the “too hard” basket. Blackham saw the asset and in-
frastructure as complementary
to its own nearby 44mt @ 3.3 g/t
for 4.7 moz Matilda gold project.

Page 14 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Stockpiled ore grading about 5-6 g/t gold was left behind by Apex

Gold was discovered in Wiluna in the 1890s

In addition to resources at Mat- good nick. There are a few little “We are also working on ex- resource and for a bit more met

ilda, a further 2.9 moz of gold engineering jobs to do; we need tending the tailings dam and test work.

was delivered to Blackham when to do some work on the tanks mine development, plus working “If the feasibility tracks as we

it secured the Wiluna project in and also on Mill Two and replace capital as we ramp up,” Dixon expect and we get the approv-

March 2014. the gen sets for the power sta- said. als over the Matilda mine, we are

Eighteen months on and tion, but most of the rest is of a “The pre-feasibility is on track on track for first gold pour in Q2

Blackham is set to release a PFS maintenance nature.” to be published in October. We 2016.”

on the restart of operations and Prior to falling into administra- will publish reserves on the back Blackham’s approach to the

is ready to dismiss suggestions tion, Apex had spent $140 million of that PFS. We are currently go- project is far different to Apex’s

the Wiluna gold project is a dud. on the plant, infrastructure and ing flat out working on our DFS large-scale tactic involving
“Because we only paid $2 mil-

lion for the plant people

thought it was no good,”

Blackham managing direc-

Because we only paid $2 million for thetor Bryan Dixon told Gold
plant people thought it was no good.Mining Journal after a re-

cent site visit.

““The plant was operat-
exploration. programmes as well with a view sourcing tonnes from under-
ground deposits. Wiluna’s
metallurgical problems
have been associated with
the substantial amount
of refractory ore present
on the project, however,
Blackham’s immediate pri-

ing until June 2013 and was still Blackham envisions spending to finishing that in December. ority is to define large quantities

in pretty good shape. We’ve had about $14-15 million on plant re- The drilling we are doing at the of less complex free milling ore.

two lots of engineers give it a kick furbishments and a maintenance moment is for the full feasibility, “We are focused on the ox-

and run their eyes over it; it’s in programme. adding further confidence to the ide ores,” Dixon said. “All of our

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 15

COVER

A recent intersection at Williamson returned and now we have started drilling
67m for more than 2 g/t gold the extensions of Williamson and
that orebody is 30-40m wide in
Blackham geologist Cain Fogarty drilling has been focusing is key to Blackham’s strategy in places. There is opportunity for
on those oxide ores and Wiluna and there are lots of op- that to be base load along with
there is plenty more ma- portunities across its 780sq km Lake Way, Williamson South
terial around Matilda and of tenure and 55km of mine se- and Carroll Prior further down
also Williamson where we quence strike. the track. It is important to have
are doing our maiden drill those open pittable feed sources
campaign to add more Williamson is one of a number to underpin the high-grade ma-
free milling oxides.” of regional targets lined up by terial coming out of the under-
Blackham in the Matilda project ground,” Dixon said.
Targeting open pitta- to provide open pit base load
ble, oxide ounces feed to the Wiluna plant. The current plan is to start
mining at the M1 deposit at Ma-
“Up until now we were focused tilda where Chevron last mined
on the Matilda mine for base load two open pits in 1993.

M1 has the capacity to provide
three years of base load feed to
the plant, which is within 20km
trucking distance.

Total resources at Matilda
are 12.5mt @ 1.8 g/t gold for
712,000oz. Blackham’s plan is to
combine that dirt with the high-
grade quartz reef underground
Golden Age (160,000oz @ 9 g/t
gold) deposit, which was being
drilled recently, and the shallow
high-grade (550,000t @ 2.9 g/t
gold for 51,000oz) Galaxy depos-
it at Matilda in the early stages of
production.

“We are focusing on the

Page 16 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

“We have most of the things in
place; infrastructure and a fund-
ing partner, now it is about execution.
free milling stuff, which is the next six months.
easiest and cheapest to pro- When Gold Mining Journal Visible gold from Golden Age. Underground ore from Golden Age
cess,” Dixon said. will be mined during the restart of operations at Wiluna
was on site in September, the
“When we got involved with company was amid its first drill- Having cash – courtesy of a view, not having the funding that
the Matilda project, particularly ing campaign at Williamson (67m $39 million financing facility with we wanted last year put us in a
the regional Matilda project, we @ plus 2 g/t), following recent Orion Mine Finance arranged difficult position, but we have
knew there was the Wiluna mill success at Matilda via RC drill- in May this year – has certainly got back on track. What it did
next door which needed ore. ing at M1 (14.5m @ 6.74 g/t gold helped Blackham push things do was give our technical team
It was operating at about 30% from 163m including 4.4m @ forward. a good period to get their head
capacity and we could see if we 15.6 g/t from 163m); M10 (14.2m around the projects, particularly
came up with some open pit- @ 3.64 g/t from 38.5m and 1m @ Blackham hit a snag last year the geologists to get inside the
table ore then there was an es- 8.08 g/t from 47m) and M2 (6.5m when a stoush with chairman databases and get a feel for what
tablished processing route. We @ 1.25 g/t from 142m and 14.8m Gutnick broke out. they wanted to drill,” Dixon said.
have since been able to acquire @ 1.65 g/t from 150m).
the plant very cheaply [in March Gutnick clashed with the “It also means that we have
2014]. Drilling was also in progress at Blackham board over control of put the funding package together
Golden Age, part of the Wiluna the company but was nullified. and we have actually managed
“It’s a very different business gold project package, with some However, progress was stymied to spend the money a lot more
model that we have. We have spectacular hits, including 5.1m causing some doubts in the mar- wisely than if we had to put it in
been very focused on those @ 198 g/t gold including 0.8m @ ket as to whether Wiluna was all at once.
open pits which will provide 80% 1,148 g/t from GAUD0003. headed for another unwanted
of the mill feed in the early years, chapter in its history. “We have been working coun-
whereas the previous operator Golden Age will be accessed ter cyclically on this Matilda pro-
was relying 100% on the under- via the Bulletin decline, while “From a financing point of ject for the last three years and
ground for feed.” there is potential for a pit cutback
at Bulletin South (280,000oz
Dixon said exploration was gold resource) in the future.
something Blackham “won’t
skimp on”, with $3 million to be Drilling started at Golden Age
spent on growing the reserves two months ago and with produc-
tion poised for mid-2016 Black-
and mine life in the ham has little time to waste in
hitting milestones in the lead up.

Mining will start at the M1 deposit. Base load feed from M1 is scheduled for about three years

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 17

COVER

Blackham managing director Bryan Dixon

it has not been easy. We have operating cash flows of $147
now got it to the stage where million in the first four years am-
Orion Mine Finance have come ple for Blackham to payback its
in and backed it with a $39 million Orion loan within nine months of
financing facility. We have re- production.
ceived the first $9 million of that
and within seven months of re- Blackham estimates a low
ceiving that money we are look- capital restart of $25 million to be
ing to finish the feasibility. We funded from the remaining $30
are looking at the critical mass of million offered by Orion.
reserves we need to put it back
into production, but we also want While commodity prices
to have a mine life that is long haven’t been favourable, the
enough for us to keep replacing Australian gold price has held
those reserves.” local producers in good stead at
this year’s average of $1,540/oz.
Blackham has designs on
running Wiluna at 1.3 mtpa for Dixon said Wiluna would spin
100,000 ozpa gold at a West “good cash” for Blackham.
Australian industry AISC aver-
age of $1,100/oz. Furthermore, access to equip-
ment and skilled people, plus
Hedging of about 30% of pro- sourcing gas for 11-15c/KwH,
duction is a consideration, with has the company excited to be
heading down the path of project
development.

Page 18 The upside for Blackham on a regional scale includes
prospects such as Lake Way

GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

“ Blackham hopes to be in production mid-2016
Wiluna, 720km east of There has been a lot of M&A, but it “Whatever happens down
Geraldton and 533km west is fantastic that we have got a pro- the track happens,” Dixon
of Kalgoorlie, is hardly on ject that has produced 4 moz over the last said.
the beaten track, making an
asset associated with infra- “There has been a lot of
structure worth its weight in M&A but for us it is fantastic
(pardon the pun) gold.
100 years and we think it is still good for that we have got a project
that has produced 4 moz

“We have most of the at least another 1 moz of gold production. over the last 100 years and
things in place; infrastructure we think it is still good for at

and a funding partner. Now it least another 1 moz of gold

is about execution,” Dixon said. porate activity was great for the the focus was on production, production.”

“We have to go and refurbish sector, but M&A was not part of cash flows and dividends for – Mark Andrews
the plant. We’ll have some grow- Blackham’s plans right now, as shareholders.

ing pains, but we are going to

grow from a small company to

a company with more than 230

people on site within six months.

It is about execution and that is

what we are focused on right

now. Our costs will be in line with

our peers and we will be straight

in to producing more than

100,000 ozpa. It is a very capi-

tal efficient project; the plant is

there, the infrastructure is there

and we will need to do a good

maintenance programme to get

it up to production standard. We

will be producing some big cash

flow off low cash input.”

The last two years have seen

a flurry of M&A activity in WA’s

gold sector but there are still a

few big projects sitting in small

companies.

Dixon said the spate of cor- Total drilling costs for Blackham are currently about $100/m

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 19

THE AMERICAS

Crusader opens high at Juruena

Crusader Resourc- Crusader outlined an underground resource of 263,500t @ 12.3 g/t gold for 104,100oz for
es Ltd has deliv- its Querosene project in September
ered an impressive
first up resource at its the right place. a good problem to have, is that Andy Well is a standout among
Juruena gold project “Behind that there is another there are actually two mines small, high-grade developments,
in Brazil. here. Questions need to be an- with Doray taking the project
dozen of these things that need swered on which to tackle first. It from discovery to production in
Grade was the order of the day to be followed up on either later is fairly obvious that Querosene 3.5 years.
during the drill out and the com- this year or early next,” he said. is bigger and higher grade and
pany did not disappoint with a naturally you’d go with that one, In the June quarter, Doray pro-
maiden 1.3mt @ 5.6 g/t gold for Most of the drilling completed but how do you bring in a second duced gold at an average head
234,000oz resource. to date is 100-150m below sur- mine?” grade of about 10 g/t, with total
face, leading to good prospects FY2015 production of 89,000oz
Included in the resource esti- of growing resources through Querosene and Dona Maria at AISC of $1,165/oz.
mate were the high-grade under- further drilling at Crentes, Dona are about 900m apart and so far
ground Dona Maria and Quer- Maria and Querosene. Crusader has been encouraged Crusader will do well to rep-
osene prospects – 460,000t @ by 90% recoveries from metal- licate Doray’s success and the
12.1 g/t gold for 179,000oz – Dona Maria and Querosene lurgical test work completed at sooner it can, the better.
which provided the most excite- are shaping as early stage min- Querosene.
ment for the company, while the ing projects, with Crusader en- Stephen said the Brazilian real
open pit Crentes resource was gaging Global Resource Engi- Metallurgical test work from gold price was as favourable as
846,000t @ 2 g/t for 55,000oz. neering to help with conceptual Dona Maria and Crentes is be- its Australian equivalent, while
and optimisation studies. ing carried out, with Crusader the skill set to handle the nature
Crusader executive director hoping to demonstrate a path to of underground mining likely re-
Paul Stephen told Gold Mining Global Resource is an expe- production by mid-2016. quired at Juruena was also on
Journal this was only the begin- rienced mining group in Brazil hand.
ning of the story at Juruena, in and Crusader hopes to reveal Production could potentially
Central Brazil. some economic numbers later take place in 2017 and while Ste- “The good news is that there
this year. phen is convinced of Juruena’s are a lot of skills available to
“This is the first one [resource] viability, more work needs to be take that [underground ore] out.
and we have to keep growing on “We are shooting to get some- done to satisfy the wider market. It is all about the ability to mine
it, but it is not a bad place to start thing out by Christmas,” Stephen underground without too much
with plus-12 g/t underground said. “The complexity, and it is “I don’t think investors under- dilution; how thick the veins are.
dirt,” Stephen said. stand the underground opportu-
Paul Stephen nity because there are only a few “There are a few examples
“The thing I like about it most is examples of people successfully of resources that look good but
that it is literally untouched. There doing that style of operation,” are narrow and skinny. To go
is this huge area of multiple, simi- Stephen said. and mine it you have to take out
lar targets. We have drilled four more dirt than you want to and
targets and of them, two turned “There are certainly very good ultimately the grade drops,” Ste-
in to what should become under- examples of it, but it is often hid- phen said.
ground mines. I think logically den inside larger companies.
there will be open pits on top of Northern Star [Resources Ltd] Crusader’s current thinking is
them, so there will be this third has a reasonable example and for a starter project of 30-40,000
one which will be some form of for us it is all about continuity and ozpa gold production at Juruena.
an open pit. The fourth one was we are learning this as well.”
probably the most disappointing However, with 400sq km of
one to drill, we certainly didn’t kill Some of the narrow hits from ground at Juruena, the company
it but I don’t think we drilled it in Dona Maria – 3.4m @ 48 g/t gold is bullish drill-ready, high-grade
and 5.8m @ 52.4 g/t gold – are prospects like Tomato, William
comparable to Doray Minerals and Mauro could add more ounc-
Ltd’s Andy Well project in West- es to the project.
ern Australia.
– Mark Andrews

