JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Africa-focused gold producer Goldplat produced a total of 9 129 oz of gold and gold equivalents from all its operations during the three months to September 30, with improvements in operating profitability at its recovery operations.

Goldplat CEO Gerard Kisbey-Green said on Thursday that good progress had been made on all areas of “strategic focus”, including the sourcing of by-product material for processing at the company’s gold recovery operations, the identification of new global geographies from which to import material for processing, and the installation of the new plant at the bullion producer’s Kilimapesa gold project, in Kenya, which was designed to bring the operation to profitability during the 2017 financial year.
 
The group’s South Africa-based subsidiary Goldplat Recovery (GPL) produced an operational profit of about £769 000 on production of 5 418 oz of gold and gold equivalents, with 4 280 oz of gold sold for its own account and 1 179 oz transferred to clients.

Kisbey-Green commented that, with all GPL’s major capital projects having been completed during the previous financial year, capital expenditure (capex) during the quarter was reduced to sustaining capex only.

“Capex to maintain operations will continue into the second quarter of the 2017 financial year, with a focus on the cyclone sections of the rotary kiln and the upgrade of the high-grade mill section,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Kisbey-Green pointed out that the independent investigation concerning the dispute with precious metals refining and smelting company Rand Refinery regarding the silver sulphide toll recovery project was “still in process”, but that it had been separated from the day-to-day operations between the two companies.

However, Kisbey-Green noted that, notwithstanding the dispute with Rand Refinery, Goldplat continued to deliver concentrates to Rand Refinery, which had improved GPL’s turnaround time significantly.

“We also continue to deliver concentrates to integrated copper group Aurubis, in Germany, in line with our strategic decision to mitigate single refiner risk,” he added.

He further highlighted that GPL had increased its stockpile of raw material inventory, which is the feedstock for the carbon-in-leach circuits, as a result of the increased efforts on strategic sourcing.

Additionally, Kisbey-Green said that testwork undertaken by a local university to ensure optimal recoveries at the company’s tailings storage facility, which has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource of 82 000 oz of gold, has been completed. “Evaluation of operational variables of the pretreatment stage is now under way, with testwork expected to be finalised at the end of the second quarter of the 2017 financial year.”

GHANA OPERATIONS
Goldplats’ Ghana-based subsidiary, Gold Recovery Ghana (GRG), produced an operational profit of about £305 000 from the production of 3 088 oz of gold and gold equivalents, with 1 349 oz of gold being sold for own account during the quarter.

Kisbey-Green stated that the focus at GRG remained on the sourcing of material from existing and new clients. He said that the company’s marketing efforts in South America were gaining traction and Goldplat remained confident that it could develop GRG as a hub to service clients internationally.

Kisbey-Green commented that, in line with this strategy, GRG remained committed to installing an elution column and associated ancillary equipment, which would improve GRG’s competitive advantage and satisfy the Ghanaian government’s requirement to produce bullion for export.

He added that work to improve incinerator controls and efficiency was under way and modifications included the installation of a drier and scrubber. Moreover, Kisbey-Green noted that the new shot blast facility was operating well. Further, an initial trial batch of liners from a client in South America has been processed profitably and a second batch has been shipped.

The removal of material from GRG’s on-site tailings dump to a land-fill site began during the quarter. Kisbey-Green remarked that this would reduce the rehabilitation liabilities and free up significant space for the further expansion of the operation.

“It will be more cost-effective to remove the tailings than rehabilitation of the dump in situ,” he pointed out.

GRG has also applied for the renewal of its gold licence, with a new three-year licence expected during the second quarter of the 2017 financial year. Kisbey-Green said that GRG had been operating under a temporary licence during the quarter and that documentation for the renewal of the environmental protection agency permit should be ready for submission during the second quarter of the 2017 financial year.
 
KENYA OPERATIONS
Goldplats’ Kenya-based subsidiary, Kilimapesa Gold (KPG), suffered an operating loss of about £100 000 on production of 623 oz of gold and gold equivalents, with 574 oz of gold sold for own account during the quarter.

Kisbey-Green noted that the erection phase of the project’s new processing plant was “progressing well”. It is expected that the mine will be able to start the milling section by the end of December, thereby increasing the output in ounces, as planned.

The plant expansion is due for full completion in February 2017, when the redesigned crushing section will be commissioned. The mill will be fed by a temporary structure and mechanical loading during the interim period.

Lower-grade ore stockpiled as a result of the current capacity constraint has increased substantially, and further material from surface sources has been added. KPG will process this stockpile in conjunction with run-of-mine ore.

Meanwhile, development at Adit D has reached the third vein and there are now 12 development ends available for further development. “The acquisition of an underground core drill will improve not only the development progress but also the grade and reserve controls going forward.”

Further, the new sampling and mapping programme at Kilimapesa continues. A mechanical loader has been acquired and will be tested during the second quarter of the 2017 financial year.

Kisbey-Green said that KPG’s management team believed that the development rate would increase significantly owing to the use of the new equipment.   

Additionally, he pointed out that, at Kilimapesa’s Teng-Teng exploration project, the second outlet had been holed to surface and facilities for materials handling through this outlet were being installed to facilitate ongoing bulk sampling purposes.

Kisbey-Green noted that a permit had been granted to purchase and transport tailings from Migori county, where KPG had identified “significant quantities” of good-quality surface material. He also noted that material from this community initiative would be added to KPG’s stockpiled ore.

Kisbey-Green remarked that Goldplat’s intention was to run the existing plant as long as the tailings facility could accommodate material. The current tailings facility capacity has been increased to provide for a further six months’ deposition, and work has started on construction of the new tailings facility adjacent to the new plant. This facility is scheduled to be ready to receive tailings from the new plant when it starts up.
  
Additionally, an earn-in option agreement with Canadian exploration company Ashanti Gold Corp for the Anumso project, in Ghana, was signed and announced during the quarter. Ashanti has started on-site work as part of its initial six-month due diligence on the Anumso earn-in option agreement.