JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – While efficiency enhancement projects at Aim-listed Randgold Resources’ Tongon operation, in Côte d'Ivoire, had increased the mine’s production, the company was still struggling to reach a recovery rate of 80% for the year, CEO Mark Bristow said on Sunday.

He said an additional 2% improvement would be achievable by improving the efficiency of the existing recovery circuit; however, raising the recovery rate to the targeted upper 80s would require an expansion of the flotation process to capture most of the sulphide in the ore.

This expansion was estimated to cost $12-million and was targeted for completion by the end of 2014.

"The standard carbon-in-leach circuit is not recovering the portion of the gold associated with arsenopyrite, which is bypassing the existing flash flotation cells.  The original metallurgical testwork indicated that the bulk of the Tongon ore was amenable to cyanidation, with flash flotation in the mill circuit recovering the gold associated with the sulphides. 

“In practice, however, we have seen that this process is not recovering enough of the fine gold associated with arsenopyrite.  The expansion of the flotation circuit will address this issue by capturing the full spectrum of sulphides," Bristow explained.

Meanwhile, Tongon was expected to produce about 260 000 oz of gold during 2014, which would be an increase on 2013’s gold output, although still slightly behind the initial target.

"It has been another challenging year for Tongon, but its management has coped admirably with the operational challenges, as well as with the need to adjust to the lower gold price.  The continued optimisation of the grid power is delivering cost savings, three of the four new Vibracone crushers have been commissioned and the Ivorianisation of the team is making good progress," Bristow said.

He added that the company remained fully committed to Côte d'Ivoire and was intent on expanding its footprint in the country.

“[However], our efforts in this regard are currently being hampered by delays in permit approval. Randgold engaged with government in its review of the country's mining code and we are confident that the final draft, which we expect to see soon, will be investor-friendly.  We also hope to resolve some outstanding issues related to government's delivery on our public–private power supply partnership," Bristow said.

He also noted that, despite the lower gold price, Randgold was maintaining its commitment to support community upliftment projects and the development of the local economy. 

In the latest such initiative, the company had agreed to provide seed capital and office space to La Premiere Agence de Micro-Financement, Côte d'Ivoire, a micro-lending institution set up to provide loan facilities to emerging entrepreneurs in the Tongon region.