Page 20 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Kingsgate at home on
Maricunga belt

With the major The challenge for King- the company is prepared
gold-silver dis-
coveries of La Coipa sgate is to prove Nueva to bide its time.
and Salares Norte
either side of the com- Esperanza can stand up “The strategy is about
pany’s Nueva Esper-
anza project, Kings- to the other discoveries on adding value and de-risk-
gate Consolidated Ltd
chief executive Greg the Maricunga belt. The ing the project through
Foulis is confident its
Chilean strategy is set project has a proven past, exploration,” Foulis said.
to pay dividends.
having produced 40 moz The labyrinth-like chal-
Kingsgate moved into Chile’s
Maricunga belt five years ago and silver in just 13 months for lenge of Chile’s permit-
the rapid rate of discovery on the
belt since then – Salares Norte Anglo American plc more ting process also stands
(Gold Fields Ltd) has reached
3.1 moz gold and La Coipa (Kin- than a decade ago. in the company’s way.
ross Gold Corp) 901,000oz gold
and 24 moz silver – has given The resource remains Although it has secured
the company confidence it can
continue to increase the size of a silver-heavy but Foulis vital water usage rights,
project which has grown from 1.2
moz gold equivalent to 1.9 moz said the recent discovery the company will still
gold equivalent under its stew-
ardship. of the Chimberos deposit have to go through the

Foulis only joined the company – 6.2mt @ 1.15 g/t gold mine permitting process
in June but is already convinced
Kingsgate is right to focus on and 45.7 g/t silver for before it can begin con-
Nueva Esperanza.
230,000oz and 45.7 moz struction planning.
“It has become our flagship
project,” Foulis told Gold Mining respectively – had given Kingsgate has built Nueva Esperanza into a 1.9 moz “We are doing optimi-
Journal. “It is a good part of the
world and it is in a big mineralised the company a wider gold equivalent resource sation studies now to in-
system. If you look at the last 10
years, Chile has a stunning rate scope. form that permitting pro-
of discovery and in this part of
the Maricunga belt there have “The project was always con- continue to evolve over time,” cess about the likely flow sheet
been some very favourable
discoveries recently.” ceived around its silver resourc- Foulis said. and footprint of it. We hope to re-

Describing a develop- es but in the last financial year An increase in gold resources solve any permitting issues dur-
ment project as the flagship
even when it has two pro- we have added the gold ounces could also improve the econom- ing 2016 but the rate of develop-
ducing mines – Chatree in
Thailand and Challenger in at Chimberos which has changed ics of the project. ment will certainly be determined
South Australia – highlights
the importance Kingsgate it somewhat,” he said. “We believe it already has by the rate of permitting,” Foulis
has attached to it.
“We absolutely think we can good economics but we now said.
With the Bowdens sil-
ver project in New South repeat that success. There are a have a great opportunity to build Until that pathway is clearer,
Wales on the backburner
and reserve at Challenger number of different styles of min- the inventory further,” Foulis the company is reluctant to mark
about to be exhausted,
Kingsgate’s development eralisation on this belt and we said. “We have had success on any dates on the calendar. Foulis
pipeline is badly in need of
restocking. are slowly building our geological the gold front and that will be- admits he has been coy with the

knowledge of it and we intend to come an exploration focus.” market about the timetable.

go out and follow up Chimberos.” The move away from silver “It is very clearly a difficult

The first target will be 4km to could also lead to more interest market and you have to be care-

the south of Chimberos where a from Australian investors who ful with what you promise. We

single drill hole returned a hit of have rarely been as enamoured have done a lot of technical work

10m @ 2.5 g/t gold from 19m. by gold’s lower value sibling. on this project – drilling, metal-

“That near-surface mineralisa- Foulis, however, doesn’t mind lurgy, engineering, etc – but we

tion in the style of Chimberos is which of the precious metals a need to work through the per-

very encouraging,” Foulis said. Nueva Esperanza development mitting timeline and then decide

In addition, Kingsgate has project is made up of. what the perfect time is for bring-

40sq km of alteration it is yet to “These epithermal systems ing this on-stream.

explore in earnest. are typically poly-metallic but I “It is unconstructive in this

“It is a big system which will am agnostic about whether it is market to be aggressive in get-

gold or silver; the ques- ting finance before you have got

tion should be whether the project timeline in place. But

it makes money.” if you ensure you have a good,

Kingsgate has al- robust project, you will always

ready taken Nueva Es- get finance.”

peranza halfway down What is in little doubt is that

the development path. Kingsgate remains committed

In mid-March 2014, to both Nueva Esperanza and

it announced a DFS Chile.

which outlined a 3 mtpa “If we get this project right,

heap leach operation there is a great opportunity to

producing 6.43 mozpa add value to the company,” Foulis

silver and 17,500 ozpa said. “We would look to pick up

gold. However, with more ground in Chile and it would

the changing state of be very sensible to leverage off

commodity prices and this project to take advantage of

Anglo American mined 40 moz silver in just equity markets, and the the opportunities we see there.

13 months from Nueva Esperanza discovery of more gold, – Dominic Piper

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 21

THE AMERICAS

Premier plan back on track

Cleveland Mining Cleveland has restarted production at the Premier gold mine in Brazil after suspending
Company Ltd operations to improve the mechanical availability of the processing plant
managing director
David Mendelawitz sure nothing breaks and if it does Group Ltd, has long held an am- buy as much of the gold in the
hopes he has seen it’s something within our control. bition for Cleveland to become system over the coming years
the last of the pro- a “boring” company – one that and that will put an enormous
cessing plant prob- “Our mine site is now profit- consistently meets guidance and amount of pressure on the local
lems which threat- able and we’re using surplus is free of troubles – since floating markets,” he said.
ened to derail his gold cash to both finalise our expan- the business via a reverse takeo-
business. sion strategy and make sure that ver in 2010. “There’s no gold production
any creditors we’ve picked up in India at the moment, so it will
Production from the Premier are managed as well. We’ve cer- It has only been in recent have to be imported and it will re-
gold mine in Brazil was suspend- tainly turned a corner from where months Mendelawitz can realisti- ally only be imported as dore or
ed in the second quarter when we were.” cally start contemplating such a as second-hand jewellery. That
the overall mechanical availabil- scenario, although he isn’t pre- should have an impact on the
ity of the plant fell to an unsus- With the reliability of the plant pared to tempt fate. price, but it will certainly have an
tainable 42%. seemingly secured, Cleveland impact on the demand.”
has deployed a RC rig on site to “My list of problems is pretty
Cleveland’s production plans initially complement grade con- low nowadays,” he said. “That Cleveland has retained some
are based on 83% mechanical trol drilling within the Premier doesn’t mean I don’t have a list of iron ore rights in Brazil – the
availability. open pit before attention turns problems – I’m still a junior miner world’s largest producer of pig
to a resource expansion pro- – but I’ve got a very low cost site iron – but while the future of the
“I think if we had even 50- gramme. that I run, I’ve got good grades, industrial commodity remains
55% [mechanical availability] we I’ve got good recoveries and I’m uncertain, the company has no
would have been going forwards, Cleveland is targeting exten- starting to get good mechanical intention of stepping away from
but we were going backwards sions at Premier East as well as availability. gold.
because we were not getting punching the first holes into the
enough throughput,” Mendela- Vanuza prospect, just south of “When you start these things “The gold price has only af-
witz told Gold Mining Journal. the main open pit operations. it’s all theoretical as to the pace fected us in terms of our US dol-
you can go because you have no lar debt because the Brazilian
“You can’t have a mill that only “It’s probably the most exciting idea when people are actually gold price is the highest it’s ever
runs 42% of the time you want thing we’ve done in a long, long going to deliver things or when been – higher than it was when it
it to run, so that meant stop- time because Vanuza is such you’re actually going to get cash was $US1,900/oz – so in terms of
ping production for a little bit so a large anomaly,” Mendelawitz or what the recoveries are going profitability on our main currency,
we weren’t going further back- said. to be. Now that we have some it’s actually increased,” Mendela-
wards.” actuals we can make solid plans waitz said.
“Vanuza is hard up against a to a degree.”
Production resumed in early circa 3 moz anomaly previously “I’m not an expert and I try to
September following a series of mined by AngloGold [Ashanti One of those plans is to de- stay focused on my area of ex-
key upgrades, including install- Ltd] and we don’t see any dif- velop his company’s relationship pertise, but I don’t see any seri-
ing a new flotation circuit, and ference between this anomaly with off-takers in India where ous breakout commodities out
Cleveland is already seeing the and the one sitting next door Mendelawitz sees the biggest there. Certainly there will be a
benefits of the modifications. [Serra Grande]. There’s certainly unrecognised demand for gold. few that create a bit of excite-
the potential for a very large re- ment, but what they are I don’t
The mechanical availability of source.” “The Indian Government has think anyone really knows.”
the plant is now more than 92% just cemented the steps they’re
and gold recoveries from the Mendelawitz, a former senior looking to go through to try and – Michael Washbourne
combined gravity and flotation executive with Fortescue Metals
circuits are averaging 70-80%,
with a peak of 84%.

Only the newly renovated ball
mill requires installation and
commissioning, which was tak-
ing place at the time of print.
Once that process is complete,
the company will attempt to ramp
up production from the current
throughput rate of 28 tph to the
intended 100 tph.

“We now have high availability
and we’re pushing our through-
put up,” Mendelawitz said.

“We’ve been a bit more cau-
tious with some things than we
had originally because of our
history of problems, but that’s
because we just wanted to make

Page 22 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

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THE AMERICAS

Oro Verde settled in Nicaragua

Oro Verde’s initial exploration work at Topacio has returned rock chip samples grading up to 92.9 g/t gold

Oro Verde Ltd Woolfe first realised Nicara- from an ore pile associated with “Surprisingly, this concession
managing director gua’s untapped potential in 2012 artisanal workings, as well as has had very little exploration
Trevor Woolfe be- when completing a consulting the discovery of some new high- on it, so we’ve got to go back to
lieves his company’s job for another company, but grade gold targets, have only the basic exploration techniques
decision to switch its even he continues to be amazed strengthened that belief. like geological mapping, stream
focus to Nicaragua by the opportunities on offer. sediment sampling and probably
has been more than Woolfe said Topacio shared some soil programmes as well to
justified. “During the 1970s and 1980s similarities with other well-known get a feel for what the geology
there was a lot of exploration tak- epithermal deposits such as Evo- and geochemistry are doing and
Following an underwhelming ing place in the region, but none lution Mining Ltd’s Pajingo and see whether some of the veins
review of its projects in Chile and of that really happened in Nicara- Cracow operations in Queens- from the La India system extend
Argentina, Oro Verde changed gua because there was civil un- land and Newcrest Mining Ltd’s into our ground,” Woolfe said.
tack and picked up two prospec- rest going on in the background,” Gosowong project in Indonesia.
tive gold assets in Nicaragua in Woolfe said. “The early indications are that
the second half of last year. “We know there’s a system there are some veins which trend
“It has a good mining history here because we already have towards our ground, so we need
Initial exploration work at the and a good history of production, a gold resource containing to follow those up and just make
company’s flagship Topacio but it’s not actually a mature min- 340,000oz, but the evidence we sure that’s the case. From that
project has yielded some new ing jurisdiction when you com- have so far indicates we’ve got a work, we hope to be able to gen-
targets and encouraging results, pare it to the production levels much bigger system that will be erate some targets.”
including rock chip samples re- of Mexico or Chile which have consistent with some of those
turning up to 92.9 g/t gold. had a lot of modern exploration more mature and well-known While the signs at both Topa-
and a lot of companies working deposits such as Cracow and cio and San Isidro are promising,
“It’s definitely been a positive in there.” Pajingo,” Woolfe said. Oro Verde remains on the look-
move for the company, but un- out for other project opportunities
fortunately in the current market Trevor Woolfe “If we can unearth something in case the latter fails to live up to
that’s not reflected in our share that is one-tenth of the size of its potential.
price,” Woolfe told Gold Mining Oro Verde completed its acqui- Gosowong – and is just as suc-
Journal. sition of the 340,000oz Topacio cessful – then we’ll be very hap- Woolfe also believes the addi-
gold project in February this year py.” tion of renowned geologist Dave
“But the consolation for Oro and remains confident of delin- Turner as country manager is
Verde in the last six months or eating a high-grade, multi-million Oro Verde has planned more one of the many compelling rea-
so is that we’ve moved sideways ounce deposit on the large 93sq diamond drilling, rock chip sam- sons why investors should keep
rather than downwards, unlike a km mining concession. pling and geological mapping a close eye on the company.
lot of other juniors who have ex- programmes at Topacio up un-
perienced some pretty serious Recent surface samples of up til the end of the year when the “He’s been working in Central
falls in price.” to 52.4 g/t gold and 158 g/t silver company expects to take a short America for the last 20 years and
break over Christmas. in Nicaragua for the last seven,
In fact, in recent weeks Oro so he has great experience in
Verde has bucked the general Some exploration work will the country, he knows how the
market trend and seen some also be carried out at the com- country works and he speaks the
price appreciation. pany’s San Isidro project over the language,” Woolfe said.
next few months following the re-
Nicaragua has emerged as ceipt of an environmental permit “He also knows the [Topacio]
one of the world’s most promis- in early August. deposit well. He knows the pro-
ing exploration districts since Ca- spective areas, the projects and
nadian major B2Gold Corp ven- San Isidro was the first asset the geology of Nicaragua, so
tured into the country and built Oro Verde acquired after mak- we’re hoping with him on board
up a 200,000 ozpa empire on the ing the decision to focus solely we’ll be able to pick up some very
back of two low-cost gold mines. on Nicaragua and the company attractive, additional projects
is hoping to draw comparisons within Nicaragua.”
between Condor Gold plc’s adja-
cent 2.3 moz La India gold pro- – Michael Washbourne
ject.

Page 24 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Detour tackles challenges
head on

Detour Gold Ltd is “We [could] add 4,000t
looking to forge
a new way forward of low-grade waste and
following an arduous
first quarter of 2015. only displace 1,000t of

Speaking at this year’s Denver direct feed from the pit,”
Gold Forum, Detour chief ex-
ecutive and director Paul Martin Martin said.
admitted the third year of pro-
duction from Detour Lake hadn’t “If we do, we’ve got
gone according to plan due to
mining rate issues encountered 3,000t more in the mill
late last year.
and these are very low-
In Q1 Detour Lake produced
a meagre 105,572oz gold; 4% cost ounces and could
below the lower end of the com-
pany’s guidance range. represent up to 20,000oz

Mill throughput rates averaged of additional produc-
47,797 tpd while phase one min-
ing rates averaged 215,000 tpd, tion each year for the
resulting in a net loss of $C63.1
million and an adjusted net loss remainder of the mine
of $C23.5 million.
life. These ounces don’t
“Last year we had a mining
rate issue and there was a lot of currently exist in our re-
angst amongst the investment
community that we couldn’t get serves and they’re not in
our mining rate up,” Martin said.
our cash flows, so it’s a
“I said at that time this will take
more than three months but less real opportunity to have
than 12 months to fix and we’ve
done it in approximately nine a value enhancement to
months. The first quarter was a
real challenge for us but the sec- our life of mine.”
ond quarter was our best quarter
ever, where our mill and our mine Details of an updated
performed at our best perfor-
mance rate to date.” life of mine will be re-

Detour bounced back in a big Detour hopes to upgrade its 410 conveyor in 2016 to keep its stockpile dome (right) full leased soon, with the
way in the second quarter, as
the company announced record commissioning of a sec-
gold production of 125,248oz,
mill throughput of 57,015 tpd and just under 2mt in one quarter,” he we want to go to 22-24 mtpa ul- ond feed from Detour Lake’s
mining rates averaging 280,000
tpd resulting in a net loss of said. timately we should make these Block A deposit to de-risk the
$C15.4 million and adjusted net
earnings of $C500,000 for the “We are tempering things go- changes. And that’s where we company’s production profile in
three-month period.
ing forward; now it is about pre- want to get to.” consideration.
Martin said an increase in the
project’s mining rate helped De- senting grade and not moving Detour was also considering The plan also includes a ton-
tour replenish its stockpiles.
tonnes. We are going to slow the processing fines from its low- nage rationalisation study aimed
It also meant the company
could plan more strategically for mining rate a little bit in the sec- grade stockpiles to add tonnes to at optimising mining rates for
the future.
ond half of the year to focus on the operation. both deposits.
“Just to show the power of that,
with 280,000 tpd in the second presenting higher grades.” Martin said the company Exploration was also a focus
quarter we were able to rebuild
our low-grade stockpile, which Although the company pegged would use a bulldozer to “natu- for Detour heading into next year,
was essentially down to zero, to
some ground back in the last rally segregate” Detour Lake’s with Martin declaring the compa-

quarter, its future success might low-grade waste and mineral- ny would persist with a 30,000m

hinge on quelling issues before ised rocks by “merely pushing it drilling campaign at Lower De-

they became a problem, Martin over the dump”, which it will mine tour, 6km south of the project’s

said. down the track. main orebody.

And for that reason Detour A trial on 200,000t ore last He said a majority of the 47

was investigating an upgrade to year confirmed that process holes drilled up to the time of

Detour Lake’s 410 conveyor. could upgrade the mine’s grade print had encountered visible

“If we have an Achilles heel, from 0.45 g/t gold to 0.6 g/t. gold and intercepts varied be-

and we’re not shy to talk about it, tween 4-8 g/t gold.

is our 410 conveyor,” he said. “The concept [is] can we …

“It’s a conveyor that feeds our introduce 1,000 tpd of 5 g/t mate-

stockpile dome…which really rial and displace 1,000 tpd of 0.8

drives the efficiency of the plant. g/t material,” Martin said.

When that dome is full we get “That has another powerful

nice gravity feed and excellent economic impact. That could be

throughput at the mill. We are another 20,000-30,000t of incre-

looking at making that conveyor mental feed. But first we need to

more robust in 2016, somewhere find a deposit and define one and

in the range of $C5-10 million to that’s what we are working on.”

enhance that, speed it up and – Rhys Dickinson
also to split it into two, so when

we have wear and tear on the

belt it’s quicker to replace and

therefore we can continue with

high throughput levels. If we

wanted this plant to do 20 mtpa

we would leave it as it is, but if Paul Martin

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 25

THE AMERICAS

New plan revitalises Yamana

Yamana expects production improvements from a suite of assets, including Chapada

Yamana Gold Inc company’s newest project, Ar- zilian assets, including C1 Santa Marrone said Yamana would
is on the road to gentina’s Cerro Moro gold-silver Luz, Pilar and Fazenda Brasilei- go from strength-to-strength
prosperity following a prospect. ro, which had gone somewhat from hereon in.
managerial revamp, unloved.
according to chairman Yamana announced in Febru- “We said the second half of the
and chief executive ary that it would proceed with the Marrone said Yamana ex- year would be the more dominant
Peter Marrone. construction of the project, which pected Brio Gold to go public this half of the year,” he said.
is expected to add 135,000 ozpa quarter.
Yamana laid out a four- gold and 6.7 mozpa silver to the “We expect a production in-
pronged strategy almost 12 company’s production profile in “When we were in develop- crease of approximately 15%
months ago focused on opti- its first three years of operation. ment at those assets the Brazil- in the second half over the first
mising core assets, monetising ian currency was as low as 1.6 half of the year and the biggest
non-core assets, improving the “We have optimisation oppor- reals to the US dollar,” he said. production improvements are ex-
company’s balance sheet and tunities at our other assets, but pected from Jacobina and Mer-
advancing production growth Cerro Moro is the single largest “Today, it touched 4 reals. cedes along with Gualcamayo,
opportunities to weed out inef- and most developed project we Eighty-five per cent of the cost Canadian Melartic and Chapada.
ficiencies that had crept into the have in the development stage,” structure of these assets is local-
organisation. he said. ly denominated, so you can see “We’ve demonstrated the
the improvement to cost and the low cost of our core assets with
A complete overhaul of the “We want to develop it well improvement to value of those $US763/oz in Q2 as compared to
company’s management struc- and we want to make sure we are assets. We are at the last stage $US896/oz for our total portfolio.
ture was its first step to improve- managing it effectively and ef- of going public. We expect to get We’ve decreased our overhead
ment. ficiently and we recognised that it done by the end of this year cost by approximately $20 mil-
we should hire from outside the and we anticipate that we might lion on an annualised basis and
Marrone said a review of the company and bring [Murphy] in be able to get it done before we further decreases are expected.”
company’s administration re- for the development of that pro- deliver our third quarter results.
vealed there was a lack of com- ject.” Bear with us, it is advancing well.” Marrone said Yamana aimed
munication between its explo- to deliver preliminary economic
ration, development, technical At the time of print, Yamana Marrone said Yamana’s man- studies for its budding Upper
services and operations divi- had completed Cerro Moro’s de- agement re-think resulted in im- Beaver gold-copper project in
sions. tailed engineering and planned proved production from a handful Canada later this year and pay
to start construction of the pro- of its core assets in Q2 this year. down its debt until the time came
Yamana responded by creat- ject before the end of the year. to put more money into its small-
ing two separate divisions to fo- “We increased production er projects.
cus on its northern and southern In December, Yamana also compared to last year to approxi-
American operations and a third announced the creation of a new mately 299,000oz and for the “We’ve demonstrated ability
umbrella group to oversee the subsidiary – Brio Gold Inc – to half year 604,000oz,” Marrone to improve our cash flow and we
company’s collective works. better manage its non-core Bra- said. have reduced our debt from last
year and continuing into this year
With its communications in Yamana chairman and chief “We faced delays in our plans by a total of $US130 million from
check, Yamana hired former An- executive Peter Marrone for Jacobina and Mercedes, but the end of last year to the present
glo American plc projects, cop- that’s now behind us and we day,” he said.
per division vice president Barry have implemented better plans to
Murphy last September to head drive higher production going for- “We expect our net debt to re-
up its underperforming technical ward. For Jacobina the challenge main flat at current [commodity]
services sector. was the speed at which we could prices and continue to reduce
develop into higher grade areas. with higher metal prices. We then
Marrone hoped the new re- And while we were delayed, we expect our net debt to further in-
gime and Murphy’s leadership are now in those areas and as we crease as we execute on our
would translate to success at the reported with our second quarter plans to monetise those noncore
results our exploration shows ex- assets.”
tensions in additional structures
of these high-grade areas sup- – Rhys Dickinson
porting larger orebodies.”

Page 26 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Argentina’s mining profits
to be shared

Argentina’s leading gold leaching process.
opposition candi- Normalising the economy and
date Mauricio Macri
would give provinces improving the credibility of Ar-
a bigger share of gentine state institutions are also
profits from miners important for attracting greater
operating there and investment in the mining sector,
improve environmen- he said.
tal inspections in the
industry, an adviser Macri, the conservative mayor
said in September. of Buenos Aires city, is cam-
paigning on a mandate to unwind
Santiago Dondo, a mining spe- unorthodox state controls on the
cialist at Pensar, the think tank of currency market and trade that
Macri’s business-friendly PRO have stunted investment and
party, said 80-85% of mining tax stalled growth in Latin America’s
revenue currently goes to nation- third largest economy.
al coffers.
“In a sector like mining which
“If Argentine society and poli- needs so much investment, so
ticians do not understand where much capital, all the economic
we are going with the mining distortions like currency controls
sector, doesn’t share that aim or and uncontrollable inflation have
want it, then it will be very diffi- a very strong and negative im-
cult,” Dondo said. pact,” Dondo said.

“The main challenge ... is to In September, an adviser for
generate trust at home, which the ruling party’s candidate Dan-
would also give investors stabil- iel Scioli said he would seek to
ity.” increase investment in mining by
ensuring tax stability for foreign
Dondo said the Federal Gov- companies eager to exploit Ar-
ernment should take a more gentina’s vast mineral resources.
active role in coordinating envi-
ronmental inspections by inde- Scioli is leading in polls but
pendent experts with the prov- not by quite enough of a margin
inces. to avoid a second-round run-off
with Macri in November. Ana-
A cyanide leak triggered by lysts said a run-off could go ei-
a faulty valve at Barrick Gold ther way.
Corp’s Veladero mine prompted
an Argentine judge to order the – Reuters
preventative suspension of the
Argentine presidential candidate Mauricio Macri has promised provinces
a bigger slice of mining profits and better environmental inspections

across the country. Ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli held a slender
lead in the presidential race at the time of print, with many analysts tip-

ping a run-off election to proceed in November

Case histories of discovery Pan Pacific Perth
November 17-18
The world’s pre-eminent
gold exploration event The 2015 Conference Proceedings book and past editions
are available for sale from the Paydirt office or at the
Pan Pacific Perth NewGenGold conference
November 17-18
The 2015 NewGenGold CD-Rom will be available after
the conference for $180

Download an order form at www.newgengold.com
Phone (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 27

NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW

Gold explorers head to Perth
with incentives in mind

Amaruq

Coffee

Borden Gold

Haile

NewGenGold re- June quarter
turns to the Pan
Pacific Hotel Perth on indicating low- Aurora Petowal
November 17-18 with er levels of drill-
its strongest Austral- ing on gold pro-
ian representation
in a decade. The jects reported from Nuevo Merian Kiaka
Gruyere, Invincible Australia (down
and Pegasus discov- from 59 to 53) while
eries will all feature
on the programme, the number of Cana- Chaquiro
which showcases the dian projects with gold
world’s best recent
gold discoveries. results increased from

At first glance, the presence 59 to 63.
of three Australian projects may
suggest a gold exploration revival It has been a consist- Government in July 2014
is under way in the country but is
this just illusory given Australia’s ent trend over the last dec- – still in its infancy.
great exploration rival Canada
has consistently outperformed it ade and most analysts point Association of Mining
for exploration expenditure and
discovery rates in recent years. to Canada’s flow-through and Exploration Compa-

Recent research by SNL share scheme which al- Salares Norte nies (AMEC) chief execu-
Metals & Mining indicated Aus- lows shareholders to tive Simon Bennison be-
tralia’s gold exploration budget
($US508.8 million) was 26% less claim deductions for com- lieves the EDI could provide
than Canada’s ($US684.6 mil-
lion) in 2014, compared to 16% panies’ exploration-related the boost the sector needs.
less in 2013.
tax losses. Bennison said AMEC was
This trend has continued in
2015 with SNL Metals & Mining’s Deeper analysis of SNL Met- keen to explain the potential mer-
State of the Market report for the
als & Mining’s data (based on all its of the scheme to new Federal

commodities) highlights the im- Resources Minister Josh Fryden-

portance the flow-through share burg.

scheme is playing in supporting “We will certainly be ap-

Canada’s mining sector, with its proaching Minister Frydenburg

contribution increasing explora- about expanding the scheme

tion over the last 10 quarterly re- down the track,” Bennison told

porting periods. Gold Mining Journal. “We are

In the March 2013 quarter, less confident we will begin to see it

than $US7 million was raised in raised through the programme. as the catalyst out on the ground,

flow-through shares, the lowest In contrast, Australian com- encouraging exploration. This

amount raised for any period; panies are struggling to raise catalytic effect will increase as

however, more than $US100 mil- funds, with its own exploration investors begin to understand the

lion was raised in the June 2015 development incentive scheme tax benefits which come with the

quarter, the highest amount ever (EDI) – introduced by the Federal scheme and companies begin

Page 28 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

“We are confident we will begin to see it as the catalyst out on the
ground, encouraging exploration. This catalytic effect will increase as
investors begin to understand the tax benefits which come with the scheme

and companies begin tailoring their capital raisings to suit it.

Cukaru Peki Didipio

Galat Sufar
South

Pegasus Gruyere

tailoring their capital raisings to ATO weekly about Invincible mediately.
suit it.” its implementation “We are confident people will
and how it is being handled. viewed until the following year.
The Government implemented We are deliberately staying close It is also capped at $100 million begin to see the true value of the
the scheme on a three-year trial to the ATO so we can understand over three years. EDI over time,” Bennison said.
basis and a review of the first any problems or roadblocks that
year of operation is planned to arise.” Bennison said although “Often with these sorts of
start in coming months. AMEC had welcomed the EDI’s schemes, it takes six or seven
The EDI pilot scheme is limited introduction, he hoped the re- years to see it happening on the
Bennison said AMEC was in comparison to the Canadian view would show there were im- ground.”
working hard to ensure problems flow-through scheme. provements and expansions to
and potential hurdles were over- be made. However, he remains
come. In the Australian version, concerned that the EDI’s true
shareholders receive an explo- worth will not be recognised im-
“We are 24/7 onto this at the ration credit which is deferred
moment,” he said. until the year after exploration is
conducted but the offset not re-
“We are briefing companies
daily and we are talking to the

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 29

NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW

Grade the issue for
Class of 2013

Ahead of the 2015 NewGenGold conference, we look at how the Class of 2013 has fared since
its appearance at the biennial conference.

Amsular, Armenia Otjikoto, Namibia snapped up by ambitious TSX- Randgold announced it would
(Lydian International (B2Gold Corp) listed producer B2Gold Corp in a advance development of the un-
Ltd) $615 million acquisition. derground mine at Kibali, ramp-
B2Gold achieved commercial ing up production to 600,000
TSX-listed Lydian spent much production at Otjikoto in By June this year, B2Gold had ozpa by the end of 2015.
of 2014/15 rejigging the Amsu- begun onsite construction activ-
lar feasibility study. In May, the February 2014, ahead of schedule ity having secured a $US350 mil- Exploration also remains a
company announced an updated lion rolling credit facility to fund priority with the Randgold explo-
feasibility study for the Armenian Another of B2Gold’s expan- development and released an ration team at Kibali continuing
project including a revised min- sion assets, Otjikoto achieved optimised feasibility study. to evaluate the potential of the
ing plan. commercial production ahead of KZ structure, focusing on seven
schedule in February 2014. The study was based on high-priority targets. The com-
The update outlined capex an open pit mine producing pany said recent trench results
savings of $C3 million but it was Reaching that milestone has 350,000 ozpa at operating costs from the Sessenge Southwest
in operating costs where the given B2Gold confidence it can of $US552/oz through the first target – 22m @ 4.01 g/t including
most dramatic improvements hit its 200,000oz target for 2016 seven years. 12m @ 6.36 g/t – were particu-
were made to the economics of and 2017, particularly after the larly promising.
the 200,000 ozpa project (re- completion of a mill expansion in Life-of-mine production is
serve: 100mt @ 0.78 g/t gold the September quarter. slated at 3.45 moz with capex McPhillamys,
and 3.65 g/t silver for 11.79 moz estimated at $US395 million and Australia (Regis
gold). Cash costs for the June quar- NPV at $US1.66 billion. Resources Ltd)
ter were $US485/oz, a figure
Estimated AISC were reduced which could be reduced if open B2Gold expects production to Regis Resources Ltd paid
from $US701/oz in the 2014 fea- pit mining of the Wolfshag de- start in the December 2017 quar- $150 million for McPhillamys,
sibility study to $US664/oz in the posit begins on schedule in 2016. ter. in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New
update, translating to a total sav- South Wales, in 2012 but having
ing of $C83 million. Fekola, Mali (Papillon New Liberty, Liberia completed a PFS in 2014, the
Resources Ltd) (Aureus Mining Inc) company has put the project on
Lydian chief executive How- ice.
ard Stevenson said the company Heralded as the best West Af- Severely hampered by the
was “very pleased” with the im- rican discovery of recent years, 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Blackwater, Canada
provements despite setting a Fekola was already a target of Africa, TSX-listed Aureus lost (New Gold Inc)
$US100 million savings target. larger gold players when ASX- ground at New Liberty but still
listed junior Papillon presented managed first gold pour from the Having completed a feasibility
The savings focus has been its story at the 2013 NewGen- project in June this year. study for the project in late 2013,
on front-end processing. Gold conference. New Gold has pushed its Black-
The 2.81 moz project is ex- water asset in British Columbia
In September, the company Papillon didn’t last for long, pected to produce 120,000 ozpa further back in the development
said the savings identified in the and with the processing plant hit- pipeline.
feasibility study update had been ting nameplate capacity in Sep-
supported by positive metallurgi- tember, Aureus expected New Despite the feasibility study
cal test results and a blast frag- Liberty to reach full production showing a NPV of $C1.04 billion
mentation study. by the end of 2015. for the 485,000 ozpa project, the
low-grade nature of Blackwater
Based on the results of that Kibali, DRC (reserve: 344mt @ 0.74 g/t gold
work, Lydian plans to redesign (Randgold Resources and 5.5 g/t silver) requires a
the front end of the Amsular pro- Ltd/AngloGold large capex of $C1.96 billion for
cessing plant, reducing the num- Ashanti Ltd) development, meaning it is not
ber of cone crushers and dou- amenable in the current price en-
ble deck screens and replacing Having poured first gold from vironment.
the gyratory crusher with a jaw Kibali just months before the
crusher. start of the 2013 NewGenGold New Gold said in its June 2015
conference, Randgold Resourc- quarterly report: “In the current
The design changes are ex- es and AngloGold Ashanti have commodity price environment,
pected to reduce equipment continued to hit milestones on New Gold plans to sequence the
requirements and energy con- one of Africa’s most successful development of its projects with
sumption while maintaining the recent gold developments. the near-term focus being on the
plant’s 10 mtpa crushing capac-
ity. In February, project operator

The project is expected to be
in production in late 2016.

Page 30 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

advancement of the lower capital ABM has successfully made the leap from explorer to has long described the project
cost Rainy River project. There- producer since appearing at NewGenGold 2013 as world class but the low-grade
after, the timing of Blackwater’s nature of the resource – 891.7mt
development will be driven by The package is comprised strategy which will see the high- @ 0.7 g/t for 19.9 moz gold and
prevailing market conditions over of a $US350 million credit facil- grade mine act as an early cash- 0.5% for 4.5mt copper – means
the coming years.” ity, $US150 million prepayment flow generator before ABM turns large capital will be required its
under a callable gold and silver its attention to the lower grade development.
Côté, Canada stream agreement and a private Buccaneer deposit (515,000oz
(IAMGOLD Corp) placement of $US40 million, @ 2.25 g/t). This, coupled with ongoing
secured through Orion Mine Fi- regulatory and political issues
Like many of its low-grade nance Group and Blackstone The company has also re- in the Philippines, has led Gold
peers on the 2013 NewGenGold Tactical Opportunities. tained an exploration focus with Fields to keep the project at the
programme, progress at IAM- near-surface hits of 17m @ 2.63 evaluation stage.
GOLD’s Côté project in Ontario, The deal followed Pretium’s g/t and 19m @ 1.23 g/t at Bucca-
Canada, stalled as the gold price announcement in June that an neer and 3m @ 9.18 g/t from the “While the Philippines is going
fell and equity markets lost inter- updated feasibility study identi- Black Cat prospect. through a process of permitting
est in commodity plays. fied Brucejack capable of pro- issues, which is taking longer
ducing 504,000 ozpa over its first Goldrush Complex, than we would have liked, we
While IAMGOLD continues eight years and 324,000 ozpa for United States (Barrick are keeping the costs down and
with the permitting process and the remaining 10 years of its life. Gold Corp) retaining the optionality,” Holland
has increased the global re- said at the Denver Gold Forum in
source to 8.95 moz, up from 6.86 Capex for the project is at With the major having slashed September.
moz when the company present- $US746.9 million with average exploration and development
ed the project to NewGenGold in operating costs of $C163.05/t budgets in the last three years, Buriticá, Colombia
November 2013, no construction milled. NPV is estimated at Barrick’s Goldrush project on its (Continental Gold Inc)
dates have been set. $US3.54 billion. Cortez property in Nevada has
been stymied somewhat. While some of its contempo-
Borborema, Brazil Pretium expects commercial raries have been stymied by the
(Crusader Resources production to begin in 2017. Having previously stated a low gold price environment, Con-
Ltd) PFS for the project would be re- tinental Gold’s Buriticá project
Twin Bonanza, leased in mid-2015, Barrick an- in Colombia has proven more
Development at Borborema Australia (ABM nounced in April the study would robust, thanks to a 9.29 g/t re-
has stalled in the last two years Resources NL) be completed by the end of the source grade.
as the company investigates year.
ways of making the 1.61 moz @ Despite an extraordinarily dif- The company announced a
1.18 g/t gold reserve work in the ficult market climate, ABM Re- The company is also hoping PEA for the project in Novem-
current market environment. sources NL successfully made to define further resources on ber 2014. Based on a resource
the leap from explorer to pro- the 96mt @ 5 g/t for 15.44 moz of 20.05mt @ 7.8 g/t gold and
In January, and with the com- ducer this year, pouring first gold deposit, with permitting for twin 19.35 g/t silver, the study found a
pany’s second Brazilian gold pro- from Twin Bonanza in the North- exploration declines that would capex of $US390.3 million would
ject Juruena continuing to return ern Territory in June. allow it to test its northern limits. allow for a 730,000 tpa operation
positive results, Crusader said to produce 265,000 ozpa gold
its work on Borborema would be Ore from the high-grade Old Far Southeast, and 394,000 ozpa silver over 18
focused on updating the devel- Pirate deposit (225,000oz @ 8.5 Philippines (Gold years at cash costs of $US431/
opment model, using recent ex- g/t) is being mined across four oz.
change rate changes and lower open pits and being processed Fields Ltd)
fuel costs. through the Coyote plant, leased The challenge now is to get
from fellow NT miner Tanami Although it has slipped behind Buriticá through the permitting
The company is considering Gold NL. Salares Norte (a featured pro- process.
how it can target the shallower ject on the 2015 NewGenGold
deposit at Borborema, thus re- By the end of August, 39,000t programme) in the develop- In September, Continental an-
ducing the size of the plant and had been mined with a head- ment pipeline, Far Southeast did nounced it had withdrawn its EIA
capital costs. grade of 10.9 g/t. avoid the recent cull among Gold application from Corantioquia,
Fields development projects. the autonomous regional envi-
“In addition, the resource is Old Pirate’s rapid develop- ronmental authority of the de-
being remodelled assuming a ment (a maiden resource was Chief executive Nick Holland partment of Antioquia.
more selective approach to min- only established in April 2012)
ing which could significantly in- is in keeping with the company’s This was done in an effort to
crease the resource grade,” the have responsibility for review of
company said in its June quar- the EIA to be transferred to the
terly. National Government, given that
it has declared Buriticá a “Project
Brucejack, Canada of National Strategic Interest”.
(Pretium Resources
Inc) “While we are disappointed
that we missed completion guid-
With the advantage of a 7.5 ance for the EIA permitting, we
moz reserve grading 14.14 g/t are very confident that the appli-
and a further 7.8 moz @ 17.83 g/t cation process will be handled on
resource base, Pretium Resourc- an expedited basis,” Continental
es has defied market conditions Gold chief executive Ari Suss-
and sourced $US540 million of man said in September. “We will
debt funding for the construction complete it well ahead of there
of Brucejack, British Columbia. being any impact to our critical
path timeline. We look forward
to working with the National Gov-
ernment in bringing the Buriticá
project to a commercial reality.”

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 31





NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW

Infill drilling will continue at Amaruq’s White Tail zone until mid-October

Name: Amaruq Toronto. Agnico Eagle took just the Amaruq exploration site to Quebradona project area in Co-
18 months to develop the pro- the Meadowbank mine. lombia and has been the focus of
Location: Canada ject’s maiden inferred resource AngloGold Ashanti Ltd’s explo-
Acquisition date: April 2013 of 6.6mt @ 7.07 g/t for contain- Name: Nuevo Chaquiro ration activities on the property
Geology: The Amaruq property ing 1.5 moz gold after an exten- Location: Middle Cauca Canyon since 2012.
is underlain by Archean suprac- sive drilling, geophysics and field Province, Colombia Quebradona is a JV between
rustal rocks of the Woodburn work programme. Approximately Discovery date: 2004 AngloGold (88.5%) and B2Gold
Lake Group, the same sequence 90% of the resource is in the Geology: Miocene volcaniclas- Corp (11.5%), however, the latter
as at the Meadowbank mine. project’s Whale Tail deposit. The tic sequence (tuffs, andesites, is not participating in the explora-
These rocks were possibly de- Whale Tail zone is the largest basalts, agglomerates) intruded tion expenditure and its interest
posited in a continental rift set- of four mineralised zones dis- by small stocks and dikes of di- in the project is being diluted.
ting and comprise mafic to ultra- covered to date at Amaruq and orite and quartz diorite, also of A maiden inferred resource for
mafic volcanics interlayered with Agnico Eagle is undertaking an Miocene age. The volcanic rocks Nuevo Chaquiro of 604mt @
carbon-rich sedimentary rocks aggressive exploration program at surface around the deposit 0.65% copper, 0.32 g/t gold,
(turbiditic greywackes, siltstones, to rapidly expand the project’s are sericitically altered with lo- 4.38 g/t silver and 116ppm mo-
mudstones, cherts and banded other deposits. Results from the cally developed quartz-iron oxide lybdenum for contained 3.95mt
iron formations). The rock se- I, R, V and Whale Tail deposits stockworks. Two dyke/intrusive copper, 6.13 moz gold, 85.2 moz
quence has since been intruded continue to indicate significant swarm centres at depth caused silver and 70,000t molybdenum
by granitoid rocks and common gold-bearing zones that are all the alteration and mineralisation, was announced in November
lamprophyres, and suffered mul- open along strike and at depth. but they are not evident in sur- 2014.
tiple deformation events along Amaruq is 50km north-west face expression. More than 48,500m of drill-
with metamorphism to the upper of the Meadowbank open pit Resources: 604mt @ 0.65% ing (from 54 holes) was com-
greenschist facies. gold mine and plant complex, copper, 0.32 g/t gold, 4.38 g/t sil- pleted and used to formulate
Resources: 6.6mt @ 7.07 g/t the company’s largest gold op- ver and 116ppm molybdenum for the resource estimate, including
gold for 1.5 moz (inferred) eration. Agnico Eagle ultimately contained 3.95mt copper, 6.13 13,320m of drilling which B2Gold
Reserves: N/A hopes to develop Amaruq as a moz gold, 85.2 moz silver and directed at five shallow porphyry
Economic studies: N/A satellite operation to Meadow- 70,000t molybdenum (inferred) gold prospects throughout the
Development status: Resource bank. Reserves: N/A district between 2006 and 2008.
drilling Studies are continuing to evalu- Economic studies: N/A The resource was found to have
ate how Amaruq might be incor- Development status: Explora- reasonable and realistic pros-
In April 2013, Agnico Eagle porated into the Meadowbank tion drilling pects for eventual economic ex-
Ltd acquired 100% interest in the operational plan, including the traction.
Amaruq gold exploration project possible construction of an all- Nuevo Chaquiro is one of five A conceptual underground mine
in the Kivalliq District of Nuna- weather exploration road linking known porphyry centres in the design, based on two lifts using
vut, about 2,600km north-west of

Page 34 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Goldcorp plans to incorporate the Borden discovery into its Porcupine operations in Ontario ments we have already made in
people, infrastructure and stake-
a combination of block caving Goldcorp paid $C526 million for totalled 3.92 moz @ 1.54 g/t with holder partnerships,” Goldcorp
and panel caving, has been pro- Probe in March this year, the a further 432,000oz @ 4.1 g/t of president Chuck Jeannes said
posed. deal handing the Canadian major inferred material. on the acquisition. “In addition,
An analysis of the distribution of 100% control of Borden, 160km Ontario is well-known for its gold Borden is a new discovery that
the grade also highlighted a zone west of its Porcupine mine in On- prospectivity, but the discovery remains open, and is located in
of at least 0.6% copper on the tario, Canada. of Borden in the Chapleau district a very prospective new district.
eastern side of the deposit. This Probe had only picked up the surprised even the most hard- We look forward to immediately
high-grade zone is open to the ground in late 2010, returning an ened of Canadian gold explorers. advancing exploration efforts in
north, south and at depth. intersection of 91m @ 2 g/t gold For Goldcorp, the acquisition this area.”
AngloGold believes Nuevo in its first drilling programme. translates into additional feed for
Chaquiro has potential to expand From there, the resource build its 4.2 mtpa Porcupine operation. Name: Cukara Peki
further at depth and along strike. up was rapid with a maiden “The acquisition of Probe and the
Extensions of the high-grade measured-indicated resource of Borden Gold project is consistent Location: Serbia
zone are the subject of current 306,000oz delineated in 2011 with Goldcorp’s ongoing strategy Discovery date: 2011
exploration work. with a further 3.75 moz in the in- of enhancing our portfolio by pro- Geology: The Cukaru Peki
ferred category. viding a new source of low-cost, prospect is located within the
Name: Borden By April 2012, measured-indicat- high quality gold production for Bor-Majdanpek copper-gold dis-
ed resources had grown to 2.74 our Porcupine mine thereby trict, a world-class mining district
Location: Canada moz @ 1.04 g/t and by June 2014 leveraging the important invest- where mining dates back to 4500
Discovery date: 2010 BC. The prospect is located with-
Geology: Mineralisation at Bor- in the central zone of the Timok
den Lake is comprised of a vol- Magmatic Complex (TMC) in the
cano/meta-sedimentary horizon Serbian section of the East Eu-
containing a thick, continuous ropean Carpathian-Balkan Arc.
and consistent zone of gold- The TMC developed as an ex-
bearing disseminated sulphide tensional back-arc basin during
mineralisation the late Cretaceous (86-83 Ma),
Resources: 79.56mt @ 1.54 and was deformed during the Al-
g/t for 3.93 moz (measured- pine (late Cretaceous-Early Ce-
indicated); 3.28 @ 4.01 g/t for nozoic) orogeny.
432,000oz (inferred) The Bor and Majdanpek copper-
Reserves: N/A gold mining districts contain both
Economic studies: New owner porphyry and high-sulphidation
Goldcorp announced in July that epithermal types of mineralisa-
optimisation studies for a com- tion. In the Bor district, both por-
bined Borden-Porcupine opera- phyry and epithermal hydrother-
tion has started mal systems are coupled and
Development status: Optimisa- spatially related to each other.
tion study The mineralisation is hosted by
late Cretaceous andesites and
volcaniclastics related to the first
magmatic phase in the TMC.
Resources: 65.3mt @ 2.6%
copper and 1.5 g/t gold (inferred)
Reserves: N/A

Goldcorp Inc’s acquisition of
Probe Metals Ltd and its Borden
project is proof that, regardless of
the state of gold markets, majors
are still willing to pay big money
for world-class discoveries.

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 35

Economic studies: N/A dicated); 27.33mt @ 0.93 g/t for completed this year. All permit- scoping study (2014)
Development status: Reserves 815,000oz (inferred) ting on the open pit project is Development status: Evalua-
development Reserves: N/A also on track for completion this
Economic studies: May 2012 year. B2Gold is confident there tion studies and drilling
It’s easy to see why interna- PFS: are additional targets prospec-
tional mining giant Freeport-Mc- Throughput: 12 mtpa tive for gold across the 184sq km Gold Fields Ltd has dedicated
MoRan wanted a stake in the de- Recovery: 90% Kiaka property. its 2015 Salares Norte explora-
velopment of Reservoir Minerals’ Annual production: 340,000oz tion programme to infill drilling
emerging Timok project – spe- Capex: $US609 million Name: Salares Norte on the high-grade portion of the
cifically its Cekaru Teki prospect. Operating costs: $US671/oz main orebody and resource drill-
Freeport-McMoRan committed Development status: Feasibility Location: Chile ing at Agua Amarga. A budget
$US18.7 million to exploration study Discovery date: 2011 of $US23.5 million for 40,000m
at Cekaru Teki this year and is Geology: Salares Norte is in the was approved for 2015, with re-
primed to claim up to 75% of the B2Gold acquired fellow Ca- sults from both programmes, ex-
project after the completion of a nadian outfit Volta Resources in northern part of the Maricunga pected in Q3 2015, to determine
BFS. The major mining house’s 2013. The company’s prime ob- the future strategy for Salares
investment was justified earlier jective was Volta’s Kiaka project Belt. The belt is characterised Norte. Preliminary metallurgical
this year when a July diamond which had a robust PFS complet- test work has indicated extrac-
drilling campaign at the prospect ed on it 12 months earlier. The by Cenozoic volcanic rocks, tion of 90% via CIL processing
netted a standout 84m @ 10.8% study was based on a 12 mtpa on oxidised material.
copper and 10.86 g/t gold inter- for 340,000 ozpa gold project comprised of eroded strato-
cept, including 46m @ 15.9% over 10 years at cash costs of
copper and 16.77 g/t gold. Other $US671/oz. With other projects volcanos, volcanic domes and
hits included: 43m @ 0.5% cop- already in the pipeline, includ-
per and 1.44 g/t gold, 189m @ ing its newest mine – Ojikoto in pyroclastic rocks. Mineralisation
3.4% copper and 3.86 g/t gold Namibia – B2Gold’s mantra to
and 9.6m @ 15.3% copper and develop one project at a time has at Salares Norte is contained in
15.69 g/t gold. meant Kiaka has been waiting in
At present, Cekaru Teki boasts a the wings. However, a feasibil- a high-sulphidation epithermal Name: Invincible
65.3mt @ 2.6% copper and 1.5 ity study focusing on a smaller
g/t gold inferred resource – and throughput scenario and higher system, hosted mainly by a brec-
that’s only for its upper zone. A grades to lower capital costs is
porphyry zone, which starts from under way and expected to be cia complex along the contact of Location: Australia
800m deep and continues to at Discovery date: 2012
least 1km down, underlies the two volcanic domes of andesitic Geology: Invincible is part of the
upper zone.
Reservoir and Freeport-McMo- and dacitic composition. Most of
Ran’s priority now is proving the
credentials of the upper zone, the mineralisation known to date wider St Ives project area within
but the JV is quietly confident
Cekaru Teki will deliver in a big is oxidised. The sulphide miner- the Kambalda domain, a subset
way because of its proximity to
the historic Bor open-pit copper alisation contains mainly pyrite. of the Norseman-Wiluna belt in
mine, which was mined for more Resources: 23mt @ 4.15 g/t
than a century before closing in Western Australia. Several styles
2008
gold for 3.1 moz (inferred) and of gold mineralisation character-
Name: Kiaka
44.8 g/t silver for 33.6 moz silver ise deposits, with one or more
Location: Burkina Faso
Discovery date: N/A (inferred) styles potentially contained in
Geology: Kiaka is associated Reserves: N/A
with the Paleoproterozoic rocks Economic studies: an individual deposit. Archaean
of the Birimian Orogeny, located
at the intersection of the Tenko- Interim lode mineralisation 0.5m to 20m
dogo Belt and the Markoye Fault
Zone. Gold projects of eco- wide mesothermal vein
nomic value have been found
along the Markoye Fault Zone, complexes that may also
with mineralisation at Kiaka low
grade and associated with a have hydraulic breccias
broad silica-biotite-chlorite al-
teration system. Sulphide min- and myolinites are prev-
eralisation comprises pyrrhotite
(85%), fine pyrite (9%), and ar- alent, while supergene
senopyrite (4%), found either
as disseminations or contained mineralisation and pal-
within regional deformation fab-
rics. The sulphide content does aeoplacer mineralisation
not show a strong correlation
with gold grade. are also typically found
Resources: 124.14mt @ 0.99
g/t for 3.94 moz (measured-in- in the St Ives gold camp.
Resources: Open pit:

5.9mt @ 4.7 g/t for

913,000oz (indicated),

1.05mt @ 3.38 g/t for

114,000oz (inferred). In-

vincible South 397,000t

@ 6.64 g/t for 85,000oz

(inferred).
Underground: 778,000t

@ 4.6 g/t for 115,000oz

(indicated), 1.12mt @

4.3 g/t for 155,000oz

(inferred). Invincible

South 203,000t @

5.37 g/t for 35,000oz

Reserves: Open

pit: 5mt @ 3.85 g/t for

628,000oz. Under-

ground: 988,000t @

5.29 g/t for 168,000oz

(probable)
Economic studies: N/A
Development status:

Operating, mining start-

ed January 2015

The discovery of Invincible adds another element to Gold Fields’ St Ives operation When discovered in
2012, Invincible was
touted as one of Gold
Fields’ most significant

Page 36 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 37

NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW

finds and the mining heavyweight per porphyry system, roughly 2016); underground (2019-2028) open and sublevel caving under-
was not wrong. Within eight elliptical in shape at surface, Development status: Operat- ground operations. By late 2008,
months of discovery a maiden measuring 450m long by 150m ing; first production in 2012 projected capex was $US320
resource of 247,000oz gold was wide, and with a vertical pipe- million but construction was
released before Gold Fields went like geometry that extends to at After several aborted attempts, again stymied, this time by the
on a hard core exploration cam- least 800m to 1,000m below the Didipio was finally brought into GFC, with OceanaGold having
paign at Invincible, 8km from the surface. The Didipio deposit is production by OceanaGold Corp spent $US80 million on the build.
Lefroy mill, taking the resource to hosted within the Dinkidi Stock, in 2012. OceanaGold left the project on
1.3 moz at discovery cost of $25/ a multiphase intrusion which is Didipio had been known as an care-and-maintenance until Sep-
oz in 2013. itself a part of the larger, alkaline artisanal mining area as far back tember 2010 when it announced
By late 2014 Gold Fields started Didipio Igneous Complex. Min- as the 1970s but it was the arrival an internal optimisation study
the Invincible open pit pre-strip, eralisation is directly associated of Climax Mining in 1991 which which suggested the mine could
with the mainstay of production with veining. Higher gold grades began its modern era in earnest. be built for a further $US140 mil-
for the next four years a reserve are associated with a higher Feasibility studies were com- lion.
of 5mt @ 3.85 g/t for 628,000oz temperature calc-potassic-style pleted throughout the 1990s By October, OceanaGold had
gold. diopside-actinolite-K-feldspar- with a 2000 DFS indicating the completed project financing,
At Diggers & Dealers this year, bornite alteration assemblage project could be developed at raising $US112.4 million and
Stuart Matthews, vice president and associated vein stockwork, a gold price of $US325/oz and started pre-construction activi-
operations, Australia, reported while lower grade mineralisation $US0.75/lb copper price. How- ties in January 2012.
that the Main and North pits were is mainly hosted by peripheral ever, with political unrest con-
in ore and five excavators were quartz stockwork. tinuing in the Philippines and the Name: Aurora
in operation. An underground re- Resources: 21.34mt @ 0.98 g/t gold price stubbornly refusing to
serve at Invincible of 168,000oz for 670,000oz gold move above $US300/oz, devel- Location: Guyana
gold has been established so far. Reserves: 47.56mt @ 1.11 g/t opment was delayed. Discovery date: 1991
Invincible is part of the St Ives gold for 1.7 moz; 210,000t cop- Climax returned with another Geology: Located on the Gui-
operation which includes a total per @ 0.44% and 3.58 moz silver DFS in April 2005 which indicat- ana Shield – which was part of
resource of 30.1mt @ 3.63 g/t @ 2.34 g/t ed a larger 2 mtpa operation for a the West African Craton until the
for 3.5 moz gold and reserves of Economic studies: capex of $US81 million. Atlantic Ocean opened about 115
17.8mt @ 3.14 g/t for 1.8 moz. Two years on, the project was million years ago – Aurora sits on
Annual production: 100,000 ozpa reconsidered again, this time by the Cuyuni belt, which consists
Name: Didipio gold; 14,000 tpa copper new owner OceanaGold who ac- of basalts, overlain by andesite
Cash costs: $US372/oz (life-of- quired Didipio through its takeo- rhyolites and overlain by shales
Location: Philippines mine); $US79/oz (years 1-6; due ver of Climax in November 2006. and graywackes. Ultramafic and
Discovery date: 1991 to by-product credits) The new approach was based on carbonate rocks occur locally.
Geology: An alkaline gold-cop- Mining method: open pit (2013- Most rocks were deformed by the

8 October 2015
Pan Pacific Perth

The CD-Rom of the 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015
Australian Nickel Conference

is available

CD-Rom for conference delegates – $60 (inc.GST)
CD-Rom for non-conference delegates – $85 (inc.GST)
Phone (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]

Page 38

Trans-Amazonian Orogeny. Brit- 17 years work by Guyana Gold- 2.72 g/t for total reserves of 3.48 established in Guyana and is
tle faults trending north-north- fields after it acquired the prop- moz gold. The total resource for seen as a flagship for an emerg-
west or north-northeast were erty in 1998; paying $280,000 the project stands at 62.83mt @ ing gold industry as explorers in
intruded by mafic dykes and up front and committing to a 3.24 g/t for 6.54 moz gold meas- the country attempt to emulate
north-northeast faults displaced $450,000 exploration spend over ured and indicated with an addi- their peers on the West African
mineralized zones the next three years. tional 16.93mt @ 3.34 g/t for 1.82 greenstone belt which is geologi-
Resources: 62.83mt @ 3.24 g/t Today, Aurora boasts proven re- moz gold of inferred resources. cally linked to the Guiana Shield.
for 6.54 moz (measured-indicat- serves of 2.38mt @ 3.04 g/t and The mine is one of the first mod- The mine will begin with open
ed); 16.93mt @ 3.34 g/t for 1.82 probable reserves of 37.22mt @ ern commercial gold operations pits on four areas – the Rory’s
moz (inferred)
Reserves: 2.38mt @ 3.04 g/t
(proven) and 37.22mt @ 2.72 g/t
(probable) for total contained re-
serve of 3.48 moz
Economic studies: January
2013 feasibility study:
Throughput: 10,000 tpd
Recovery: 97% (saprolite);
94.4% (fresh)
Annual production: 120-140,000
ozpa
Capex: $US249 million
Operating costs: $US473/oz
(with royalty)
Development status: Operat-
ing; first gold pour August 2015

Guyana Goldfields Inc will
present the story of its Aurora
gold project as a newly minted
producer after first gold at the
Guyanese project was poured in
August.
The pour was the culmination of

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 39

NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW

Knoll, Aleck Hill, Walcott Hill and dipping fault offsets this contact including a 3m @ 11.3 g/t gold tion profile deeper than 300m in
Mad Kiss zones – and will con- and is characterised by a zone intersection. Further exploration some structures.
tinue for nine years. The transi- of vein-filled brecciated material drilling 1km north of the Pegasus Resources: 14mt @ 1.56 g/t
tion to underground operations, hosting the Pode-style minerali- deposit at Drake continued to gold for 719,000oz (indicated)
starting at Rory’s Knoll, will begin sation. provide compelling results, in- and 79mt @ 1.36 g/t gold for 3.43
in 2018. Resources: 3mt at 11.6g/t gold cluding 5m @ 5.4 g/t gold and moz (inferred)
Processing is through a con- for 1.1 moz 2m @ 7.2 g/t gold. Reserves: N/A
ventional CIL plant with feasi- Reserves: N/A Economic studies: PEA June
bility study nameplate capacity Economic studies: N/A Name: Coffee 2014
of 5,000 tpd being increased to Development status: Expan- NPV: $C522 million
10,000 tpd through expansion. sion drilling Location: Yukon Territory, Can- Recovery: 88%
Expansion remains a possibil- ada Annual production: 167,000 ozpa
ity with Guyana Goldfields plan- The term visionary gets thrown Discovery date: 2010 (over 11 years of mine life)
ning to test six targets – all within around a lot in the mining indus- Geology: The Coffee gold de- Capex: $C305 million (including
30km of the Aurora mill – this try, but it’s hard to fault Northern posits are part of a Late Cre- 15% contingency)
year. Star Ltd managing director Bill taceous or younger structur- Operating costs: $US560/oz
Beament’s prediction for the fu- ally controlled hydrothermal gold ($US624/oz AISC)
Name: Pegasus ture of the Pegasus deposit. system. Steeply dipping gold- Development status: Progress-
Upon acquiring 51% of Barrick bearing faults and shear zones ing towards feasibility in early Q1
Location: Eastern Goldfields, Gold’s West Australian East which crosscut all lithologies on 2016
Western Australia Kundana mine portfolio in Janu- the project and are often spatially
Geology: The Kundana camp ary 2014, Beament said the then associated with felsic to interme- Kaminak Gold Corp’s board of
is situated within the Norseman- one-year-old Pegasus deposit – diate dykes, characterised by in- directors wasted no time approv-
Wiluna Greenstone Belt in an which at the time already had an tense fracturing and brecciation ing the start of a feasibility study
area dominated by the Zuleika indicated and inferred resource interpreted as reactivated, high- on the Coffee gold project in Yu-
shear zone, which separates the of 576,000t @ 9.8 g/t gold for energy, high-fluid flux conduits. kon Territory, Canada, following
Coolgardie domain from the Ora 355,000oz resource – could eas- Mineralisation is accompanied the release of a positive PEA in
Banda domain. K2-style miner- ily become a 1 moz project. Less by the addition of arsenian pyrite, June 2014.
alisation, such as that present at than four months after taking the silica-sericite-carbonate-clay The PEA, prepared by JDS En-
Pegasus, consists of narrow vein reins at Kundana, Northern Star alteration and arsenic-antimony ergy & Mining Inc, indicated that
deposits hosted by shear zones more than doubled Pegasus’ re- enrichment. Gold zones are not Coffee represents a robust, high-
located along steeply-dipping source to 2.1mt @ 11.4 g/t gold diluted by post-mineral dykes or margin, rapid payback, open pit
overturned lithological contacts. for 763,000oz. In just more than truncated/displaced significantly mining opportunity, based on a
The K2 structure is present a year, the company again boost- by faults, thus gold mineralisation $US1,250/oz gold price and a
along the contact between a ed the deposit’s resource to 3mt is interpreted to be late within the Canadian-US dollar exchange
black shale unit and intermediate @ 11.6 g/t for 1.1moz. geological history of the deposit. rate of $C0.95.
volcaniclastics. Minor minerali- At the time of print, Northern It is variably oxidised, with oxida- Kaminak is incorporating a
sation, termed K2B, also occurs Star was concentrating on ex- tion penetrating along and down number of different elements
further west, on the contact be- ploring the deposit’s shallow dip- the mineralised structures via to improve the economics for
tween the Victorious basalt and ping Pode structure with results ingress of meteoric fluids, thus the feasibility study, including
bent Tree basalt. A 45-degree creating an extensive oxidisa-

Page 40 Pegasus is the centrepiece of Northern Star’s Kundana JV project

GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

about 70,000m of infill drilling to Upon the completion of
convert the open pit resource to the feasibility study in
indicated status, metallurgical early Q1 2016, Kaminak
test work to confirm and expand is expected to submit an
characterisation of both the oxide application for an EIA with
and transitional resources and the Yukon Environmental
geotechnical work to examine pit and Socio-economic As-
wall stability, heap leach facility sessment Board (YES-
and waste dump foundation. AB).
Other key factors such as envi-
ronmental baseline work, com- Name: Gruyere
munity engagement, nearby
exploration targets and contract Location: Western Aus-
mining or equipment leasing will
also be considered in the wide- tralia, Australia
ranging study to be completed by
the same group which delivered Discovery date: 1994
the PEA.
Several trade-off studies are also Geology: Gruyere
under way, including an inves-
tigation into crushing a coarser comprises of a narrow
size and placing run-of-mine ma-
terial directly to the leach pads. to wide felsic intrusive
The potential to add gold from
the upper transition zone into the dyke measuring about
final mine plan and an alternate
heap leach pad design and loca- 35-190m wide and strik-
tion will also be assessed.
Kaminak recently reported a ing over 2.2km and a
number of impressive hits from
the infill drilling programmes, in- maximum known depth
cluding 27m @ 4 g/t gold, 16.8m
@ 6.2 g/t, 9.1m @ 10.5 g/t, 5m @ of 1,180 metres below
18.6 g/t and 32m @ 2.8 g/t.
surface. The Gruyere In-

trusive dips steeply to the

north-east. A sequence

of intermediate volcanic A 3D model of the Gruyere pit illustrating horizontal accumulation contours
projected onto the footwall contact of the Gruyere porphyry
and volcaniclastic rocks

define the stratigraphy

to the west of the intrusive and overprinting albite-sericite-chlo- include pyrite-pyrrhotite-arseno-
rite-pyrite alteration which has pyrite in varying amounts. Free
mafic volcanics (basalt) and vol- obliterated the primary texture of gold is observed commonly in
the rock. Minor fine quartz-car- alteration at vein margins, close
caniclastics occur to the east of bonate veining occurs through- to coarse arsenopyrite clusters,
out. Sulphide assemblages and in quartz veins.
the intrusive. Mineralisation is

confined to the Gruyere Intrusive

and is associated with pervasive

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 41

NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW

Construction works are under way at the Haile gold mine in South Carolina

Reserves: N/A hole not used in the most recent gold for 0.8 moz (inferred) erations in New Zealand and the
Economic studies: August resource update has defined Reserves: 19.6mt @ 2.19 g/t Philippines to fund the remain-
2015 Stage 1 PFS more than 1.2km of dip extent to gold for 1.38 moz (proven) and ing construction requirements
Throughput: 7.5 mtpa the prospect, adding significant 10.9mt @ 7.82 g/t for 636,000oz at Haile, discovered in 1827 by
Average gold production: upside potential to the current (probable) for total combined re- Benjamin Haile and operated on
250,000 ozpa resource. Gruyere remains open serve of 30.5mt @ 2.06 g/t gold and off for nearly 200 years.
Processing: Conventional grav- down-dip and to the south. for 2.02 moz OceanaGold managing director
ity/CIL Gold Road has said further ex- Economic studies: Updated Mick Wilkes said the transaction
Life of Mine: 10-12 years tensions to the resource would feasibility study December 2014: would benefit shareholders from
Development status: Prefeasi- require substantial deep drilling Throughput: 7,000 tpd both companies.
bility campaigns, which are likely to Recovery: 83.7% “We believe the addition of the
take place in the medium to long- Annual production: 155,000 ozpa low-cost, long-life Haile gold
Within 10 months of Gruyere’s term future. The project’s Attila Capex: $US333 million mine provides such an oppor-
discovery, Gold Road defined a and Alaric deposits are also open (US$138.5 million sustaining tunity while underpinning an in-
high-grade gold deposit and an- at depth, with a higher grade do- capital) dustry leading business,” Wilkes
nounced an eye-catching maid- main at Alaric representing a po- Operating costs: $US477/oz said. “The combination of the
en mineral resource estimate of tentially attractive future explora- ($US624/oz AISC) sector low-cost profile with sig-
3.8moz of gold. tion target for the company. Development status: Construc- nificant free cash flow genera-
The then mineral resource tion; first gold pour slated for Q4 tion, diversified production and
amounted to 96.93mt @ 1.23 g/t Name: Haile 2016 a pipeline of organic growth op-
gold and was based on a total of portunities forms the lowest cost
38,000m of drilling. Location: South Carolina, US The ownership of Haile – one gold producer globally.”
In September 2015, Gold Road Discovery date: 1827 of the first operating gold mines Romarco reported in late August
announced an updated re- Geology: Haile sits on the Caro- in the US – was set to change that the project was tracking on
source estimate for the project of lina slate belt, which extends hands at the time of print, with budget and schedule. The storm
134.1mt @ 1.41 g/t gold for 6.07 from Virginia to Georgia and is OceanaGold Corp agreeing in water management controls
moz gold, which also included an ancient island arc system that August to acquire owner Romar- have been completed at the plant
100.03mt @ 1.4 g/t gold for 4.5 formed adjacent to ancient Africa co Minerals Inc for about $C856 site and excavation has started.
moz in the measured and indi- and was once attached to North million. Civil works for the water treat-
cated category. The updated re- America during the Paleozoic. The deal remains subject to ment plant were also completed
source was derived from 207 RC The gold mineralisation at Haile shareholder approval. A special in July.
and 108 diamond holes for a total is related to the island arc setting meeting for the vote was sched- Depressurisation wells around
of 67,665m since its discovery in that hosts the deposit. The lack uled for early October. the Mill Zone pit area started
October 2013. of bimodal volcanic activity and Upon completion of the deal, pumping last quarter and are now
The quick progression of Gruyere low abundances of base met- OceanaGold and Romarco producing water for construction
has everyone at Gold Road smil- als suggests the mineralisation shareholders will own 51% and and the water flows are tracking
ing ear-to-ear and it appears is not a gold-rich volcanogenic 49% respectively of the com- consistently with the hydrology
there is much more good news massive sulphide deposit. bined company. modelling work completed dur-
to come from the project. A re- Resources: 71.2mt @ 1.77 g/t OceanaGold plans to use free ing the feasibility and permitting
cent 1.7km deep diamond drill gold for 4.04 moz (measured- cash flow from its existing op- process.
indicated) and 20.1 mt @ 1.24 g/t

Page 42 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Pit development is also pro- tion at the Eastern Zone is
gressing ahead of schedule. hosted by strongly foliated,
sericite-carbonate rich, silici-
Name: Petowal fied schists close to a granite
body which is also mineral-
Location: Senegal ised. Orca has a better bear-
Discovery date: 2011 ing on the Main Zone miner-
Geology: Mako, which hosts alisation, which is hosted by
the Petowal deposit, is in the north south trending, strong-
Kenieba Window of eastern ly foliated, sericite-carbon-
Senegal and western Mali. ate rich, silicified schists. Py-
Sandwiched between two ba- rite is the dominant sulphide,
salt sheets, Mako is hosted while there is an even distri-
within a felsic tuff. Mineralisa- bution of mineralisation over
tion is mainly associated with 60m true width, with higher
silification and disseminated grades on the western side.
pyrite within the felsic tuff, Resources: 26.35mt @ 1.77
although there are zones of g/t for 1.5 moz (indicated at
low-grade gold mineralisation 1 g/t cut-off grade), 8.65mt
associated with pyrite in the @ 1.7 g/t for 477,000oz (in-
lower basalt sheet. The re- ferred)
source model has been split Reserves: Nil
into two domains; a resource Economic studies: N/A.
envelope from 0.5 to 3 g/t and Working towards a scoping
a high-grade component gen- study
erally about 3 g/t all within the Development status: Ex-
felsic tuff unit. ploration
Resources: 24.5mt @ 1.76
g/t for 1.383 moz (indicated); TSX-V company Orca
1mt @ 0.9 g/t for 29,000oz (in-
ferred) Gold Inc has been in Su-
Reserves: 13.9mt @ 2.22 g/t
for 996,000oz dan for three years and has
Economic studies: August
2015 DFS steadily increased its land-
Throughput: 1.8 mtpa
Recovery: 89.6% holding to 7,000sq km in
Annual production: 140,000
ozpa (first five years) the Block 14 permitted area.
Capex: $US170 million (includ-
ing $US16.2 million contingen- Exploration in Block 14 is
cy and $US4.5 million working
capital) at an early stage, with Orca
Operating costs: $US794/oz
(AISC) focused on developing new
Development status: Produc-
tion targeted for first half of 2017 Infill drilling completed at the Mako project contributed to a resource targets that will add satellite
estimate included in Toro’s DFS resources to its flagship 1.5
Toro Gold Ltd completed a moz Galat Surfar South gold
DFS on the Mako project, east-
ern Senegal, earlier this year. ozpa targeted over the first five In the meantime, a post-DFS op- deposit.
The study highlighted the vi-
ability of an open pit operation years. The resource estimate timisation process will identify More than 62,000m of drilling
producing 996,000oz gold over
about eight years, with 140,000 in the DFS of 22.85mt for 1.345 any further project improvements has been completed at Galat

moz @ 1.83 g/t gold was based Toro can make. Surfar South and the company

on 52,000m of core drilling and has not stopped drilling. Suc-

5,000m RC drilling. Name: Galat Sufar South cess to date has been a maiden

In addition to the DFS, Toro also Location: Sudan gold resource at Wadi Doum of

ran an ESIA and is currently go- Discovery date: 2012 1.3mt @ 3 g/t for 126,000oz (in-
ing through the permitting pro- Geology: Three zones of min- dicated) and 1.63mt @ 2.2 g/t

cess. Subject to being granted eralisation have been identified; for 117,000oz (inferred). Total

all the required approvals and Main Zone, Eastern Zone and resources are 1.63 moz (indicat-

securing project financing, Toro Far East Zone. While the geol- ed) and 600,000oz (inferred) at

hopes first gold from Mako will ogy and structural controls are Block 14, with 80% of indicated

be poured in the first half of 2017. not fully understood, mineralisa- material and over 50% of inferred

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 43

NEWGENGOLD PREVIEW

along the northern flank been renamed Merian – to New-

of the Brokolonko Range mont in late 2009 and the follow-

– extending south-west of ing year Newmont’s persistence

its Rosebel property – and with the play paid off as its 1,494

follow-up grid auger soil holes on the tenement added 1.8

sampling defined several moz to Merian’s resource.

areas of gold-in-soil anom- Later in 2010, Newmont reported

alies overlying the contact a new discovery at Cassador,

between metabasalts and where limited scout drilling had

metasediments. In August confirmed the potential for a tar-

that year, Golden Star com- get over a 1km strike length and

pleted a first phase drilling down to a depth of about 200 m.

programme at Saramacca, In addition, there was evidence

with highlights including from scout drilling that the miner-

6.71m @ 7.15 g/t gold, 14m alised system extended at least

@ 4.39 g/t and 19.5m 2.49 3km along strike. It contained a

g/t. number of blind shoots parallel to

Newmont came to the party the main structure and it extend-

in 2006, entering an agree- ed for at least another 100m at

ment with Golden Star in depth. There were also a number

which it could earn up to of structures parallel to the main

70% of the Saramacca pro- structure with encouraging soil

ject by spending $6 million geochemical and trench results.

Orca has so far produced two resources from Block 14, Northern Sudan on exploration and funding At the time of print Newmont was

the JV through to a decision finalising engineering for the pro-

resources less than 150m from ly 100,000 ozpa to mine. ject and construction was 25%

surface making for good open pit Mine life: 11 years After some hit and miss explo- complete. Newmont hopes to

mining scenarios. Mining method: open pit ration, Golden Star agreed to bring Merian into production by
Orca continues to focus its atten- Development status: Prepro- sell its remaining interest in the late 2016.

tion on making discoveries and duction project – which at that point had

has approved $5 million for ex-

ploration in 2015. It has also not Newmont Mining

ruled out assessing other oppor- will present the story

tunities and potentially expand- of its Merian gold

ing into other parts of Africa. project, which is only

Name: Merian Suriname’s second
ever mining operation.

Location: Suriname In July 2014, Newont

Discovery Date: 2003 announced its inten-
Geology: Gold mineralisation tions to invest in the

is associated with quartz veins, project after keeping

stockworks and breccias along a watchful eye on its

north-west trending structural development for more

zones with minor dissemination than a decade. Ca-

in adjacent quartz vein zones. All nadian miner Golden

of the resource gold mineralisa- Star Resources’ work

tion at Merian occurs within sap- at Suriname’s other

rolite, saprock or fresh rock. mine, Saramacca,

Resources: 36mt @ 1 g/t gold was the beacon for

Reserves: 127mt @ 1.18 g/t gold Newmont’s move

for 4.8moz on Merian. In 2005

Economic studies: DFS, 2013 Golden Star identi-

Capex: $900 million to $1 billion fied a gold anomaly

Annual production: Approximate- extending 12-15km Newmont hopes to begin production at Merian next year

Page 44 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

COMING IN THE
DECEMBER EDITION OF

OUR OFFICIAL FULL
INDABA PREVIEW

For editorial enquiries Tel: (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email: [email protected]
For advertising enquiries email: [email protected]

www.paydirt.com.au

AFRICA

The Cardinal rises in Ghana

Cardinal Resources Cardinal has a chance to tie up more ground near its Namdini licence
Ltd has been hard
to ignore of late. assays. remained open along strike to said. “I’d like to think our success
can get people focused in West
The company’s continued ex- At the time of print, the com- the north and south and at depth, Africa again and warm some of
ploration success at Namdini, the explorers that have been sit-
Upper East Region of Ghana, pany was planning its next drill- while also supporting the com- ting around. Hopefully, they can
has provided it with motivation to get some confidence out of what
keep the drill rigs churning while ing campaign at Namdini where pany’s confidence that gold min- we are doing.”
other companies fall off their
perch amid the current gold price it expanded its footprint earlier eralisation had continuity along The most recent West African
slide. gold boom from about 2006-
this year. strike for about 800m. 2012 saw numerous companies
“The fact we haven’t stopped plunging holes across the region,
[drilling] for the last 2-3 years Cardinal was able to conduct “Initially we gained confidence however, that activity has tailed
and come out with a decent data off significantly. But are times
package gives us an opportunity exploration on the expanded with the first round of drilling on starting to change again?
to define something here. We are
the standouts because there is Namdini area via a $1.1 million the Namdini licence and all this “I have been monitoring the
not much competition out there laboratories and the amount
at the moment,” Cardinal man- raising in May. extensional information...while of assays are on the up and up
aging director Archie Koimtsidis from explorers. They are getting
told Gold Mining Journal from Two holes drilled recently to we are not surprised [by the re- busier from exploration players,
site in Ghana. particularly from Burkina Faso.
the north of the Namdini mining sults], it has exceeded our ex- There are the standard produc-
The lack of competition is ers having their usual samples
proving to be favourable for Car- licence confirmed gold minerali- pectations,” he said. processed, but the explorers are
dinal. Access to equipment and coming back to the market,” Ko-
people is good, however, even sation exceeded 100m widths. Koimtsidis said there was a imtsidis said.
better is Cardinal’s ability to at-
tract funding. Results included 13m @ 3.65 strong presence of artisanal min- At the time of print Macquarie
Bank subscribed for $1 million in
In September, Cardinal com- g/t gold from 31m (vertical); 11m ers in the area, indicating the po- Cardinal stock, while US Global
pleted tranche one of a $5 million Investors Inc had taken their
capital raising. @ 3.78 g/t from 41m; 10m @ 2.24 tential for gold. shareholding to 6.39%.

The tranche one placement of g/t from 48m and 3m @ 4.43 g/t Therefore, with the contin- At the time of print, Macquarie
shares was at 10c/share with one Bank had subscribed to $1 mil-
free listed option for every two from 58m. ued exploration success and a lion worth of Cardinal shares
new shares to raise $2,816,481. while US Global Investors Inc
Koimtsidis said mineralisation healthy cash position, Cardinal had taken its shareholding to
Acceptances and commit- 6.39%.
ments for tranche two – 10c/ can afford to assess its ground
share with one free listed option – Mark Andrews
for every two new shares to raise position.
$2.18 million – have also been
received. “We can always put a deposit

The attaching listed option is down with an option to acquire
exercisable at 15c/share on or
before September 30 2019, sub- [ground],” Koimtsidis said.
ject to shareholder approval.
“We have been looking at that
“There has been a shifting of
people’s mindset because good [acquiring] beyond the ground
projects with good potential
haven’t been jumping out due to [north of Namdini] and we are
most explorers having stopped
working,” Koimtsidis said of the already in negotiations in the
company’s ability to raise money.
background.”
Koimtsidis said the company
could have raised more if it While Cardinal is focused on
needed to, but the amount tar-
geted would suffice for RC and bringing the true potential of
diamond drilling at Namdini,
payments for mining tenement Namdini to the fore, Koimtsidis
acquisitions and working capital.
hoped its success would rub off
Cardinal owns a drill rig, and
with quick assay turnaround on other players in West Africa.
times it has the ability to plot im-
proved programmes and strate- “Any good story focuses peo-
gies immediately upon receiving
Archie Koimtsidis ple in to the sector or area,” he

Page 46 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

Sawiris strikes next big deal

Egyptian billionaire holds the largest exploration
Naguib Sawiris is ground package in Cote d’Ivoire,
set to become En- covering more than 3,500sq km.
deavour Mining Corp’s
largest shareholder Woodyer told Gold Mining
after striking his sec- Journal’s sister publication Pay-
ond landmark corpo- dirt at the Mining Indaba confer-
rate deal in less than ence in February his company
six months. would happily build another mine
in Cote d’Ivoire due to the initial
Sawiris, through his success of its Agbou operation.

100%-owned private invest- Endeavour will now take
charge of the studies, including
ment vehicle La Mancha Hold- a DFS on a proposed CIL op-
eration from 2019, currently un-
ing SARL, has agreed to sell his der way at Ity, which produced
45,000oz gold via a heap leach
55% interest in the Ity gold mine Neil Woodyer treatment facility in the first half
of 2015.
in Cote d’Ivoire to Endeavour for resource base by 22% and 23%
respectively, while also strength- The proposed 2-3 mtpa CIL
$U63 million. “By combining our African as- ening our balance sheet and processing facility is tipped to
sets and management skills, we funding position to pursue further increase annual gold production
The 61-year-old, who has an will grasp future opportunities growth,” Woodyer said. at Ity to more than 120,000 ozpa
to create a leading African gold for less than $US725/oz AISC,
estimated net worth of $US3.1 producer.” “Most importantly, this trans- based on a 10-year mine plan.
action is value accretive to
billion, has also given an in-prin- Sawiris’s cash injection will shareholders and the in-principle Ity has proven and probable
see Endeavour’s net debt po- commitment of up to $US75 mil- reserves of 2.3mt @ 2.4 g/t gold
ciple commitment to invest up to sition reduced from $US242 lion in additional funding puts En- for 173,000oz available for heap
million to $US159 million and deavour in a stronger position to leach treatment.
$US75 million in additional funds ensure the company’s Hounde continue its growth strategy at a
project in Burkina Faso is fully low point in this gold price cycle. “An aggressive exploration
to support Endeavour’s growth funded following a construction programme at Ity [by La Mancha]
decision early next year. “The industry has seen the has increased measured and
strategy. successful role La Mancha has indicated resources since 2011
The acquisition of Ity, about played in the growth of Evolution, from 200,000oz to 2.9 moz,”
Upon completion of the trans- 480km north-west of Abidjan, will including the $112 million equity Woodyer said.
increase Endeavour’s group pro- capital support for the Cowal ac-
action – expected in early No- duction rate from 500,000 ozpa quisition – in excess of the $100 “By adding the brownfield Ity
to 580,000 ozpa and reduce the million in-principle commitment CIL development project along-
vember – Sawiris will emerge company’s overall AISC from made – and we see similar op- side our Hounde project, we will
$US922/oz to about $US888/oz. portunities across Africa.” have strengthened our pipeline
with 30% of Endeavour, which for near-term growth. With our
“This transaction will imme- Endeavour’s acquisition of Ity successful track record in build-
owns five mines and one devel- diately add to Endeavour’s op- also means the company now ing and operating mines, to-
erating cash flow, increase our gether we will have the expertise
opment project across four coun- attributable mineral reserve and and the funding to grow across
Africa.”
tries in West Africa.
Meanwhile, Endeavour has
The deal is similar to the one flagged its intentions to del-
ist from the ASX due to the low
Sawiris struck with Evolution volume of CDIs trading on that
bourse compared to its shares
Mining Ltd earlier this year. The on the TSX.

Jake Klein-led company ac- Endeavour listed on the ASX
in 2011 following its takeover of
quired La Mancha’s Mungari op- Adamus Resources, but since
then its CDIs on the Australian
erations near Kalgoorlie and took register have declined from 53%
to less than 10.4% and they are
advantage of Sawiris’s $100 mil- expected to slide below 7.3%
post-transaction.
lion investment pledge to pounce
Further details were yet to be
on Barrick Gold Corp’s Cowal confirmed at the time of print.

gold mine in New South Wales. – Michael Washbourne

Sawiris claimed a 31% con-

trolling stake in Evolution at the

completion of that deal in August.

As part of the transaction,

Sawiris and La Mancha chief ex-

ecutive Sebastien de Montessus

will join Endeavour’s board of di-

rectors and de Montessus is slat-

ed to take over from Endeavour’s

Neil Woodyer within the next two

years.

In a statement to the Australi-

an and Toronto stock exchanges,

Sawiris expressed his long-term

commitment to developing the

gold mining industry in Africa.

“The Endeavour board and

management shares this objec-

tive and has a successful track

record of building and acquiring

assets in Africa,” Sawiris said. Endeavour is set to acquire the Ity gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire

October – December 2015 GOLD MINING JOURNAL Page 47

AFRICA

New South African minister
faces platinum baptism

For South Africa’s mining industry in Af- issues in the sector, we
new Mining Min- rica’s most advanced start with a new minister,”
ister Mosebenzi economy. it said in a note.

“I will be challenging Ramatlhodi, who will

Zwane, until now a the issue of job creation, be minister in charge of
little-known provincial job losses and chal- public service and ad-
lenges that are affecting ministration, a largely

agriculture official, it mines,” he said. box-ticking department,
was not the ideal first The concern is that would not be drawn on
day in the office. what amounts to a demo-
any European consumer tion.
backlash against diesel

cars, which use platinum “I’m quite pleased and

Taking over a sector already in catalytic converters, grateful to my partners in

bleeding jobs due to the com- could torpedo already the industry and with the

modity price slump, Zwane was shaky demand for the progress we have made

confronted with the price of plati- white metal, nearly all together,” he told Reu-

num, one of South Africa’s most of which is produced in ters.

valuable exports, hitting a 6-1/2 South Africa. After a short stint, Ngoako Ramatlhodi has been ousted In August he oversaw

year low due to the Volkswagen Platinum’s biggest as SA Mines Minister and is now in charge of public the signing of a declara-

emissions tests scandal. daily drop in two years is service and administration tion to slow down and

Speaking to reporters shortly a stark reminder of what ease the impact of job

after being sworn in Pretoria, lies in store for Zwane as he tries ruling ANC and mining firms that cuts in the struggling mining in-

Zwane said he would challenge to walk a line between hostile un- have done little to change their dustry.

job cuts sweeping across the ions, hardline communists in the ways since the end of apartheid Gold firms have not fared

two decades ago. much better than platinum, with

And the platinum sector is still its spot price down about 20%

The CD-Rom of Paydirt’s 2015 reeling from a five-month strike, from last year’s peaks. There
Africa Down Under Conference the longest in South African his- is also a possibility of a strike
tory, last year that has forced emerging from a round of wage
is available shaft closures and mine sales. talks still rumbling on.

Given that ousted minister Both labour and management

Ngoako Ramatlhodi, known for lamented Ramatlhodi’s exit.

his no-nonsense approach, was The National Union of Mine-

credited with helping mediate an workers praised him for forcing

end to that strike, analysts and Glencore’s Optimum Coal mine

mining executives are question- to close after a supply dispute

ing President Jacob Zuma’s wis- with state power utility Eskom,

dom in pushing him out. and “sending a message” to min-

Perth,Western Australia Zwane’s previous jobs, which ing companies that they had to
include stints as provincial minis- follow the rules.

ter for agriculture and rural devel- The militant Association of

opment in the Free State, do little Mineworkers and Construction

to boost confidence in the future Union (AMCU) also said it would

of a sector that accounts for 7% miss his tough approach to com-

of South African GDP. pliance in regard to affirmative

He is also under investigation action regulations and black

by the corruption watchdog after ownership targets.

the main opposition party, Dem- “We feel very strongly that the

ocratic Alliance, accused him President should have maybe

of benefiting unduly from lower waited and seen Ramatlhodi

municipal taxes by undervaluing pulling through to 2016,” AMCU

a house he had built in the Free President Joseph Mathunjwa

State province. told Talk Radio 702.

“The investigation is ongoing. Chamber of Mines chief ex-

We expect to finalise it by mid- ecutive Roger Baxter said he

CD Rom includes October 2015,” Oupa Segalwe, appreciated Ramatlhodi’s open-
spokesman for the Public Protec- ness to tough and frank conver-
• Over 60 presentations • Conference media coverage tor, said. sations intended to achieve the
• Australia’s Paydirt preview and review reports • Conference Sponsors best for the industry.
Investec Securities described

CD-Rom – $160 (inc.GST) the reshuffle as a “key obstacle” – Zandi Shabalala, Reuters
Phone (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected] to progress. “Just as the Minister
gets to grips with all/most of the

Page 48 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015

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TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE

Mining celebrates its
growing equality

More than 200 NA’s top honour, the Exceptional Bronwyn Barnes since the programme’s inception
people gathered Woman in Australian Resources in 2011.
in Perth on Septem- award. awards’ Company Excellence in
ber 25 to celebrate Diversity and Performance gong Thiess Global Mining SA’s
the mining industry’s Barnes is credited with steer- for introducing a gender equality Sabrina McKenzie won the cov-
finest women at ing major projects from explora- programme as part of its broad- eted Outstanding Australian
the 2015 Women in tion to operation as well as cham- er diversity strategy. The pro- Tradeswoman, Technician or Op-
Resources National pioning Indigenous participation gramme has increased female erator prize.
Awards (WIRNA). in the sector. She holds a number participation in the company to
of director positions and actively 25%, which is an increase of 3% In addition to her exemplary
The WIRNA is a partnership promotes women’s involvement work as a D10 Dozer operator,
between the Minerals Council of in the mining industry. McKenzie acts as an indigenous
Australia and its Northern Terri- mentor at Thiess and is seen as
tory and Victorian branches, the BHP Billiton Ltd’s Jacqui a conduit, allowing her fellow
Queensland Resources Council, McGill, who broke new ground as indigenous workmates to ap-
the New South Wales Minerals South Australia’s first ever female proach and discuss issues with
Council, the South Australian mine manager, won the Gender their supervisors.
Chamber of Mines and Energy, Diversity Champion award. In
the Tasmanian Minerals and En- mid-2013, she also became the Santos featured in the awards
ergy Council and the Chamber of first woman to be appointed as- a second time when Helena Wu
Minerals & Energy WA, with sup- set president in coal with BHP was acknowledged as 2015’s Ex-
port from various state Women in Billiton Mitsui Coal (BMC). ceptional Young Woman in Aus-
Mining Network branches. tralian Resources.
During McGill’s time in the top
Windward Resources Ltd’s role, female talent has increased Wu joined Santos’ graduate
Bronwyn Barnes won the WIR- considerably within the com- programme in 2008 as a field pro-
pany, with 33% of BMC manag- duction optimisation engineer,
ers in non-traditional roles being worked as a reservoir engineer
fulfilled by females and nearly in 2010 and took on a planning
60% BMC’s executive leadership analyst role 2012. In 2013 she
team roles now held by women. returned to reservoir engineering
work and was recently promoted
Santos Ltd took out the to senior reservoir engineer.

INDEX

ABM 31 Doray 20 Kaminak 40 Pretium 31
Kingsgate 21
Acacia 5-6, 8 Kinross 8, 21

Agnico Eagle 34 Endeavour 47 Lydian 30 Randgold 7, 30
Equinox 6 Regis 30
Amplats 7 Evolution Mantra 6 Reservoir 36
Exxaro 24, 47 Rustenburg 7
Anglo American 12, 21, 26 7 New Gold 30
Newcrest 24
AngloGold Ashanti 7, 22, 30, Newmont 8, 44
Nexus 13
34 Northern Star 20, 40

Aureus 30 FMG 22 OceanaGold 38, 42 S2 11-12
Freeport-McMoRan 36 Omega 6
OreCorp Saracen 13
Orca 5-6
B2 Gold 24, 30, 34, 36 Oro Verde 43 Sibanye 7
Barrick 6, 8, 27, 31, 47 24
Blackham Glencore 48 Papillon
Brio Gold 14-19 Phoenix 30
26 GoldCorp 8, 35 9 Toro 43
Tusker 5
Golden Star 44

Gold Fields 4, 21, 31, 36, 38

Cardinal 50 Gold Road 9, 42 Waterburg 7
Cleveland 22 WPG 10
Condor 24 Gryphon 9
Continental 31
Crusader 20, 31 Guyana Goldfields 39

Yamana 26

Havilah 10

Dacian 9, 12 IAMGOLD 31
Detour 25 Independence 11

Page 50 GOLD MINING JOURNAL October – December 2015